IT WAS RENAMED THE AVIVA STADIUM
The Historic Grounds of Lansdowne Road
Before its demolition in 2007, Lansdowne Road was the oldest operational international rugby stadium in the world. Its sporting heritage dates back to 1872, when Henry William Dunlop founded the Irish Champion Athletic Club on the site. The very first international rugby match on the grounds took place in 1878, featuring Ireland against England.
For well over a century, the stadium grew into an idiosyncratic piece of Dublin's urban fabric. It was a venue defined by its character: the roar of the crowd, the proximity of the stands to the pitch, and the Dublin commuter railway line running directly beneath the West Stand. However, by the dawn of the 21st century, the historic ground's mixture of uncovered terracing and outdated structural facilities meant it could no longer meet modern international standards.
The 2009 Transformation: Rising from the Dust
The final international rugby match at the old ground took place in December 2006, after which demolition began to make way for a state-of-the-art €410 million arena: the Aviva Stadium.
By April 2009, the project was at a critical structural phase. The old terraces were entirely gone, replaced by a massive grid of sweeping structural steel. Photographing this from the North Wall highlights just how much the stadium dominates the local topography; the enormous main trusses were being hoisted into place to support the undulating, translucent polycarbonate skin designed to maximize daylight whilst minimizing the shadow cast on surrounding residential properties. The distinctive low dip in the North Stand was specifically designed to prevent blocking sunlight to the nearby houses on Lansdowne Road. The stadium officially opened its doors in May 2010.
An Now My Canon 1DsIII Disappointment
One of the best cameras that I ever had was the Canon 5D and a Grand Aunt of mine was delighted to see me developing an interest in photography and she left me Euro 15,000 in her will in order to allow me buy a good camera so I purchased a Canon 1DsIII. When I arrived home I discovered that the dealer had charged much less than the advertised retail price - he may have forgotten the charge VAT. I decided to return to the shop and the response was weird - the gentleman behind the counter said that he would have a chat with the manager. On his return he said that they do not negotiate prices but if the camera was too good for me I could return it and get a refund.
Anyway I kept the camera and it did not perform well and in fact it performed so badly that I decided to switch from Canon to Sony Mirrorless. The 1Ds was returned to Canon and it was returned a month later with a report claiming that it performing perfectly. Many years later I discovered that there was a known auto-focus issue and that my camera was from that batch. As I still had the body I borrowed a few Canon Lenses and the camera performed very well in manual mode but when I switched to auto-focus the image quality was unacceptable.
Before its demolition in 2007, Lansdowne Road was the oldest operational international rugby stadium in the world. Its sporting heritage dates back to 1872, when Henry William Dunlop founded the Irish Champion Athletic Club on the site. The very first international rugby match on the grounds took place in 1878, featuring Ireland against England.
For well over a century, the stadium grew into an idiosyncratic piece of Dublin's urban fabric. It was a venue defined by its character: the roar of the crowd, the proximity of the stands to the pitch, and the Dublin commuter railway line running directly beneath the West Stand. However, by the dawn of the 21st century, the historic ground's mixture of uncovered terracing and outdated structural facilities meant it could no longer meet modern international standards.
The 2009 Transformation: Rising from the Dust
The final international rugby match at the old ground took place in December 2006, after which demolition began to make way for a state-of-the-art €410 million arena: the Aviva Stadium.
By April 2009, the project was at a critical structural phase. The old terraces were entirely gone, replaced by a massive grid of sweeping structural steel. Photographing this from the North Wall highlights just how much the stadium dominates the local topography; the enormous main trusses were being hoisted into place to support the undulating, translucent polycarbonate skin designed to maximize daylight whilst minimizing the shadow cast on surrounding residential properties. The distinctive low dip in the North Stand was specifically designed to prevent blocking sunlight to the nearby houses on Lansdowne Road. The stadium officially opened its doors in May 2010.
An Now My Canon 1DsIII Disappointment
One of the best cameras that I ever had was the Canon 5D and a Grand Aunt of mine was delighted to see me developing an interest in photography and she left me Euro 15,000 in her will in order to allow me buy a good camera so I purchased a Canon 1DsIII. When I arrived home I discovered that the dealer had charged much less than the advertised retail price - he may have forgotten the charge VAT. I decided to return to the shop and the response was weird - the gentleman behind the counter said that he would have a chat with the manager. On his return he said that they do not negotiate prices but if the camera was too good for me I could return it and get a refund.
Anyway I kept the camera and it did not perform well and in fact it performed so badly that I decided to switch from Canon to Sony Mirrorless. The 1Ds was returned to Canon and it was returned a month later with a report claiming that it performing perfectly. Many years later I discovered that there was a known auto-focus issue and that my camera was from that batch. As I still had the body I borrowed a few Canon Lenses and the camera performed very well in manual mode but when I switched to auto-focus the image quality was unacceptable.
AVIVA STADIUM