Pocket Places: Paths into inner Canberra
Ever shot a poet on a bicycle? No? Well neither had I until week before last. Canberra poet PS Cottier (whom you may remember from this shoot) got in touch with a fun request:
"I just found out that I am having a small chapbook published about
riding the bikepaths of Canberra. It has some autobiographical
elements and is a prose piece in a series called Pocket Places. The
publisher asked if I have a suitable colour photo of myself on my
bike. I said I have some lovely photos with a parasol (and we may
use one from that session) but none of me riding my bike."
So, after a glass of wine at local pub/cafe The Front we set off on a little soiree on the bike paths of the Inner North. Here's a selection from our wander.
The book will be called Paths into inner Canberra, to be published by Ginninderra Press of South Australia. (GP began in Canberra 19 years ago but moved to Port Adelaide in 2008.) It will be part of their new Pocket Places series, and will be available here for the enormous price of $4. It will be about 24 pp in length.
Links
Headshots: Raoul Craemer
Raoul Craemer is an actor currently based in Canberra. Raoul has recently signed with a new agent and asked me the other day to take some fresh head shots of him. An added bonus is that the role he's currently engaged with requires a beard and so we're doing two sessions ... one with beard - Voila! ... and one next week when his role finishes and he shaves the beard off.
Personally, I quite like the beard on him.
Oh and Raoul's current show is called A Scandalous Boy by David Atfield and is showing at The Street Theatre until well, yesterday ;-)
Thoughts on a show
I'm sitting in the café adjoining the Front Gallery, where my show is currently on. My opening was last night and I'm feeling a little bleary. My sunglasses hide the bags beneath my eyes that must surely be a giveaway to the seediness I'm currently experiencing. I'm here ostensibly to imbibe coffee and eggs and bacon to assuage my mind into a connection with the absolutely stunning spring day that is in full swing outside. I'm also here to spy ... to see who's looking at my photographs and which ones they linger over and discuss. From time to time I wander in to tweak the lighting or straighten a picture. I tend to do this when there are people in the gallery and I can have a talk about the images and how they were created ... people have been very nice and said many congratulatory things. I've even sold two of the pictures, one which has been hanging in my bedroom for the past year and a bit, I will miss when it goes to its new home. I will miss them all if they go. They're little pieces of me ... each one a photographic journey now rendered manifest and framed and hung upon a wall.
I imagine their new homes and spaces, there's a part of me that would like to visit them there ... to see how they inform and play in their new surroundings. Other folks will see them every day and I wonder about this ... quite inordinately.
I realise I've spent three hours here now ... becoming slightly more human with each coffee (maybe one more?) and finding myself gazing blankly at the other patrons in this Inner North Wi-Fi hangout, bent over laptops or skipping the world, reading their Kindles ... I notice very few are actually talking ... even the couples with mismatched devices are intently studying their own ... noone is reading a book ... not a paper one anyways. There's one couple; I'm not convinced they're an item though he wants to be I think and he's constantly trying to show her amusing things on his phone and she's looking awfully bored ... increasingly so the more insistently he appears to not read the body language and blind to the look of disdain each time he offers his screen ... but then he's not looking at her ... he's looking at his phone and therein lies the problem.
A bit rambling today but there you go...
Through a Glass Clearly
There’s a moment when you notice something. Something that catches and teases. It may be the curve of a tree or the lightness of a feather drifting on a warm spring breeze ... unseen but for its effect upon the small things. Mostly for me it’s about the light. The way light plays with the things around us and renders them beautiful or dramatic ... the darkness of shadows and that gradient between glow and gloom. Sometimes it’s about trying to capture and entire world inside something much smaller ... concentrating it ... refracting it back at myself through the transience of a water droplet or a glass sphere.
It is as much about the journey of a photograph. A sinuous chasing down of the beauty you saw that very first time, the tender play and rendering of a picture until a certain essence is revealed ... a little something of what was seen made manifest and shared.
That’s what these pictures are. They’re little fragments of time and space collected and coalesced and placed on walls ... distilled results of the myriad journeys undertaken to create them.
In these I hope to show you just a little something of the thing I saw.
The collection of images on show.
About the Title
Through a Glass, Clearly is a collection of four short stories written by Isaac Asimov and first published in 1967. One story in particular: It’s Such A Beautiful Day, is set in the year 2117 and presents District A-3, a newly built suburb of San Francisco, and the world's first community to be built entirely using Doors, a method of travel via teleportation.
When the Door that transfers him from home to school fails, Richard "Dickie" Hanshaw takes a dislike to the method and starts to wander outside in the unfamiliar open, exposed to the elements. When he catches a cold, Mrs. Hanshaw is horrified and takes him to see Dr. Sloane, a psychiatrist, afraid that her son's wanderings are signs of a mental abnormality...
Geoffrey Dunn is a multi-award winning and internationally published photographer. He is entirely self-taught. Through a Glass Clearly is his third and final solo exhibition for 2014. The title of the show is also a reference to the act of capturing light with a camera ... through a glass clearly...
The details...
- What: Through a Glass Clearly - New photographic works by Geoffrey Dunn
- Where: The Front Gallery - Wattle Street, Lyneham, Canberra
- Duration: 17-29 September 2014
- Opening: 6pm Friday 19th September 2014
Links
- MEDIA RELEASE Geoffrey Dunn - Through a Glass Clearly
- Show postcards: Front and Back
- The Front Cafe & Gallery
- My printer - Stephen Best of Macquarie Editions
Feathertalk
I do love feathers. I do love water droplets. The way the drops form tiny spherical lenses when placed upon the hydrophobic barbs on the surface of feather quills. It does something for me, this feathertalk ... it really does. Here are a couple of examples shot on my bathroom window sill ... :-)
In other news I'm busy short-listing for my final show this year. Through a Glass Clearly is a solo show I'm putting on at the Front Gallery here in Canberra opening in mid-September. It will feature retrospective photographs covering just about all of the genres I shoot in ... which, looking through my shortlist ... covers quite a few! ;-)
More new and updates as it progresses.
Postcards from a Show
For someone who hasn't exhibited work publicly for a couple of years I'm really quite in the thick of it now. I find myself in the position of having not one but two shows running concurrently and they both represent different aspects of my artistic endeavours.
The first show, Zoologica, is running at the Kaori Gallery until 2nd August and the second show, 2 Tens & A Tomato, a collaborative joint exhibition with visual artist and poet Marina, is at the Front Gallery until 28th July.
When approached by the Front Gallery in June about a sudden vacancy in their gallery calendar I was at first hesitant ... I was in the thick of organising Zoologica and didn't want two photographic exhibitions running concurrently ... but when Marina and I spoke about the potential of a joint show combining our poetry, writings, imagery and imaginations we decided to pitch our ideas to The Front ... and they said 'yes'. That was about three weeks before the show was due to to open and at that stage we had no completed ideas not to mention any completed collaborative works to put on show.
The show contains 20 works including clay sulpture, images and words, installations, mirror-books and photography. One thing we both realised as we brought the work into being for this show is that we had far too much and indeed have enough material for another two thematic shows at least! We have been busy!
The installation Carousel, featuring suspended words bent into fencing wire so that their shadows play against the wall and surrounded by photos of those very wiry words draped around the necks of the City's antique (and still operating!) carousel and blue velvet with blue lighting forming a small stage ... it turned out beautifully ... the words, by Marina, run as follows;
A broken carousel
My life
A dead Burst
of sound and colour
Staring blankly
at one another
We ask
With rusting words
why the ride
never begun
We are deeply indebted to my good friend Alex (and his son Tristan) for assisting us with the installation of Carousel along with a number of the other works through his unique solutions to our hanging requirements (and above-all by remaining calm!). I'm including a number of pictures I snapped with my phone (when I remembered to) whilst setting up the show.
In addition, Marina and I are guests at this month's Canberra Poetry Slam where we will be reading works from the exhibition. This is happening on Friday night at The Front in the bar adjacent to the gallery space.
It's all go! I'll be in to document the show later this week and will post about that separately :-)
2 Tens & A Tomato
Hi, just a quick note to let you know about a new collaborative show of fresh art and words from myself and visual artist and poet Marina. We have mixed poetry, photography, sculpture and installation into works exploring the written word and visualisations of poetic elements. The show will opened by PS Cottier, renowned poet and local.
The show is titled '2 Tens & A Tomato' and opens this Thursday evening at 7pm at the Front Gallery in Wattle Street, Lyneham ... be great to see you there and show off the works personally ... plus the gallery's attached to a pub and there's a band on too ... art, alcohol, live music and interesting people ... sounds like fun.
In addition, Marina and I will be guests of the July Canberra Poetry Slam the following Friday 25th July where we'll be reading works featured in the show.
The details in point form...
- What: 2 Tens & A Tomato - Fresh art and words from Geoffrey Dunn & Marina
- Where: The Front Gallery - Wattle Street, Lyneham - 17th-28th July 2014
- Opening: 7pm Thursday 17th July by PS Cottier ... that's like this Thursday ... yeah we know :-)
- Poetry Slam Readings: Friday 25th July - 8pm
ps ... my solo show Zoologica is still running at the Kaori Gallery until 2nd August ... it's all go at the moment! G :-)
Zoologica I - selection and hanging
OK so I have been putting together (what I realised is my first) solo show ... titled Zoologica: a photographic study of life through death. Exploring zoological specimens, the works encourage you to ponder the nature of scientific collection, death and preservation. The series comprises 12 monochromatic prints, printed on Canson Baryta Photographique by Stephen Best of Macquarie Editions in Braidwood. The final series of 12 is shown in the gallery below. I've gone with hanging the prints unframed using linen hinges and small tacks. I'm really impressed with the printing quality and the light curl of the paper really adds to the apparent depth of the images. It's a great feeling when you see your own work on a wall ... and a real buzz when there's a series of your own work up like this.
I hung the show yesterday with gallery owner Michael and it looks fantastic ... it'll look even better when fully lit.
The opening is Wednesday evening at 6pm and I'm rather looking forward to it :-)
Naturey Macro
A gorgeous early winter's day day in Canberra and a trip with friend David to the Australian National Botanic Gardens for some naturey macro pictures. David is interested in purchasing a macro lens so I've lent him my copy of the Tamron 90mm SP to have a play with. The day was cold but beautifully clear but a little on the windy side for nice calm macro shooting ... still, I came away with some nice pictures ... hope you like them too.
In other news ... my preparations for the Zoologica show are progressing and I've completed drafts of the poster, postcard and list of images appearing in the show ... as well as capturing some new images yesterday while out and about. I've also signed up for a joint photos/poetry show which will run in another gallery at the same time as Zoologica ... I'm going to be a busily creative boy ... wish me luck! :-)
Autumn Spirit
Autumn is upon us down here in the southern hemisphere ... well, nearly over as it happens. It's been a beautiful show this year, helped along by late summer rains and crisp mornings. I've not taken the camera out to really record the show this year ... preferring instead to enjoy the colourful spectacle with fine company ... it happens you know :-)
In other news, I have two solo shows coming up later this year. The first is in the Kaori Gallery in the City and will feature my series Zoologica ... that starts in the beginning of July so I'd beat get cracking on that one ... at least the pictures have been chosen and more or less finalised... The second is at the Front Gallery & Cafe in Lyneham and will likely feature a 'Best Of' compilation of series'd works ... more details as I find them out myself :-)
Anyways, here's some drizzly Autumn afternoon leafy goodness for you plus an extra one showing a bleak windy Canberra autumn afternoon by the Lake.
Welcome...Geoff has moved!
Hi,
I've been busy of late. I've decided to decommission my old site at lushpupimages.com and simultaneously inaugurate my new umbrella site here at geoffreydunn.com.au ... I felt it time to consolidate my blog, wiritings and art into one space ... so far everything seems to be working pretty much as it should though I'm certain there are little pockets of clunkiness I'm yet to discover ... should you perchance discover something that you think "hmmm ... I'm sure that's not quite what Geoff was trying to do..." then please tell me :-)
In other news, I have copied across my post archives along with my subscriber and follower database so I'm kinda hoping that if you've received an email and you've arrived here then everything will be all right.
Anyways ... welcome. Please take a look around and see what you can see
Geoff...
Parties at the Shops
One of 2013's better Canberra Centenary celebratory ideas was called Parties at the Shops. It was intended as a way of encouraging communities to interact more while showcasing the many talents and variety of folks living in a suburb. The idea worked so well that's one of the few Centenary events to be carried forward to this year. Over the weekend I was commissioned to capture some images of Parties at the Shops ... I attended four in total: Scullin, Downer, Hackett and Watson. They were all well attended and the threatening rain held off too :-)
Vale Friday
Friday Carasmello Lushpuppy 1999-2013
Last Thursday we made the decision to have beloved family member Friday put to sleep. She had been with us for 14 years
Friday had been suffering a degenerative spinal condition and went downhill rapidly. She was an elderly dog and up until a month ago had been going on hour-long walks as she had every day of her life. However we were not prepared really for just how quickly she deteriorated. She in many ways defined our family's relationship and her passing is deeply felt. I'm OK now but was a mess last week.
The veterinarian came to the house on Thursday morning. She was put to sleep after being surrounded by those who knew and loved her. The end was very quick. She was buried at her second home at the out-laws farm overlooking the hills she loved to roam.
Bye sweet girl ... you'll be missed.
Dead Pegs
The first printed compilation of my Dead Pegs project ... a copy of which is currently hanging in the Members Show at PhotoAccess in the Manuka Arts Centre.
I've been long fascinated by these pegs ... single-function objects that have reached the end of their useful lives and left to decay in the pebble-field beneath the clotheslines ... I've been photographing them on and off for about 6 months now ... time to get them out there ... both prints measure 420mm x 720mm.
Dead Pegs was printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Ultra Smooth - a fine matte paper with excellent colour depth
Also in the show is a print of my Starfield I picture printed on Baryta Photographique, a fine grained lustre because I thought a small degree of gloss would increase the depth of the picture ... given it's our galaxy after all :-)
Both pictures were printed by Stephen Best of Macquarie Editions in Braidwood.
Links
Gone all Pop! The poster for Los Chavos
I did a shoot for 9-piece Latin band 'Los Chavos' a couple of weeks ago and have been busy processing them up. One of the parts of the commission (the kinda optional part) was to produce a poster for the band in the style Pop Art Cartoon by taking headshots of the band and reducing them effectively to solid colour paintings. I'd not tried it before but I knew it was possible so I agreed. I'd shot the headshots using the intense blue of our autumnal skies to make it easier to mask out later and replace it with whatever colour I chose.
When I first approached the task I thought 'It'll be easiest just to paint these in Photoshop using the original photo as a base.'. But then I'm not the greatest illustrator in the world and in effect I was afraid they wouldn't look any good (I'm sure I'm not alone on that front) so I went for what I thought was the safest option ... trialling and recording a series of actions incorporating various filters in Photoshop. The two main filters were 'Poster Edges' and 'Cutout' which I chose for their ability to effectively reduce the number of colours and tones I wanted in my final image. OK so after a couple of testy tweaky runs I passed all nine of the images through the action ... and? Well, the results weren't great, at least for most of the images. One worked really well, two others were alright and the remaining six were rubbish. I re-tweaked the processing and got a slightly better result: three out of the nine were now pretty close to where I wanted them to be ... that only left six (the same six as before!) still looking rubbish.
When I arranged all nine into the poster and coloured them up yellow, blue or red ... I literally said 'wow!'. I should note that I'm easily impressed with my own cleverness ;-)
