Living in the Clouds

Last week I had the great good fortune of house sitting a painters home and studio in the clouds, with Newcastle noisily rumbling past at its feet.

Overseeing the mighty steel and coal port, cargo ships coming and going, storms arriving and leaving almost with the frequency of the ships. A mighty experience and an even money  challenger to what was going in the studio itself. Having experienced the painting process on a couple of occasions I had decided that if possible to capture I'd attempt to photograph the studio where Dino Consalvo lets go of everything and his paintings are born.

Man's Best Friend

Again a couple of snaps of some of the puppies I have met on my travels. These guys are hanging about protecting their homes. One cranky lil' snapper and these other two sad looking fellows locked in with the deception that they own the place.

Everyones Best Friend

I have a friend who loves dogs. She fosters neglected dogs at her home and when a new owner comes along, with a tear in her eye she farewells her four legged friend. She does this selflessly and totally out of love for an often forgotten minority.

Spending more and more time making images on the coast, particularly around the ocean baths of Newcastle I started to pick up on the number of dogs that were out taking people for a walk. Starting to watch the dogs as they passed I realised that they were already sussing me.

I began to note that there was a fearless eye contact being made by almost every dog I passed. Whereas it's often difficult to engage a fellow human eye to eye, the humble K9 is totally up for it. As the human cruises coolly by, trailing haplessly behind and sticking to the correct side of the path, the dog is making full eye contact as it passes by. It's almost a staring contest, and they never blink first.

I decided to start responding to their gaze and snap some images. They are truly the perfect subject. Completely relaxed under the stare of the lens. Humble and unselfconscious. Full of emotional responses and comfortable with the display of any emotion they happen to be feeling from moment to moment, love or rage, joy or sorrow.

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?

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.

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.

A step back in time...

Barely enough time to scratch myself today or any day in the last six weeks (you can't imagine how itchy I've been) I wanted to get another post up before Jan ended, so here it is.

I've been traveling for the whole of the holiday break to places near and far. I want to put up some images from those travels but I honestly don't know where to start. So, I've gone back to the beginning and placed one image that I took just as the holidays were beginning.

I like these images the people are always smiling for me.

There will be much more to come...

A couple of randoms

Just throwing in a couple of random images from last time in Melbourne. No meaning to glean. I just liked the images when I saw them and I have finally got them on the road. That's all.

There are many more to come....

Into the Black

Neil Young once sang 'Out of the blue and into the Black' Well that's were we are headed. It's been a wait but well worth it for me. The Black is where it all is. There is light and there are the after effects, I'm talking old school here. Whatever is touched by the light, and that's what I want, to be touched, swamped and overwhelmed by the light.

And then... into the black

Shoot the Chef

Have been meaning to have a go at this for some time now. Probably a couple of years at least since I heard about this particular event. Shoot the Chef. It sounds kind of dark, but clearly it is all and only about light.

There are many images entered into this prize that have the chef hunching around with animal carcases on there shoulders or, more likely, dead fish somewhere in close proximity. Often standing in a pool or body of water by the sea, the hapless chef endures these creative indignities in the name of art (in whichever dialect the photographer speaks)

I have opted for a plain speaking portrait of my Chef that I hope shows some dignity and honour towards this fine profession. Too many chefs these days I think subscribe to the idea that they are celebrities simply because they are able to cook something and sprout some sort of attitude forth from the television screen. A vague generalisation I know, but this is the way it seems to me. Just take a peek at Celebrity Chef. Why not just call the program 'Chef', or isn't that the point. Fine people like Jamie Oliver at least has done much with his celebrity for the good of the community.

My Chef originally trained in jolly old England at the Savoy Hotel in London no less, is a neighbour and friend of many years. Virginia constantly amazes me be being able to make something tasty, so easily out of almost anything. Cooking is in her imagination. It is an instinct, rather than something she has trained for. Currently Virginia is co-running the Sourdough Baker Cafe in Newcastle. She breathes life into all things.

Stand in - Stands out

Just setting up to shoot a friend for the 'Shoot the Chef' portrait. My trusty side kick and stand in fills the gap so I don't keep my chef waiting for too long and her hungry customers begging for more , or even some. My girl did well so I'm putting up a couple or three shots.

Competitive Blogging

And from my own family no less. My daughter, the soon to be hairdresser to the very beautiful, has restarted her hairdressing blog. Thankfully, I'm her photographer of choice for this project and I've just taken the first couple of shots this afternoon.

It's rather a cute idea. We just watched the film, Julie and Julia, about the woman who determined to cook her way through Julia Child's first American cook book and keep a blog of her adventures. Well my daughter is going to curl and twist, plait and bun, layer and braid her way through a series of collected hair styles, with herself as the model. She will pop the first images up tomorrow but I am here slipping my version of a couple of the images up tonight.

The new blog will be called Hair-Do, I think and I'll link it up when it's on the road.
http://hair-doo.blogspot.com.au/

Unsung Heroes

These are the Unsung Heroes of the recent Portrait series. The stand ins, the unpaid extras, the crew, the props, the place holders. They who reflect the light while we get the exposure right.

These are the people who helped me set up the shots before the 'talent' arrived. They stood and took the light on the chin without a grumble or a thought for their own safety or what they were getting out of this. They mugged for the camera without wondering... why? They turned to the left and they turned to the right. They didn't ask to be paid nor did they ask for an 8 x 10 glossy at the end of the day. They did it for the love of photography and image making. For the history of portrait photography into which they could not reasonably expect to enter. Yet here they are. Making a little history baby.

Thanks girls, you make my life.

Artist

Congrats to Sarah who took the ribbon in the Portrait Prize. A lovely self portrait that started as the dark horse I think, but came home strong. I walked home with a Highly Commended but no free ride to the ACT.

My image of Roland is now hanging in the Maitland Regional Art Gallery for the next three weeks. The ten final images do their creators honour and represent a great effort by most who participated. It was a stretch for me to tackle the genre, but now have a liking for the sport and will pursue this interest with more vigour in the future.

A couple of extra images of Andy from the last session.

Artist

Mr Andy Devine, draughtsman, painter and all round good fellow volunteered to stand before my camera last week on the final day of the Photo Prize. Wishing to avoid the last minute stress of photographing, processing and delivering the image all in the final moments of the due date I had sensibly decided not to use Andy for the prize.

And what a shame that was...

Another day, another face

Two more kind folk passed before my lens today.
I hope I've found something in each that says something to you.

There are still one or two more people in the queue, but this will be my last chance to get any feedback before I submit to the mercy of the judges. I've put a name and number with each portrait posted over the last couple of days. If you could take a moment and let me know which images work for you I would be very grateful. Thanks

Glenn #1

Rachel #1

Colour ?

I guess I'm wondering why William Eggleston, Stephen Shore et al. bothered sometimes. Their ground breaking work in colour photography has largely been ignored by yours truly of late. Beautiful, arresting images from way down south in Memphis. So, I thought I'd better add in some of the colour images and resist the urge to allow the tones to have the stronger voice. That's after all where this particular image was meant to go.
Sometimes I just can't resist the power of the black and white. Judge for yourself and please let me know what you think.

Roland #2

Something new from yesterday and someone new from today. It is my aim to photograph a new portrait every day this week. I have two people lined up for tomorrow. We'll see if I can keep up the pace.

Carrie #3

Roland #1