identity

The diverse culture of Derry

I have chosen this as my theme of identity as i feel this is such a big part of our identity living here. The reasoning for this as throughout the years we have seen the city go from being divided into two religions to welcoming all of them. A prime example of this is whenever Derry was the first place in the UK to be the city of culture in 2010. Showing how far everyone had came by throwing festivals etc. for the different cultures and showing that we had grown as a city.

I feel this is a very important identity of ours as a city, so below here are the pictures i have chosen for my identity project.

Free Derry sign

This wall was made and seen as a symbol of civil rights in the Bogside. As the name Free Derry was given to the Bogside after The Bogside was barricaded off from security forces between 1969-72. I felt this was an important image to take for the theme as from this wall was built the rural area of the Bogside has all different relegions living in it now in 2023 not only catholics. As of this day and age it isn't seen as a symbol for civil rights anymore as tim es have changed.

Peace Bridge

The peace bride construction started in January 2010 to then be opened on the 25th June 2011. This Bridge was built to bring the two sides of Derry the waterside and the cityside together. I felt this was a vital image for the identity as the Peace Bridge being built was a big part of history as this shown that the bitterness and rows between both sides had made peace.

Peace Flame

The peace flame was opened in 2013 when the city was found as the city of culture. This flame is a symbol for the "eternal flames of peace" that has been burning in everyone's hearts from the troubles. This in itself shows how far Derrys diverse identity has came.

The Bogside

The bogside in itself is a big part of this identity theme. The reasoning for this is during the troubles the Bogside has a lot of history from it with multiple murals around it. But now the Bogside has multiple relegions and cultures living in it showing how far its came.

Bloody Sunday memorial

At the top of ship quay street in the middle of the round about there is this bloody Sunday memorial. This commemorates that Derry has changed as years ago there would have been people that would've damaged this but as everyone has made peace it stands giving memorisal to all the soldiers and people who lost their lives.

Derry Girls Mural

The derry girls mural even though its a TV show its an important part to this theme. As the show itself shows the history of how catholics and protestants went on years ago to then show how far we have all came.

Hands across the divide statue

This statue on the roundabout the hands across the divide just after the Craigavon bridge was created by Maurice Harron and it was erected in 1992. Shows the reconciliation of both sides during the troubles. This statues shows two people reaching for eachothers hands. This felt like an important image for me as it shows the change of the town and that we don't see everyone as just their relegion anymore

evaluation

For my identity project I did it on the diverse culture of derry picturing all the important places that mean so much to our town. This project showed me all the ways that the diversity in Derry has changed between only welcoming Catholics and Protestants to everyone. From being the City of Culture to having different festivals celebrating everyone. In this project I also did a rundown of all the equipment you need for photojournalism. In this project I aimed to show how far we have come with the diversity of the town now.

The project taught me a lot about different photojournalist photographers and teaching me the different styles of their work. This varies also in from early years photojournalism to the present. With this project it felt important to me as I know that as a city we have come so far, as there are some people (older) that would still hold onto the past but as being the next generation, I feel we have a big role to prove that we have come very far from where we were 20 years ago.

In this project I learnt all about taking pictures with very bright lighting conditions as the day I went out to take them it was a mixture between cloudy and sunny. So, I feel this had an impact on me taking better photographs as it gives me the experience in shooting in manual and setting my aperture and iso for the different lighting conditions.

With what I have been taught in this project I feel next time I can use these skills to make my pictures to the highest quality I can with having the right settings on the camera. I feel this project will help me in the future with research skills along with the new skills I have learnt for the camera. So, in conclusion I feel this project was extremely helpful for me and really was a big learning experience.

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