Emergencies?

Bush Fire Aftermath Flowerdale Victoria Australia 2009-03-02 16:05:17

Australia is currently experiencing another bushfire crisis. Bushfires have severely impacted on many parts of the east coast mainly small towns and hamlets that have expanses of bush all the way to the town edge, sometime with only the sea as a barrier to safety. This quote is from The Financial Review by a journalist who lived through it. It resonates with me because technology forms such a large pat of my life.

On the ground where it matters, people have not been tuned into politics or the cricket or Twitter. Technology was largely rendered useless. It was about petrol, cash, food and shelter.

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HASSELBLAD HEROINES [A CELEBRATION OF FEMALE PHOTOGRAPHERS]

Hasselblad Heroines shines a light on female photographers around the globe as they make their mark in what has been typically referred to as a male-dominated industry. Through these weekly spotlights, each Heroine shares their experiences, tips, and inspiration with their Hasselblad to fellow photographers.

Read the full article here

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Rinse and Repeat; a gallery on flickr

One of my favouite features of flickr is the ability to create galleries of other people's work. These can be as simple as 'favourites' or revolve around an idea simple or complex, I have several of these galleries on flickr. Click on the picture above to see the whole gallery.

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The Online Photographer: 2020 OCOLOY: The Joy of Looking and the Satisfaction of Seeing

Photo by David Travis on Unsplash

One camera one year one lens, now there’s an idea I can get behind!
The Online Photographer: 2020 OCOLOY: The Joy of Looking and the Satisfaction of Seeing:

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MOMA, and a Daguerreotype

Lee Ann Daffner (the photography conservator at MoMA) taking care of the Girault de Prangey daguerreotype;that is now on view on the 5th Floor at the Museum. Due to its light sensitivity, this needs to be swapped out within the next few weeks.

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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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Flickr is the world’s largest photographer-focused community.

Flickr is the world’s largest photographer-focused community. Flickr hosts some of the world’s most iconic, most priceless photos, freely available to the entire world. Want a discounted pro membership? Anybody wanting to take up flickr on their 25% off Pro membership offer, use the
Coupon code 25in2019, or click this link.

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Australian Photo History

This weekend was prolific in terms of my online reading. I’m still enjoying my RSS newsfeed  feed. Dr. James McCardle has written an interesting piece on the history of Australian art photography on his blog. I had a brief exchange with Dr. McCardle which  led me to a Wikipedia entry he has written on the history of the photographers gallery and workshop. A space I was involved in heavily in the 1990s. Dr. McCardle's article also  lead to an MA thesis on the history of the ACP, another important photographic institution in the history of Australian photography.

All in all a busy Sunday of reading.

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An accidental thesis on waste and pollution – British Journal of Photography

Another interesting photobook?

David Brandon Geeting’s latest book, Neighbourhood Stroll,  is an object of contradictions. The photographs are alluring, but they depict junk and debris; the design is colourful and bright, but the book itself is weighty; and although the project began as a casual afternoon activity, it developed into an “accidental thesis” on the critical issue of pollution and the climate crisis. 

An accidental thesis on waste and pollution – British Journal of Photography

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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

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Current Exhibition Work

Thanks to Gary for documenting my work and organising the whole exhibition

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Upcoming Exhibition.

I have been invited to exhibit later this year at the Murray Bridge Regional Gallery. I scanned some 5x4 negatives and had them output digitally.
More information on the Mallee Routes Blog

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Arthur Tress

Boy with Hockey Gloves 1968

Arthur Tress was an early inspiration, and one of the early photobooks I bought. Here's a link to his work on All About Photo. There are a handful of images I've not seen before.

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HOW TO SEE with Stephen Shore

"Seeing with a conscious attention.
Seeing with self-awreness" 

Great lessons to be learned.
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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?

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Documentary or Art?

I was fortunate to be recently given an inspection copy of a new publication that explores the idea of documentary photography in the 21st century. Published by  BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS, called DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY RECONSIDERED, by MICHELLE BOGRE. 

It has a collection of essays, profiles and exercises designed for the inexperienced to the professional who uses a camera to create documents. I will find it useful in my teaching moving forward for sure. This paragraph from chapter two, Memory is dynamic, resonates:-

"With our modern understanding of the vicissitudes of photography, how do we reconcile our knowledge of the malleability of the photograph with our cultural reliance on the image as evidence to form our collective memories? Even though critics and scholars debate whether photographs are “true,” generally the viewing public still intuitively or rationally believes that what appears in the photograph existed in front of the camera. Even when almost all digital images are retouched post-production, the public still believes in photographic truth. Viewers might distrust “the media,” but they still believe the photograph. The general audience doesn’t really care about the philosophical nuances of photographic truth. Viewers generally believe that even if photographs are manipulated, the changes are modest, and irrelevant to the truth of the event. In fact, most post-production only alters the original; it doesn’t reconstruct it. Post-production usually doesn’t so completely erase the original image as to negate its indexicality. Viewers also are not engaged in the debate about the profound philosophical difference between analog and digital photography. To them, an image is an image is an image."

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C Roads & Other Adventures?

Borung, Victoria, Australia. 2019-10-18 17:00:01

I spent some time on the road exploring the edges of the Mallee recently. I am working on an idea that is a kind of 20th century flanuer, in a car.

The parameters are simple. I drive for an hour or so on any of the main highways west or north. Then once I leave the freeway or highway attempt to follow only C roads.  Usually I have to cross The Great Dividing Range to really see some changes in environment and culture. This trip the second for the year was no exception. I choose my route by considering the light and the amount of time I may need to get home.

This trip found me in a place called Borung. A small hamlet/village about 30 mins north east of  Wedderburn. The hamlet consisted of a few houses, and a disused wheat silo. Many of the houses were run down, the primary school closed.

I made this image at Borung, but worry is it a trope?

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This week on flickr...

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David Campany Quote

I recently gained access to RMIT’s library, as an alumni. This has many advantages for me. I suspect I will spend a few hours in the space over the upcoming summer holidays. I can also preview books that I am considering buying. One such book is an exhibition catalogue that MOMA published recently to accompany a retrospective of Stephen Shore’s work. It contains several essays by numerous authors. David Campany is one. Mr. Campany writes a short piece about individual images in this book. I found this quote this morning and see it as quite pertinent.

“There is always a tension between the photograph as artwork and document; between choice and automatism; between intention and chance; between system and intuition; between individual image and its place in a body of work; and between what can be known consciously and what can only be felt unconsciously.”
Pg 126 Stephen Shore, MOMA
ISBN 978-1-63345-048-6

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Flickr, Explore and Stats?

My current top 3 most viewed images, above the older 3.

One of SmugMug's promises was to improve the Explore algorithm. Up until this year 3 images had held the top spot fairly solidly. This seems to have changed this year. My current top three most viewed images have all entered that spot in the last few months. So it seems the new owners have made good on the promise. Still a closer examination of the stats show the vast majority of the views coming from Android devices. I wish flickr would allow a more granular approach to these numbers.

Jimbo Boy  at #4 and East Bentleigh  at #6 were for many years my most viewed images. But with North Melbourne hitting top spot briefly in 2018, then the latest three moving the rest down it seems changes are indeed afoot.

For many years this picture was my most viewed; albeit probably for the wrong reasons. It has fallen way down the the list to number 23.

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Vale Harvey Benge [27 July 1944 – 7 October 2019]

Mr. Benge's blog screen grabbed on 14th of October 2019

Although I only knew of Mr Benge via the internet, his presence was warm acknowledged by all who spoke of him. I have added his blog to my links in the sidebar. He was a prolific photobook maker one of which I had the good fortune to purchase over the weekend. I have begun searching his other books too. Lensculture.com has an extensive listing of his projects. [edit 2019-11-11] MomentoPro also have an obituary for Harvey. Doug Spowart also has an obituary on Harvey.

A selection of Harvey Benge's books
as listed by lens culture.

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This week on flickr...

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This week on flickr

Tsimshatsui East, Kowloon City, Hong Kong. 2014-07-06 08:15:47

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Scanned 5x4 film & upcoming exhibition

Along Arumpo Road Circa 1996

Perry's Sandhills, Wentworth circa 1996

Near Broken Hill circa 1996 

Seventh Street, Mildura circa 1996

I had these 5x4 inch Tmax 400 film images scanned by Image Science in North Melbourne recently. They have done an excellent job. I could never had imagined these scanned so well. In addition I am now able to exhibit them.

Until scanning them I was reluctant to make prints especially on large and expensive paper as these images often have defects undetectable on a contact print. Once enlarged of course the defects too are enlarged. Removal of these kinds of defects was never something I learned at college.

Scanning the negs and retouching them using digital tools like photoshop bring these pictures back to life. Given the cheap price of the scans, I may now use this workflow to make large prints of my older 5x4 negatives, for future exhibitions.

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Recent finds

Southbank, Melbourne, Vcitoria, Ausralia. 2019-09-30 12:54:51

Revisiting the location in and around Southbank yesterday delivered some interesting results. I also photographed the torn poster on film using my Hasselbald.

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Infrastructure in Melbourne

Footscray, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2019-09-30 15:54:53

There are 2 major infrastructure projects going on in the west right now. The Westgate tunnel and the Metro rail loop. This is a construction site where the Westgate tunnel will impact on the local environment. I happened past on a other errand today and decided to stop and hunt out any worthwhile pictures. Of course the sites are all shrouded in chain mesh fences. This is where small camera lenses come in handy. They can be poked though the fence for a better composition. More as I revisit this and other sites in my favourite time of the year. The light really starts to develop some character now especially in the evenings.

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Flickr posting increase

Tsimshatsui East, Kowloon City, Hong Kong, 2014-07-06 08:16:45

As I am on term break at the moment I have decided to ramp up my posting to flickr, so far there has been three postings in the past week, up from my usual one.

This image is from my archive from a Hong Kong Holiday in 2014. A time where I was able to flaneur around the city, thanks to the loan of a Android device with local internet connectivity as my guide.

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External reviews of BIFB

Kantor Portrait Prize. Image courtesy of Imaging Insider

Inside imaging a photography trade website has a review of this years Biennial, which had a much different flavour to the preceding years review

There is also an intersting poll on their mainpage, scroll down and see what readers think about the question. "Is it right that BIFB founder, Jeff Moorfoot, is not mentioned on the BIFB website or program?"

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Return Visits...

Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2019-09-26 12:20:32

I returned briefly on Friday the 27th to the site I drove by on Sunday 22nd and discovered much more than I had hoped

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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.

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