Tokyo, fashion house

 Omote-sando dori, Tokyo. The road (dori) running between Hara-juku and Omote-Sando, Tokyo's fashion suburbs. The architecture of the fashion houses Dior, Louis Vitton, Prada and Tod's is as stunning as the designer fashions they are home to. During the winter on a cloudy day the glass and concrete almost blend into the background, a far cry from those that cloth themselves in these stores.

 

Jailbird

Up above King Edward Park are these old, resting, military installations. Late afternoon sun, long shadows, creative model, you can't go wrong...

My City of Sydney

I miss the glow of you..
Is that right. Long time since that piece of musical liquid has slid through my inner ear.

Last weekend. A good one. Just an overnighter, but we packed in the thrills. Galleries, openings, coffees, window (and actual) shopping and the best Sushi salad in town at Jackies in Paddo.

Three images from Paddington....

Walls not Bridges

Not sure what's going on, but everywhere I go I keep running into brick walls. Another addition to the images that were hung earlier this year in The Distracted Sky series.

Trumpet Blowing

The 2012 Kodak Salon run by the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne.

This great rollicking show of Contemporary Photography runs annually in all four galleries of the CCP in George St, Fitzroy. I have hung images in the show for the last three years. Never been down for the opening but would love to one year. It looks like a lot of fun from the image posts, and also would love to be in the midst of so many photographers looking at so many images.

This year would have been a good one to attend, in fact this year I was specifically called and invited. Just checking my catalogue entry and by the way will you be at the opening (wink, wink). This year I had the good fortune to win one of the categories with one of my images. The Kayell Best Inkjet Print. (feeling very chuffed)

Now there are some people who think that making a good inkjet print is just a matter of turning up at the printers and leaving your digital file and collecting the print five days later (who knows why this takes so long sometimes) Not this time jack. I printed this image myself, as I do all of my images. I have a wonderful printer to use, the Epson Pro Stylus 9900, and I printed on a terrific paper, the Hahnmuele Bright 100% Cotton Rag (thanks CW), but as they say, you can't get blood out of a stone.

The good image starts with a good exposure, shadows/highlights etc, preferably on a RAW file. The file is converted to a DNG file and initial adjustments made in Adobe Camera RAW. Brought into Photoshop the image is fine tuned, colour, contrast, local tonal adjustments and sharpening. If you ever look at the way an 'Ansel Adams' works a print you would know that there is nothing straight forward about the process of printing. Honestly I never developed the patience or skill of Mr Adams when I worked in the darkroom. To some extent, but never to his ultra-high level of expertise. Photoshop gives me the time to think about what I want to do. It allows me finesse the highlights and fill out the shadows. It allows me to darken that little area just below the tiles on the facade at the right and enhance the texture of the peeling paint across the centre of the cladding. I can balance the small areas of red with the overwhelming amount of green in the foreground and background. I can take my time and try things out in a way not really possible, for me, in the darkroom. Tools like Photoshop bring us all a little closer to Mr Ansel Adams. Imagine what the master would do with something like Photoshop. Actually I can imagine he would throw it out the back door and stick to the darkroom.

If you have the opportunity and can get down to Melbourne pop into the show. You are bound to see many, many images that surprise and delight you. Thanks CCP

Heading on to Head On - Two Chairs

Head On Photo Festival is again about to be upon us. Well, there is a call for proposals. Today a sneak peak at the work I am putting forward to be exhibited next year.

To be honest I had thought I may skip this year as I have shown in half a dozen exhibitions this year including my solo show in Head On, "The Distracted Sky". The time calling for proposals this year was remarkably short for Head On, and I have been considering putting in a proposal for a show in the Ballarat International Foto Biennale.

However browsing through my image folder I happened upon this idea of two chairs which I had apparently been collecting unconsciously and unawares. I like that.

The series speaks to the notion of companionship, loss and solitude. Two chairs sit patiently, quietly waiting for activity to acknowledge their existence. Alone yet watchfully keeping in place the environment, those who claim this space as their own and the time that passes un-noted and unnoticed.

I'll be dedicating this series, Two Chairs, to my Mum and Dad.

 

Four Seasons in Two Days

Yes I visited the Four Seasons Motel in Soldiers Point. Climbed the turrets and looked into the abyss. Actually this morning we saw a couple of dolphins in the abyss (or Port Stephens to its friends) I circumnavigated the motel, military style, a covert operation. Disguised as a tourist with a camera. Made my way up to the fourth floor viewing platform, and viewed. Not being sure if I am allowed to be there or not is most of the thrill. Besides the thing about high places with low railings.

I'm here for 10 days, two weeks, maybe a bit longer, I walk the streets, the beach, the lane ways and bush tracks. I see and enjoy seeing. Thanks to Henry and Narelle for the opportunity to have a roof over my head during my time in Port Stephens.

Back to Basics

For me composition is the most important element of my image making. Whether the subject is animate or inanimate, and mostly for me it has been inanimate. It's easy to get a wall to smile.






















As I have said before my method of working is instinctive. I don't shoot a lot, but I do shoot often, most days. I try not to shoot anything when I know that it isn't right. It either feels right looking through the lens or it doesn't, and if it doesn't I move on. I watched a film recently, a documentary about William Eggleston. It changed my mind about the man, but not about his work. He was being followed around by a film crew as he roamed the streets shooting with a collection of different cameras his son carried for him. He shot everything, or rather he found something to shoot everywhere he looked. William prints everything he shoots or so he said. William was totally absorbed in his practice. He would see the shot and lock onto it, never allowing any distance until he made the exposure after which he moved on to the next.

I've started walking in the mornings again (this week anyway) The camera is always there. It gives me an excuse to stop sometimes, and sometimes I can't let go of something I've seen and I have to stop. Image making gives me focus and allows me to let go of the now. I am absorbed and alert in the most positive way. It's a meditation, as is the walking part.

Gracie had a little spell in hospital recently. I sat with her for a couple of days. For anyone who knows, it's not a good place to be, whether for visitor or captive. The hospital policy kindly allowed me to bunk down beside her bed overnight. It was good to be there. On the second day, I slipped off for a few moments while Grace slept and made these images. They feel like peace to me. They are as relaxed as I could be in such a place and at such a time. They helped me through so that I could help Grace through. She is on the mend now.

Here she sleeps...

SkyLine

A trip to Melbourne last year delivered these images. Grateful for the overcast days, my G12 lapped up the silvery slivers between the buildings as I dashed from department store awning to tram shelter and back again through the drizzle. The light glorious and shimmering. The buildings clinging joyously to the sky and watching each other shine.

 

 

  

Caught in the ACT

Another day another journey. This time to the ACT the capital of this great big country of ours. The city festooned with neatness and quiet good order. Where the roads all lead everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Where it is impossible to get a neck strain looking at the skyscrapers. Where you can pass a kangaroo, a cow, and a modern townhouse in a freshly built estate all within a one hundred metre stretch of road. Where the weather is a little more than unpredictable and the glorious sunlight has its brightness control stuck on ten.

These images are a brief collection from our recent trip featuring some of the querkeries of our nations political headquarters. It was a short trip but now I have the taste and have been yearning to return. (Thanks J and T)

 

Away with words