New Project

Anannadale Road Tullamarine 2019-08-24 16:23:33

I have begun a new film project based around the edges of Melbourne International Airport. Locally known as Tullamarine or just Tulla. I will be exploring the intersection between  land use and its use for flight.

This morning on flickr...

Sunshine Station,Sunshine, Melbourne, Victoria,Australia 2014-05-14 13.01.33

Part of a large project over on tumblr as well.


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Wandering with a purpose...

2019-08-16 16:44:36

I spent a pleasant afternoon on a tour of Flinders Street station recently. With friends visiting Melbourne. I learned many new things about its design and construction along with some other information about the City and its design as well.


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This morning at work.

2019-08-19 08:19:01

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New Project on Tumblr

2019-07-13 17:17

2019-08-10 17:17

I am about 12 months into this project. I never anticipated the changes that are now going on.

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Meanwhile on Flickr...

Footscray, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2014-01-06 18:58:34

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Everything in photography is a tradeoff

Testing Grounds an experimental ARI near the NGV City Road Southbank
2019-08-01 11:01:56

When I teach students photography I try to stress that there is no perfect fit technically, especially when dealing with natural light and analogue materials. Studio lighting can be “perfect”, but I personally prefer natural light. Of course ideas and concepts go though all kinds shifts and changes as they evolve.

This saying gets trotted out at least weekly. The students enjoy it and by the end of the school year it has been known to illicit groans from them as well.

I originally got the saying from one of my teachers way back at University. In those days making analogue pictures was the only way to get your ideas into a concrete form. Which were usually them exhibited. Although if you were a commercial photographer they could end up as advertisements or billboards or any other form of visual communication.

Analogue photography has many compromises attached to it. Film choice, film format choice, speed and ease of use of cameras based on anticipated outcome, and on and on.

Digital has broadened the horizon somewhat, as you now can for example just ramp up your ISO on your digital camera to achieve a successful result in low light situations. Then use contemporary software to reduce the noise in the file. Still digital sensors are no match for the human eye or brain so some compromise will always occur when making pictures when using a conventional camera and especially when using a smart phone camera.

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The power of images?

Looking South along City Road Southbank from the NGV. 2017-08-01 13:18:11

An op-ed piece in todays Age, by Waleed Aly argues we are being desensitised by imagery, generally. In his argument he specifically mentions climate change.

As an artist this is one of my own biggest concerns. Yes images can move us from stasis to action. Pictures however are not always designed for this. Robert Adams talks about hope and how art can provide this in many of his essays. It is a driving factor in my own work and one that is difficult to articulate both in words and pictures.

Instagram gets a mention in his article. Another discusses its impact on young tweens and teens. Sadly the link is broken but he rightly claims I think that the sheer volume of images we are exposed to on a daily basis makes these kind of responses difficult. This could also be an argument for a bigger return to film. As these images are time consuming to make and difficult to propagate as analogue objects.

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Winners of the 2019 iPhone Photography Awards Announced

NEW YORK – July 25, 2019 – The iPhone Photography Awards (IPPAWARDS) is proud to announce the winners of the 12th Annual Awards. This year’s winners were selected from thousands of entries submitted by iPhone photographers from over 140 countries around the world.

The Grand Prize Winner and Photographer of the Year Award goes to Gabriella Cigliano of Italy for her entry Big Sister.  First, Second and Third Place Photographers of the Year Awards go to Diogo Lage of Portugal for his image Sea Stripes,  Yuliya Ibraeva of Russia for her entry of Sorry, no movie today and Pend Hao of China for his image Come Across.

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in 18 categories were awarded to photographers who represented many countries around the world including Australia, Bahrain, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Peru, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Cary Hazelgrove, one of this year’s jury members, says, “The 2019 entries were off the charts great. Astounding work that pulls the planet together through photographs.”

2019 Winning Photographs

2019 winning Photographers.

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Why I photograph the urban landscape?

Winter light prompted me to get my 5x4 inch monorail camera out.

The subject a pile of rocks in my backyard

I take and make photographs for a variety of reasons, some pleasurable, some emotional, and some intellectual. I also am the kind of person who enjoys working on tactile objects and the way using my hands can be closely aligned with using my mind.

I have been interested in making pictures in the Urban Landscape since 1988. I began my photography studies in 1987. After 2 years I realised I was mostly interested in photographing the landscape and in the context of art. I spent the next 3 years undertaking a fine art degree. This allowed me to think about the what the why and how of art making and could I try and make art this way?

In the beginning my career I was influenced by Ansel Adams, and the idea of a sublime landscape. Images made in his style of similar subject matter were the kind I initially sought to make. As an urban dweller most of my life trips to the ‘wild’ were infrequent and determined by my free time or the weather. But mainly time.

What this meant was it was difficult to really capture imagery that was truly ’sublime'. Free time to travel was also a hindrance to making the kinds of pictures I aspired to. This was is in part due to light. Light in Australia is at its best in the shoulder periods leading up to autumn and spring. Winter light when it shines is also wonderful. Of course light is often best in the magic hour an time of the year. Magic hour in the suburbs is easy to chase, in the outback, not so easily. Most ‘wild or sublime’ locations in Melbourne are at a minimum one hours drive away. So getting to this kind of location is time consuming and can be difficult, even with a car. The urban landscape is all around me. I can catch public transport there if I need and even on occasion walk.

While at University I was introduced to Joe Deal’s work. In particular the San Andreas Fault series [see image from sofomoma.org below]. The idea that images of a constructed or altered landscape could be valuable and interesting helped me look in other directions and think about my own story. Other Photographers and Artists I was introduced to in this period included, Robert Adams, Frank Gohkle, Hille and Bernd Becher, Lewis Baltz, Henry Wessel Jr., No urban landscape photographer worth their salt can neglect to mention the pivotal 1976 exhibition at George Eastman House, “New Topographics, pictures of a man altered landscape” either.

Joe Deal, Brea, California,

from the portfolio The Fault Zone, 1979, printed 1981

I go to a place internally in my mind. A place that is hard to describe but very beneficial. It engages my brain in a way where I focus on the moment like no other activity I engage in. Time disappears. Time becomes just a series of small decisions. Left? Right? Up? Down? More exposure less exposure, wait; lots of waiting. Looking without thinking and at the same time only looking and thinking?

Projects? Everyone has a project. Pictures however are only ever pictures. We attach meaning and substance to them as a consequence. one day early in July the light was magnificent, as it often is in Melbourne mid winter. I went outside and made some pictures with both colour and black and white film, in 120mm and large format. Because the light struck me as well as the mood , and because it felt right. Is this a project? Does it not being a project make it invalid work? How do I take years worth of these images and make then into a valid narrative?

People are talking about surveillance capitalism a lot these days. The places I like to go are often bereft of security cameras, but can also be bristling with them. I’ve been asked rightfully and wrongfully to leave several areas in and around Melbourne over the years. If there are no cameras around I am truly alone in a large city. Something that means more to me s I get older.

Making pictures using  camera, especially a film camera gives a level of purpose that very little else in life gives me. The entire process is somewhat meditative. From exposure in camera to final prints.

In the end I make images of the urban for several  reasons. 

For the geography.
As Autobiography.
As Metaphor

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Visibility on flickr?

My flickr stats for the 21st July 2019!

Last week saw another new record for my views on flickr, with my most viewed picture being one that I had uploaded only a day or two  previously. As of today, the image is the most viewed in my entire stream sitting at a figure north of 70,000 views!

Sadly there is no real info on the traffic and where it comes from or why. All I can say is, the majority of the views came from mobile devices and were split evenly between Android and iOS.

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Swanston Street

SLV, Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2019-07-26 11:52:04

The sculpture outside the SLV.

State Library Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world. The Library's vast collection includes over two million books and 350,000 photographs, manuscripts, maps and newspapers, with a special focus on material from Victoria, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook. It also houses some of the original armour of Ned Kelly. The Library is located in the northern centre of the central business district, on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets.

I photograph here on and off and find winter is the best time for this particular picture. The sun is usually lower in the sky, the trees have no foliage and signs of rain help too. The concrete blocks in the middle ground right are a new addition to the scene since there has been one instance of a car being used as a weapon on the streets of the CBD recently.


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Meanwhile; this morning on flickr

I used to make pictures of all the abandoned shopping trollies in Sunshine, as I stumbled upon them. They reside on flickr

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Wandering around...

2019-07-20 15:03:12 [37°41'35.621" S 145°0'22.692" E]

I was drawn to the incongruous nature of this image in a commercial plant nursery in front of barb wire.

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TYAT & TBT [Lake Mungo Sunrise]

Lake Mungo Sunrise 2009-07-18 07:48:54

Tens years ago today I was on an extended field trip with Latrobe University and a group of American exchange students, touring outback New South Wales.

I was also about to realise I was at the darkest point in my life. I survived thanks to my gorgeous wife and my Doctor.

This spectacular sunrise was only a handful of pictures I made on this trip.


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Emmet Gowin on Ralph Eugene Meatyard

A quick image search on 12/07/2019 at 11:00am

produces a plethora of  images by Ralph Eugene Meatyard

I recently purchased a book/catalogue of an exhibition of Ralph Eugene Meatyards work. The exhibition was held at the University of Kentucky Art Museum, from the 8th of September to the 9th of December 2018. The book contains images of his work that I had not seen before. It also contains short pieces of text by other artists who respond to or knew him. Emmet Gowin is one such artist.

This is the image from page 103

and is the one refereed to by Emmet Gowin

He is one of the few modernist photographers from America who I have the good fortune to spend a little time with. He came to Australia in the mid 1990s, and ran a seminar and gave a lecture. I was privileged to be able to attend both.


Here is his quote from page 102.

“This time the mask is in here hand. This tie the mask isn't needed, nature has provided the transformation.

Normally, the female adult in Gene’s pictures is his wife Madelyn. This time I’m unsure. And still, i think it is. For there is a rare level of intimacy in this image, of warm flesh, the whole body is ready and moving forward. And there is a ripeness, a willow thinness, and the sensuous curve of her jaw and chin and the fullness of her breasts. Thisis a real women fully alive.

In 1966 when this image was made, Gene was at the height of his visionary powers. We first mt the next year. I had just finished Graduate school and was beginning to teach in Ohio. Even before we settled in, a postcard arrived from Gene: “We hear you are ging to be good, send me your thesis, I want to show it at Eyeglasses of Kentucky.” Happily, I already recognised Gene as one of the three most important visionary photographers in America, so I did not hesitate.

Over the next five years we met at least a dozen times. In 1970, Gene travelled to Dayton to meet photographer-philosopher Frederick Sommer. Each recognized the other as a Master Artist. In spite of the many differences there was a genuine kinship. Both were visionaries of the fist order.”Life itself is not the reality. We are the ones who put life into stones and pebbles.” Sommer tells us. “If we did not dream, reality would collapse.”*

The work of Ralpg Eugen Meatyard is the work of an American original. Everything about his photography speaks for and of the right and importance of human imagination,If we did not dream, life would be less interesting.
*Frederick Sommer, “Frederick Sommer: 1939-1962 Photographs: Words Not Spent Today Buy Smaller images Tomorrow,” Aperture 10, no, 4[40] (1962): 163

The images in the book are finely reproduced even though many I have never seen before.

To hear a story about the relationship between two of my favourite photographers being described in such glowing terms make me glad I do what I do.

Roger Ballen also has a quote, along with Duanne Michals & Marvin Heiferman.

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Ways of Seeing Algorithmically

Lewis Bush is going to republish John Berger's seminal work Ways of Seeing to include and examine AI and machine vision. Excited!

"...I am currently in the progress of reworking and updating ‘Ways of Seeing’. Just as Berger’s book sought to educate audiences about the ways we perceive and interpret art, my project ‘Ways of Seeing Algorithmically’ aims to do something similar for the new visual system of algorithms and artificial intelligences, helping audiences understand how these technologies see and understand the world around us. 

To do this, material drawn from my research into artificial intelligence is overlaid on to the pages of ‘Ways of Seeing’ in a way which creates contrasts and juxtapositions between Berger’s text and images and my own. In doing this I will also collaborate with Richard Hollis, the original designer of ‘Ways of Seeing’, in order to ensure the update remains true to the original."

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Uber?

I've long had my reservations about Uber and their ilk. I used to drive Cabs while I was at University. But Uber eats is so convenient. Until things go wrong, which they did recently. I am awaiting some response to my query about the outcome of a recent order that went pear shaped. In the process of trying to wok out how to complain using a desktop computer, I found this site.
It's a place for Uber workers to hang out and "network". Interesting reading. Making a complaint on an iPhone is dumbed down to an FAQ. If the FAQ does not have a suitable respose you can then submit a query in a form with a single input field.

The Uber app itself is an app that works well on a phone, provided things go well. When unexpected things occur, mysteriously cancelled orders for example, the ability to find some recourse is impossible. The app designers make the arrogant assumption that everyone always knows how to use the app and never consider something may go wrong. Even getting help on the phone app is truncated to a single field input value. This field does not allow for a long and complicated explanation. I wrote my complaint in an email. I then to tried email it with no luck as the email  bounced. Then I just cut and pasted the complaint in the single form field on the website version in the FAQ section. Try doing all that on an iPhone!

A single input field, no clarification on how many characters

or any way of reviewing it

Edit 12:38
I have had my issue resolved. Still the process was not as easy and intuitive as it could be. I also didn't get the real reimbursement I felt I deserved. The first cancelled order had a discount code applied. The second was full priced. I was reimbursed the cheaper of the two meals.


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It's all about the light!

Kensington, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2012-09-26 15:18:03

This picture was made on a solo photo-stroll in 2012 using only my humble iPhone. It was a pleasant surprise, as I trawled my archive looking for something to upload to flickr on Saturday morning. This is how I treat my flickr stream as a reverse order gallery hang. A stream of consciousness approach to displaying imagery in a screen based context.

What struck me as I looked at it was the delicate play of light and how the scene was almost luminous. A rare treat in the southern hemisphere and a real technical bonus for digital capture devices.

Software like Lightroom means that I can locate and manipulate these kinds of picture easily. As software improves then our ability to find and edit them also improves. Archives have always been important to me. Digital ones are easy to search and keep organised with a minimum of fuss.

Another reason I like to use flickr to upload and share work is the way I can draw connections between images. This image for example is in several 'albums'. Albums are a way to organise your photographs into larger ideas, from the most simple like date, to camera, or some other idea behind the image. The albums this picture is in are, 2012, psychogeography, still life, vertical, iPhone/s, it doesn't get any bigger than this.

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Manhattan Skyline

Manhattan Skyline 2019-06-12 14:44:06

When I am driving round places I’m not familiar with and am not a driver, I like to make pictures of the view as I go and see what things look like photographed. Gary Winogrand is famously quoted for this idea. What difference does it make though when the element of chance is added by pressing the shutter button and not really being sure of what you are capturing?

 

This is an experiment I attempt when I’m a passenger. Occasionally I receive some interesting results. I like in this instance how the flag is floating freely on the left and the flag on the  flagpole on the right is not moving. The black black adverting sign adds to the mystery I feel.

 

I have to confess it is difficult to make good and interesting pictures when visiting a foreign city as a tourist. In fact if I am at the mercy of guides and other people, or English is not the first language, I find it very difficult to make good pictures. However in a city where English is the standard language, and I feel comfortable enough to wander aimlessly, then sometimes I rewarded with good pictures. Our recent trip to New York City, should have provided this, sadly though we ran out of time.

 

Some observations about New York City. This was our third visit with a high likelihood of I being our last. Each trip was too short even though they got longer each time, with the most current one being 12 days. There seems to be large swathes of empty blocks once you were far enough away from areas like Times Square. The amount of homelessness was by far the most apparent this trip. We encountered several local New Yorkers in service industries like restaurants. Some shops and stores seemed to employ men who looked as old if not older than me. In a country where the minimum wage is quite low, I’m taken aback by this. Sadly I never got the chance to speak at length to these people. We met and spoke at length to Laticia. She was living in Brooklyn, and was working in a chemist chain store called CVS. Very funny with lots of interesting things to say. We probably spent more money there than needed but it was so much fun. We also went on a 'Crime Tour', led by a former NYC policeman. He had lived in Little Italy, in the east Village all his life along with several generations of his family. He claimed his grandfather sold alcohol during prohibition. Had seen several crime figures in his life as a teenager running errands and as a cop. All good fun.

 

I got to visit some great exhibitions while in NYC and may share some thoughts on them in the future. Let me say this much I have a much greater respect now for Robert Mapplethorpe after seeing his retrospective exhibition at the Guggenheim. It was weird seeing Gary Winogrand’s work in colour at the Brooklyn Museum, and Jeff Wall’s current exhibition on at the Gagoisian was 98% gold, one picture felt contrite the rest huge and inspiring.

Gary Winnogrand's famous Brooklyn Zoo image in colour!

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Call for submissions?

The Equal Standard Broadzine is Australia’s best free independent press publication, bringing you the world in the raw. We turn the spotlight on life as we know it to inform, intrigue and provoke.

They have a callout for submissions

BIFB 2019

Liu Bolin, Balloon No. 1, 2012 [detail]

This years program for the Ballarat International Photo Biennale has been announced. The headline Artis this year is LIU BOLIN. An artist whose work I am familiar with albeit on a small scale. As for the general paying public maybe not so much, and at $18.00 we shall see. It forms part of the core program.  I enjoyed David Lachapples work in 2017, also part of the core program, there were no surprises in his work however. I can imagine that Liu’s work will have a similar appeal to many people again this year.

I have been attending the Biennalle since it first opened in Daylesford. It was 2007. The venues were varied and iconoclastic, I remember old mills partially open to the air and small shops and even pubs, housing exhibitions across the region. Jeff Moorfoot was the man responsible and what a great advocate for photography he was and remains to this day. Over the years there has been some amazing work and the festival continues to go from strength to strength. A new National Centre of photography is being built in Ballarat as well, at 4 Lydiard St South, Ballarat. The Biennale is a feature on the calendar of the Photographic art wold here in Victoria, if not Australia. Next year we are also having another large photography festival Photo 2020. International Festival of Photography 23.4 - 10.5.2020 Melbourne and beyond. All in all a great couple of years on the horizon.


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Photobooks

All 16 books I purchased

Photobooks form a large part of my creative practice. This has been the case since the late 1980s. I was first introduced to photobooks at University by my lecturers there. Photobooks have continued to be a driving force and inspiration in much of my work. They of course also allow me to access photographer’s monographs and bodies of work even before the internet expanded that access. On a recent trip to New York City I took the opportunity to access the vast supply of books available to me at both galleries and bookshops. I came home with about 16 books. Some new, some second hand and one book that I had never thought I would see again after lending my copy to a former student.

The books are:-

• The Secret Paris of the 30's [Brassai]
• The Beautiful Mysterious: The Extraordinary Gaze of William Eggleston…
• Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Stages for Being
• Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills
• Robert Mapplethorpe: Polaroids
• Robert Mapplethorpe: The Photographs
• Joel Sternfeld: iDubai
• Color Photography: A Working Manual by Henry Horenstein
• Mirrors and Windows: American Photography since 1960
• Martin Parr: Life's a Beach
• Richard Ross: Architecture of Authority
• Robert Frank: Hold Still, Keep Going
• Down to Earth: Boyle Family in New Zealand
• Bill Wood's Business: Text by Diane Keaton, Marvin Heiferman
•  Ed Ruscha: Los Angeles Apartments

Once I have time to digest their contents I may share some thoughts here.

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Gripped...

2019-06-09 14:42:18

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Lonely Heart [CVS NYC]

2019-06-04 15:52:07

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Layers, textures and light

2019-06-06 17:51:42

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Walking...

2019-06-06 15:40:09

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Timing is everything

Outside MOMA, 2019-06-05 17:31:49

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TYAT [rinse and repeat]

2009-06-06 07:53:39

Ten years ago today I was obviously in Hong Kong. I was also fortunate enough to be able to spend most of my time walking and photographing. A rarity when I travel with my gorgeous wife. My iPhone and Canon G11 are still 12 months away. I think I may have even shot film on this trip? Some of which has made it to flickr of course!

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Chelsea, NYC

2019-06-04 14:14:19

Chelsea Market in Chelsea New York City, New York, is an upscale market in a revamped industrial building in the meatpacking district of Manhattan. Chelsea Market was constructed in the 1890s and was originally the site of the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) factory complex where the Oreo cookie was invented and produced. The complex was redeveloped in the 1990s and features a retail concourse at ground level with office space above. Chelsea Market is currently owned by Alphabet Inc., parent company of Google.*

We wandered through on a Monday, early afternoon and the place seem busy enough. I personally would describe the place as hipster, or at worst a tourist cliche. The space is highly designed in a way I feel that perhaps 10 years ago was new and ground breaking but now is a little predictable. The vendors seemed to be predominantly food vendors with Mexican, Italian and other food styles well represented. Outside this building however, I see many empty shops. Leaving me to wonder about the state of the economy in the USA.

Despite all this I felt compelled to take out my phone camera and make this picture. I was drawn by the  retro analogue TV with it's white noise. No doubt chosen for its retro look. I felt it surmised the space well as just that, white noise. It wasn't until the next day the I realised the woman on the right was wearing glasses on her head.

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