January Skies?

I have been taking advantage of the unusual weather patterns here in Melbourne at the moment. Usually summer means bright blue skies, not a cloud to be seen and heat. This was how it had been until a few days ago.  Combine this with a recent discussion I had with Gary in South Australia had me visiting some locations I don't often frequent, well enough anyway. Mainly because they don't fit into my ongoing project on Sunshine. Today of course was an exception as the clouds and skies were much more interesting than usual. I have spent quite a lot of time outside making pictures these last few days. Mostly digital though.

Gary and I discussed the Kororoit creek while I was staying with him. The creek itself runs though Sunshine and has various paths and tracks along it. The creek eventually goes out to Port Phillip Bay at a place called Altona. Altona has several refineries and a lot of low lying ground. This makes for challenging pictures, even on public land. Today’s skies were a bonus though. Melbourne’s only road that has a ford is here too. This floods periodically and was indeed flooded today. This didn't stop several people mainly in 4 Wheel Drive vehicles from crossing the creek. Altona abuts another suburb with a rich history, Williamstown. I spent the day criss-crossing the boundaries of the two.

2020-01-23 11:08:33 Racecourse Road, Williamstown facing north west near the ford created by Kororoit Creek

2020-01-23 11:15:21 Racecourse Road, Williamstwon facing south east, the ford in the middle ground

2020-01-23 11:09:44 Werribee train line, with refinery infrastructure in the background

2020-01-23 11:12:01 Dead trees, and Werribee train line, with refinery infrastructure in the background

2020-01-23 11:41:34 Soccer field in front of refinery at Altona.

Website | Tumblr | Flickr | Twitter | Instagram

Some early year ruminations.

West Sunshine, 2020-01-09 17:05:05

I am no fan of best of lists or end of year lists at all.

I will never write about gear. I envy after several pieces of kit. But they are all mostly on the 2nd hand market these days.

I write here for two reasons, to practice my writing skills, both generally and as I consider my PHD application at some point in the future. Oh and to showcase some of the work I am working on. This image to the right is from my ongoing Sunshine Project, on tumblr
Here’s a list of projects I am working on as they're called these days:-

• Sunshine, postcode 3020 and its changes using both film and digital, the film idea is titled  'Sunshine in Silver Stanza 1 though X', the digital work lives online on tumblr [pc3020.tumlr.com]. For now.
• Several photobooks in various stages of pre-prodcution and a handful completed listed on my main website a link will be added once my technological issues are resolved.
• Collage and montage projects, these have just this year begun. After many years of gestation. The plan is for them to be small cheap 6x 4 postcards.
• A small group of pictures currently titled ‘A Winter Mornings Walk’, inspired by Robert Adams’ work Summer nights. [silver gelatin a work in progress final size to be determined]
• A series of silver gelatin prints I have printed and exhibited twice called Maps.
• A series of silver gelatin prints about bridges all shot on 5x4 film and more than 20 years unfinished.
• A series of silver gelatin prints on the urban landscape from both 5x4 film and 120 film black and white.
• A small type C print series of pictures near on and around the Ring road M8 freeway, in progress.
• Two  of tumblrs that explore time and place one at work  the other at home as well as a tumblr of pictures uploaded on the the fly that are loosely curated in any order that suits, the only connection being visual from picture to picture
• A large box of polaroids that needs editing down to a book.
• One tentative exhibition has been proposed but is still in the verbal discussion phase.
• Working on the South Eastern fringes of the Mallee, and the rural towns in-between
• C Roads and other Adventures a digital psychogeographic exploration of Victoria, or anywhere else I wander with "purpose" 
• Pictures of nothing or as I like to call it Neo-Documentary

Website | Tumblr | Flickr | Twitter | Instagram

Empty Spaces

2019-10-29 13:38:06

Northland Shopping Centre. The rear delivery area looking dishevelled and empty. Possibly a rare moment of stillness?

Website | Tumblr | Flickr | Twitter | Instagram

This week on flickr...

Website | Tumblr | Flickr | Twitter | Instagram

Drive-by Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2019-09-22 16:24:32

This area is changing rapidly in ways I've not noticed before.
we were driving home after lunch at the famous Rockpool Bar & Grill. To celebrate my wife's birthday. It is always a great experience.
We are leaving the casino complex's car park and heading down Kingsway.

Website | Tumblr | Flickr | Twitter | Instagram

Spring is on its way

2019-09-03 17:29:44

Driving though the CBD on Tuesday night the light was resplendent.

Website | Tumblr | Flickr | Twitter

BIFB 2019 impressions

Interior National Centre for Photography

2019-08-25 15:05:00

I had my first visit to this years Ballarat International Foto Biennale. It was a Sunday. It was a typical cold winters day in Ballarat. Which is often colder than Melbourne being at a higher altitude. I was surprised by the lack of crowds, given it was the second day of the festival. I focused on the core program.

I was also very interested to see the new National Centre for Photography as well. The exhibition there titled Capital was engaging thought provoking and several works stunning visually. Sadly one projection/movie wasn’t running,  but overall the work was professional and worth exploring. The rest of the work on show at the new National Centre for Photography required a return visit two days later. The second visit revealed work that was eclectic and engaging even if some of the subject matter was difficult to encapsulate in one exhibition. The building so far is well fitted out and the exhibition spaces a mixture of sizes and scales making them a great venue for small photographic exhibitions. One exhibition I visited 2 days later had large scale prints.

As I do every Biennale, I photographed the wall in Police Lane, I have an ongoing album on flickr as well. [The image below will be uploaded when the time is right.]

 Police Lane, Ballarat  2019-08-27 13:51:51

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

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 agriculture, urban landscape and international jet travel with its related infrastructure.

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

This morning on flickr...

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

Part of a larger project over on tumblr as well.


Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

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.


Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

This morning at work.

2019-08-19 08:19:01

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

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.

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

Meanwhile on Flickr...

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

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

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

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

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.


Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

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.

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

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.


Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

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.

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

Final Day!

2019-05-11 14:59:46

Today, Saturday the 25th of May is the final day for my solo exhibtion. If you're in Melbourne, swing by say Hi! Closing time is officially three but I am open to negotiations.

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr

Last night walking home...

2019-05-24 17:25:33

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr