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Showing posts with label urban landscape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban landscape. Show all posts
2020/02/03
New Tumblr
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2020/01/23
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.
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| 2020-01-23 11:08:33 Racecourse Road, Williamstown facing north west near the ford created by Kororoit Creek |
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| 2020-01-23 11:15:21 Racecourse Road, Williamstwon facing south east, the ford in the middle ground |
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| 2020-01-23 11:09:44 Werribee train line, with refinery infrastructure in the background |
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| 2020-01-23 11:12:01 Dead trees, and Werribee train line, with refinery infrastructure in the background |
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| 2020-01-23 11:41:34 Soccer field in front of refinery at Altona. |
2020/01/08
Flickr is AWESOME!
![Tottenham, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2004-10-10 17:57:32 [Aluminium]](https://live.staticflickr.com/1/1256688_a9c235dddf_z.jpg) |
| The second picture that I uploaded to flickr in 2004. |
I have been a flickr.com pro user since 2004.* I have invested heavily in its service for my own creative needs and to share with a larger community. Now with the NBN I also backup all my jpegs and tiff files. I have unlimited storage and bandwidth for about $75.00 AU per year. It is worth every cent. If you care about your photographs and want to keep them safe and not be used as some kind of ad or artificial intelligence fodder then consider using flickr as a minimum to store your work, but consider getting involved as well. Smugmug as the new owners are doing a great job with flickr. I see no reason why SmugMug would allow this great service to fade! Don't just listen to me I am biased after all; 16 years of biased in fact, Read this article if you need some clarification. Ferdy Christant says it in much more detail, more eloquently and logically than I ever could. Follow me s2art. Or not. Flickr is still the best place in the world to share and store your photographs!
* This is not a paid endorsement, although I have used flickr daily since 2004. I continue to enjoy it and use it creatively and socially and now as a secondary backup service.
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2019/12/22
Focus is overrated!
I was out having lunch with friends, recently. The weather was not conducive to one’s health. The smoke from the bushfires raging in NSW had drifted south. A blanket of smoke covered Melbourne. We had hoped to have a drink in a little rooftop bar in Carlton. It was closed due to weather! But I did mange to fire off a couple of pictures. Sadly I was too quick for the camera’s focussing function to activate, so, the pictures are all out of focus. Still perhaps it amplifies the mood!
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2019/12/14
Before and After Photographs of Industrial Towns | PDN Photo of the Day
Creatively life has hit a bit of a quiet place right now.
For a brand range of reasons I have moved away from mainstream social media and am using an RSS new reader to engage with the wider world of photography and blogs.
This link turned up in my feed this morning and is the kind of work that really resonates with me. It is by John Davies and is a book of work about the changing urban landscape spanning over a decade of work by him.
Before and After Photographs of Industrial Towns | PDN Photo of the Day
Website | Tumblr | Flickr | Twitter | Instagram
For a brand range of reasons I have moved away from mainstream social media and am using an RSS new reader to engage with the wider world of photography and blogs.
This link turned up in my feed this morning and is the kind of work that really resonates with me. It is by John Davies and is a book of work about the changing urban landscape spanning over a decade of work by him.
Before and After Photographs of Industrial Towns | PDN Photo of the Day
Website | Tumblr | Flickr | Twitter | Instagram
2019/10/30
2019/08/25
New Project
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| 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.
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2019/08/19
2019/08/10
2019/07/31
Why I photograph the urban landscape?
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Winter light prompted me to get my 5x4 inch monorail camera out.
The subject a pile of rocks in my backyard
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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.
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.
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Joe Deal, Brea, California,
from the portfolio The Fault Zone, 1979, printed 1981
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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.
In the end I make images of the urban for several reasons.
For the geography.
As Autobiography.
As Metaphor
As Autobiography.
As Metaphor
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2019/07/27
2019/06/29
It's all about the light!
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| Kensington, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2012-09-26 15:18:03 |
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
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
2019/06/07
2019/06/01
Answers found;
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| Urban landscape from my archives; location unknwn |
...even when not really looking is a pure gift.
I’ve never found pure wilderness very interesting. Walking through Tasmania or the South Island of New Zealand is very beautiful but not actually interesting to me. But coming across a pair of old stone gates in an overgrown landscape on the outskirts of Rome, that’s kinda sexy.’Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Flickr
Bill Henson
2019/05/25
2019/05/24
Yarraville 2009-04-24
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| 2009-04-24 15:05:01 |
In May 2009 I was wandering with my Nikon camera chasing that killer shot of some of my favourite subject matter. I have always been interested in pictures of infrastructure. Gaining access to these paces is very difficult so making pictures from outside and using the external elements as an aid to composition is all that one can do. I got extra lucky on this day, a Sunday. A worker wandered through my scene adding a scale element to the picture.
Looking at this picture so many years later I realise how much my technique has changed. Software has moved forward too. The commonly held wisdom in the 2000s was, underexpose. The idea being to not overexpose your highlights. Now with RAW file formats on almost every camera I use this is no longer the case. I now expose to the right, ie overexpose. This then captures as much data as I can in the low values. If the subject brightness range is too large care still needs to be taken. I have overexposed up to 1 1/3 stops on overcast days, but usually on 1/3 of a stop on days with too much contrast.
Looking at this picture so many years later I realise how much my technique has changed. Software has moved forward too. The commonly held wisdom in the 2000s was, underexpose. The idea being to not overexpose your highlights. Now with RAW file formats on almost every camera I use this is no longer the case. I now expose to the right, ie overexpose. This then captures as much data as I can in the low values. If the subject brightness range is too large care still needs to be taken. I have overexposed up to 1 1/3 stops on overcast days, but usually on 1/3 of a stop on days with too much contrast.
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2019/05/18
2019/05/17
2019/05/12
Devastation?
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| https://theanthropocene.org |
Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier in The Anthropocene Project, an ambitious multimedia endeavor that includes a photo book, a documentary (it will debut at the Toronto Film Festival in September), and a series of virtual reality experiences.
More on wired.com
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2019/05/03
Winter is coming!
Melbourne's CBD from the Dynon road bridge looking south east. The light got really harsh not long after.
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| 2019-05-01 12:00:27 |
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