Urban Features

It feels as though I've started collecting new things. But I haven't. I've just noticed that I've been collecting these things all of this time, and just not realised. I've called these things 'urban features' because that's what they are. They are the furniture (literally sometimes) that we live with.

I continue to watch the world around me, and I was going to say, crumble away. I don't mean that as a bad thing. Another quote from a young Woody Allen, "I read in the paper that all matter is decaying" Young Woody was trying to use this as an excuse not to do his homework, "What's the point" (Annie Hall)

It's interesting the amount of things that people want and then don't want. The cycle of life and death, decay and recomposition. The things I am drawn to are myriad. I know I'll never have the time to survey them all, but I'm on holidays right now so I'm going to give it a red hot go.

More Friends

Just adding a bit more to yesterdays post. More friends includes some shots I did a couple of weeks ago. More visitors who couldn't say no?

Friends of Friends

My daughters have some lovely friends. Some of whom come to visit and stay over. It's a special time in that I get to see kids of my children's age behaving nicely, politely and with respect. This behavior also has the flow on effect of somehow influencing my own children to adopt a similar approach around the house, at least for the time their friend is about.

There is another benefit that comes from these visits, and that is unending source of models for my photographic experimentation. One such friend new to the modelling world made a recent visit. It is always lovely to have this friend around and, I believe she enjoyed the session in front of the camera as much as I was pleased with the results. Thanks to you FH.

Orange in Black and White

Just last week Clare and I set off on another road trip adventure. South-west into the cold mountain air and the colours of autumn. Perversely I have chosen to render these images as toned Black and Whites. They are toned to a sepia, so the colours are at least slightly heading back to the orange of the title. Here the lady of the manor sits in quiet contemplation wondering, where did I leave my iPhone.

We had five lovely days on the road (less one day off for good behaviour). First we returned to an old favorite town, Bathurst. A visit to the Regional Gallery and some top nosh at the local Angus beef specialist. We had the Barra and the pizza (no cheese which raised the eyebrows on our waitress) starting off with dips, tapenade, olive oil and balsamic and more crostini than I could jump over.

Next stop Orange, where all of these images were taken. We stayed at the the Duntryleague Guesthouse. An amazing colonial home. We had the chapel. Disappointed as the Regional Gallery was in the midst of a changeover, however they still had one gallery operating with an inspiring selection of drawings from their collection. Some wonderful work there including some very fine drawings by John Forrester Clack.

Dubbo was the site of the third Regional Gallery on our list. We had a disappointing beginning in dear old Dubbo. I think we could have just kept on driving but it was getting late. We stayed the night in a brick fortress planning an early start after running through the gallery at top speed. How wrong our plans were to be. The exhibition Dream Weavers was the best show I have seen in a long while. And that was not all, the other two shows were also show stoppers in their own way. Lagau Dunalaig (island lifestyle), Brian Robinson and Joel Sam, two Torres Straight Islanders and excellent Printmakers. The work was spectacular beyond my initial expectations. We had coffee (and nearly toast) in the sun and chatted with the gallery manager and ended up having a very nice time indeed.

Images of the grounds at our lodgings in Orange - the Duntryleague Guest House.

New portraits

Not to be out done by her kid sister, Grace dons some fine fashions and steps into the spotlight for a session of itchy, hot clothes and trying not to smile too much or too little.

So happy to have such helpful kids to step up and suffer the glare for their father. Grace's favorite curry tonight is the reward. Olive played the role of stylist (mainly hair) and studio assistant when the need arose.

New Post

Moving forward with this project and finding new things all the time. I'm looking at Edward Muybridge and Sol Lewitt at the moment and there god almighty huge influence in the art world. Take it as bankable that I will be continuing this series with gusto and aiming for exhibition in a gallery space in the future.

Shopping Spree

Some new fashions for the girl. After a day in the shops here is some of the new gear we came home with. I'm thinking that we did pretty good.

Of course any excuse to turn the new flash gear on to get a snap of my girls flash new gear.

Let there be new lights

Oh yeah, just got myself some new lights. The highly acclaimed Einsteins by Mr Paul C Buff.

They arrived on friday and having been playing over the weekend. These lights are a major advance on the old Balcars I've been using for the last 20 years. They do everything I need and more. One of the things that sold me was that they happened to take the same fittings as my Balcar gear. So, my soft boxes, umbrellas, reflectors and grid spots all fit the new lights. Now that's a bargain. Mostly though, they are just really functional good quality lights. Easy to use from scratch, excellent colour stability and an awesome variable power range.

Low Key with Miss Clare

Surveying the vast world

Here is another in the Survey series of images. Does this image capture all there is to know about it's subject? Do I now own the subject of these images? What is the subject?

Destined for greater things than this humble blog.

Survey #2

I'm moving forward with something I believe in.