U2 | osheaphotography

Windmill Lane Recording Studio was located just off Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in Dublin Docklands. It opened in 1978 and was originally used for the recording of Traditional Irish music. In 1980 the first rock album was recorded at the Studio which opened the flood gates and insured a string of well known world wide musicians and bands would come to use these facilities. This Album was the debut album by Irish rock band U2“Boy”

Windmill Lane became U2 s base for a couple of years before they moved to a building further down the Quay .The studio itself moved to a new location in Ringsend in 1988 and the facility continued as a post production facility until it was sold in 2015.

From the mid 80s up until the Buildings were demolished in 2015 the studio exteriors were covered with graffiti written by fans who had traveled from all over the world to pay homage to there idols.

Although the building was demolished on 3rd of April 2015 to make way for a Apartment / Office complex -the developers did decide to retain a 20 – metre stretch of the graffiti studio wall to be included in the new development. There was also sections of the remaining wall sold off with monies raised going to charities.

In 1988 a year after the release of “The Joshua tree” which was partly recorded at Windmill Lane i was working on a project to photograph the changing Dublin Docklands. I shot a selection of images of the wall using a 35mm camera and some 35mm b+w Kodak Panatomic X fine grain film – I have chosen as selection for this blog .

@ http://www.osheaphotography.com

Development of the Point Theatre Dublin 1988 -David O'shea Architectural Photographer Dublin Ireland

The Point Theatre Dublin Docklands Dublin January 1988

The Point Theatre (also known as the Point Depot or simply “the Point”) was a concert and events venue in Ireland‘s Capital City Dublin, which was open from 1988–2007. Over the 19 years its Doors were open more than 2 million people attended its various Events . It was located in Dublin Docklands becide the River Liffey on the North Wall Quay. The Point was closed in the summer of 2007 for a major redevelopment and was rebranded as the O2 in July 2008.

The Point Depot was originally constructed as a goods warehouse for the Great Southern and Western Railway in 1878 at a cost of £308,000

Photograph taken in February 1988 of the Instigator of the Point Depot National Exhibition Centre Mr Harry Crosbie

. In 1987 Local Businessman Mr Harry Crosbie purchased the Derelict Building and the 7.3 acre site for £955,000. During that year it was used by Irish Rock Band U2 to recorded tracks for their 1988 album, “Rattle and Hum“, and footage from the building of performances of the songs “Van Diemen’s Land” and “Desire” appear in the accompanying “Rattle and Hum” movie.

In January 1988 work started on converting the former CIE Point Depot ,still retaining the Grandeur and Elegance of its 19th Century cut stone and red bricked Building, to a multi-purpose top Class exhibition and Conference Centre fitted with all the modern Amenities .

11 months later in November 1988 The Point Depot opened its doors for its first event – Irish Political Party “Fine Gael” had their annual Ard Fheis (Party Conference) at the Venue . Mr Crosbie had spent in excess of 3 million pounds and turned a derelict Building in Dublin Docklands into Ireland’s Largest exhibition and concert venue with a floor area of 138,000 sq.ft (12,821 sq Meters),Seating capacity of 8000, with full facilities, on site car parking ,and a selection of Bars and Restaurants .

I was lucky enough to meet Harry just after he Purchased the Site and expressed an interest in photographing the Transformation of the Building . He agreed to grant full access to undertake the project and as a result i have enjoyed a very strong working relationship with him and the building since .

U2’s Director of Sound Joe O’Herlihy undertakes the first Sound Check -November 1988

2013 Marks the 25th Anniversary of the venue and so for my first Blog to celebrate this, i am going to Post some of the early images i took of the original transformation . All of these images were shot with a 35mm Nikon FM 2 Analogue camera . Most were shot in Black & White . The films used were Kodak tri-x ,Ilford fp4 and Agfapan 100. I used three len’s to shoot most of the project A Nikkor 20mm f3.5 -A Nikkor 28mm f3.5 and a Nikkon 50mm f1.8 E series lens.

David O’shea

http://www.osheaphotography.com