PASTIMES

Pastimes is a long term project, documenting the changing face of sports, recreation and how people still seek physical and emotional energy beyond their homes, backyards and patios. I became aware of how these events were changing and becoming more challenging to photograph. I started to be asked to leave events, especially ones that children participated in. There started to be health and safety issues and smaller events would find it increasingly difficult to meet these new guidelines, or be unable to afford the increased expense, be it extra insurance or infrastructure costs. Unique and wonderful events around the State, would disappear. There was a noticeable decline in participation in many of organised sports. Perhaps due to the ascendancy of television viewing as an expression of sporting interest and the rise of social media as a means of connecting with others. Moreover, parents have taught their children that the sun can kill. Perhaps, fifty years from now, it will remind others of a lost way of living, but I should hope that isn’t the case.