Jim Fuller on Seeing Your Surroundings in a New Light
Jim Fuller (aka @dirtydublin) shows an extraordinary attention to detail in his flicks, casting the mundane corners of Dublin in a new light.
We chatted to him about photography as a creative medium and the changing nature of the creative field in Ireland.
Jim Fuller and his mates were into painting graff in their teenage years. These rebellious adventures were formative for his later creative focus. As they ended up getting into madder and madder spots, he had to document it.
“Every weekend we would meet up and travel to abandoned spots, walk the tracks or get on our bikes and try to find something cool to paint. I felt the need to take photos of all the mad stuff we were doing. I saved up and bought a camera in Argos and slowly but surely got more interested in the artform of photography and it grew beyond just shooting graff.”
Those periods of teenage uncertainty can be challenging, but for Jim, photography became an outlet for him to create personal things from his daily experiences. Over time, he became drawn to shooting street scenes or landscapes, which appear prominently in his work.
“I always have a camera on me and find walking around the city or suburbs with earphones in and just seeing what presents itself to you. I love how much the city moves and changes from day to day, and although you may have been to the place hundreds of times, the light falls differently or an interesting subject walks by at the right second. That’s exciting to me, the opportunity to put your own vision to places people know well.”
Lately, Jim’s focus has shifted to working more with people and challenging himself to shooting portraits.
“I want to be versatile and capable in all aspects of photography and shooting portraits has always seemed a daunting task. I’ve been practicing using friends and now want to start shooting all the ideas I’ve built up. I feel my work moving in a new and exciting direction.”
If you browse through Jim’s work, you’ll notice the scope of his shots vary greatly, from gritty street scenes to epic landscapes and now those portraits. What comes to mind most in his photos is an attention to detail, an effort to examine the extraordinary in the everyday. His photos shine a new light on the mundane.
“There is beauty to be found in everything, small or big. Sure, lots of my pics are lovely, easy on the eyes landscape scenes, but I’m just as interested in the grimy forgotten corner. Making photos gives me the opportunity to see lots of beauty and potential in the places people don’t look twice at.”
Standout creatives are often pushed to improve and innovate their craft by their mates, in a powerful feedback loop of ingenuity. Jim confirms he is influenced by the people he is surrounded with, in mirrored in a way by the inspiration he finds in his physical surroundings.
“A lot of us first met as little shithead teenagers painting graffiti 10 years ago, but now the creativity and talent displayed by so many of them is a major influence on me. Just being around them in Dublin and always scheming and pushing each other to create is a massive thing for me”
The Irish creatives putting Ireland on the global map, demonstrating the rich originality this country possesses, this pushes us all on to aim higher and think bigger.
“When you see someone from Ireland crushing it overseas or online, that motivates me so much. To name a few, it’s people like Aches, Rich Gilligan, B plus, Christian Tierney and Conor Harrington that push me to keep working. Ireland is bursting with creativity and the opportunity to be a part of that, no matter how big or small, is major.”
The last year of the pandemic has changed the world irrevocably. There’s no question this change affects all aspects of culture, including the creative field. While many of these changes are for the worse, there’s been cause for optimism too. We asked Jim what changes standout most to him.
"I feel like I would have had a very different answer to this question this time last year. It would have been an answer spelling out doubt, doom and disaster. The outlook for Ireland’s cultural identity was looking pretty bleak as headlines were filled with property being sold off to developers, clubs shutting doors and artists of all disciplines struggling to make ends meet. While much of this can still ring true as we await for things to open up again, I have felt a big shift in attitudes, in Dublin at least.
The pandemic has given many artists time to step back and refocus on what is important for ourselves and the city. Many people have been putting in a huge amount of work over the past few months to reinvigorate our passion for our spaces. The like of Sunil, and the > GiveUsTheNight> crew have really given Irish nightlife and music culture a fighting chance at survival. Documentation projects like > Jake Hoffman's> 'The desolation of a social hub and the rejection of a misunderstood subculture’ looking at how skaters use the Portobello plaza is a strong voice for public space retention and creation. There are too many artists to mention fighting for their right to create in a positive environment that I can really see Ireland coming out of the pandemic stronger and pushing to a brighter future for all of us."
After we’re set free from isolation nation, we wanted to know what’s next on the agenda for this talented photographer.
“After the lockdown lifts, I’m going to create a series using medium format film which may manifest itself as a zine. I have rarely planned my work, with a lot of it created in the moment. Now, my plan is to create a considered body of work over a period of time and test myself by slowing down my process. Working towards creating photos for a book will be a welcome change to my usual workflow. This will hopefully allow me greater scope to create some of the ideas I’ve been brewing on over the lockdown. I would love to shift my focus towards more documentary work, which I feel I have been moving towards over the last year. I’m just excited to get back out with a camera and shoot as much work as possible!"
And his goals further into the future?
“My long-term ambitions are ever evolving but at the moment it is to create a body of work that may be worthy of an exhibition. Having a show to display my work has always been such a pipe dream but is something I’m always working towards. I feel like I have a long, long way to go but if I continue to push myself and make work that I am proud of I will get there someday.”
After we’re set free from isolation nation, we wanted to know what’s next on the agenda for this talented photographer.
“After the lockdown lifts, I’m going to create a series using medium format film which may manifest itself as a zine. I have rarely planned my work, with a lot of it created in the moment. Now, my plan is to create a considered body of work over a period of time and test myself by slowing down my process. Working towards creating photos for a book will be a welcome change to my usual workflow. This will hopefully allow me greater scope to create some of the ideas I’ve been brewing on over the lockdown. I would love to shift my focus towards more documentary work, which I feel I have been moving towards over the last year. I’m just excited to get back out with a camera and shoot as much work as possible!"
And his goals further into the future?
“My long-term ambitions are ever evolving but at the moment it is to create a body of work that may be worthy of an exhibition. Having a show to display my work has always been such a pipe dream but is something I’m always working towards. I feel like I have a long, long way to go but if I continue to push myself and make work that I am proud of I will get there someday.”
Follow Jim on Instagram @dirtydublin
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