Princesses Aplenty - Riverfront Theatre Company
Towards the end of last year I received a lovely email from Paul Coleman at the Riverfront Theatre Company in Windsor Ontario, Canada. He was putting together a youth theatre production called "Princesses Aplenty - A Fractured Fairytale". Paul had seen a photograph of mine and thought it would be great to help promote the production and asked if he could have my permission to use it. Here's a part of Paul's letter...
"I work with a group of kids at a non-profit organisation called the Riverfront Theatre Company in Windsor Ontario Canada. We provide theatrical art programming to over 80 young people at absolutely no fee for the participant. We are entering our 8th season we are spreading our creative wings to present an original production entitled Princesses Aplenty. There is a dragon in our play and we would love to use part of your image in our poster. Attached is a rough draft of what I would like to use. (with your permission of course) If you are willing to allow us to use it could you send me a higher resolution copy. We would gladly credit you on the poster and on our website."
I was chuffed and not least because it's nice to be asked. I said yes and provided a high resolution copy of the dragon image below to Paul. Anyways, time passed and every now and then I'd receive an excited email from Paul letting me know how things were going and how everyone loved the image and it looked great and then yesterday I picked up a parcel from the post office. Inside (see top picture) was a t-shirt, two tickets, a program and two posters ... cool! I was especially impressed with the t-shirt. Thanks mate, it made my day.
Now it transpires that Paul, as well as running graphic design house Creation Design is a photographer too and has some nice photos up on his website. Go have a look and tell him I said 'Hi'.
Sweet White Noise
When I first published this self portrait of me sleeping like a bat, I was listening to the album The Sound of White by Australian artist Missy Higgins.
Listening to the title track got me thinking about the sound of white noise and how relaxing I found it. About how white noise is the sound made by all the frequencies randomly occurring together at an equal or flat power. About how the sound is there but there is no discernible frequency or signal that stands out (because there isn't one!). It's like experiencing thick fog, an aural isolation chamber. Listening to white noise I find my mind exploring it, looking for a handle, something familiar. Rationally I know it's not there but my mind searches anyway, fumbling and groping. Then comes a strange feeling of floating with in the white noise as it surrounds me with no detectable source ... the sound comes from everywhere - omnidirectional.
White noise gets its name from the term white light which describes a light where all the frequencies are of equal power. I like exploring that too.
Wikipedia has a more thorough and technical description of white noise and it's myriad uses.
Summer Break - back on track
Not that I can believe it's February (or 2012) for that matter. I've been busy and had a lovely time over the Summer holidays being busily doing not much.
Over the summer break I had a 3-week period in January where I didn't even switch on the photo workstation! My processing has piled up and inspiration is coming back online. In a way it has been nice to not do any photography ... to just let it go for a little while, to regroup and reassess my focus so to speak.
Here comes 2012!
Flying foxes with lightning - Elizabeth Bay Sydney
Here's a lucky catch! A crop from a 30second exposure during a twilight thunderstorm at Elizabeth Bay in Sydney.
I didn't see until post-processing that I'd caught two flying foxes. Cool huh?
So ... Flying foxes with lightning - Elizabeth Bay Sydney :-)
In the Garden: jumping spider
Found this little one on the curled leaf of a lime tree in the backyard. A cutie huh? Very inquisitive critters ... I'm not overly fond of spiders (the larger ... the less so) but I like these ones.
D80 - Tamron 90mm SP Macro
In the Garden: jumping spider
Happy New Year 2012
Wishing everybody a Happy New Year and all the very best for 2012 ...
This is one of those pictures best suited to some quiet time pondering ... like the beginning of a new year ... or the quiet patch of a garden which is where I found this :-)
Family Portrait Session: R&T
From a family portrait session I did just before Christmas. These guys were great fun to photograph ... four families, 12 people including three littlies. There was much running around and chasing and everybody played. This is why I like taking pictures of people :-)
If you're watching ... thank you.
Gallery: wall works - more images from the ANCA Show
'wall works' - a show opening tonight at The Australian National Capital Artists (ANCA) Gallery in Dickson, is the final show for the 2011 season at ANCA. Here are some more shots from the session I did in there last Friday while the artists were setting and creating their works.
An earlier post with more images from this session can be seen HERE
ANCA Gallery is located at 1 Rosevear Place, Dickson.
'wall works' (a preview) - ANCA Gallery
'wall works' 7th - 22nd December 2011
Last week I was given a heads-up by friend and artist Nicci Haynes about an exhibition on at the Australian National Capital Artists (ANCA) Gallery in Dickson. Apparently ANCA are repainting the gallery over the new year period and have invited a select group of artists to use the walls of the gallery as their canvas. The show is called 'wall works' and I went along on Friday afternoon to take some photographs and was impressed by the scale and quality of work going on in there and I present a selection of images below. I highly recommend anyone interested to do the same.
The show opens officially on Wednesday 14th December but is open to the public now for anyone interested in the creative process. Of particular interest to me were the wall size works by Byrd and Hanna Hoyne, the intricate musings of Paul Summerfield, the 'there but not there' figures of Nicci and the vibrant etchings of Tesss Horwitz.
From the ANCA website "Six local artists transform the gallery by working directly on the walls. Byrd with Hanna Hoyne, Mariana del Castillo with Gus McGrath and Alex Asch, Nicci Haynes, Tess Horwitz and Paul Summerfield. Curated by Narelle Phillips"
A second post with more images from this session can be found HERE
'girl on the floor' by Nicci Haynes
Hanna Hoyne
Byrd applying some fine detail
Entry Designs by Paul Summerfield
'fire extinguisher surrounds' by Paul Summerfield
'white crouching figure' by Nicci Haynes
Artist Byrd
Hanna Hoyne
Tess Horwitz
Photography Australia - Know Your Rights
Have you ever been out taking photos in the street or other public space and been approached by 'Security'? Ever wondered what your legal rights as a photographer are? I've compiled a list of useful resources to assist you and I'll add new resources as I come across them. If you're aware of any others please let me know so I can add them here and make this resource as comprehensive as possible.
"Photography Australia - Know Your Rights"
4020 φ NSW Photographer's Rights
Focussed on New South Wales but contains a LOT of valuable information, references, examples and real cases. It is lengthy and thorough and give Australia-wide examples and references where available. A most valuable resource and a must read for anyone interested in their legal rights as a photographer.
Arts Law Centre of Australia
The Arts Law Centre of Australia is the national community legal centre for the arts in Australia ... this link points to the Street Photographers rights page.
Caslon - unauthorised photography
Australian debate about unauthorised taking and publishing of photographs.
Copyright in Australia
Australian Copyright Council [http://www.copyright.org.au/]
Photography is not a crime [Sydney Morning Herald Blog]
Photography is not a crime [Sydney Morning Herald Blog] - an interesting experience by a Sydney Morning Herald journalist.
International Bit & Pieces
Photographers' Rights [UK]
Downloadable booklet [now in Version 2!]
Luminous Landscape [Erosion of photographers' rights - USA]
Mostly American but contains comment from Nick Rains from an Australian perspective
Nature Photographers [Erosion of photographers' rights - USA]
2012 National Photographic Portrait Prize
The shortlist is supposed to be announced today or tomorrow ... I'm keen to see who and what's on it ... I know I'm not but I'm still keen to see what the committee regards as Australia's best portraits.
Are you?
Art documentation: Fran Ifould - 4 Folding Books
Fran Ifould has produced a series of folding books using handmade papers she found in Montreal, Canada. Using natural found pigments Fran has coloured, dyed, drawn and painted the paper to create wondrous art books with a myriad of forms and textures. The folded paper is bound by hard cover or encased in a custom paper satchel.
I documented 4 of these books for Fran last weekend at my home studio as part of my art documentation service.
Fran is the owner of Braidwood Arts, an artists retreat near Braidwood, NSW and she has a blog too.
'Enviroroulette'
'Global Warming'
'Time to Think Globally (Prototype)'
Art Documentation - Fran Ifould
Doing some art documentation of 4 works on paper (books actually) for Braidwood artist Fran Ifould. The works look fantastic and I'm looking forward to documenting them for her. Stay tuned :-)
Fred Smith’s Dust of Uruzgan CD Launch - in review
I think the gig marked a real step-up in the stage-craft and production of a Fred Smith performance. As always, his songs were passionate and rendered well and his band (Liz Frencham (double bass), Lachlan Coventry (pedal steel and electric guitar) and John Jones (drums)) supplied excellent and solid support. The addition of projected images of Afghanistan worked well too. The audience was made up of an eclectic mix with many folk attending their first show after hearing a couple of tracks on the radio. ABC Canberra’s Virginia Haussegger introduced both sets with great gush. I never realised she was such a fan. I had the privilege of attending the soundcheck to get some stills of Fred and his band prior to the show and am attaching a couple of them for you to have a look at. There is a larger set to be found at Fred’s page on Lushpup Images.
Taking the Street - Bill Cunningham New York
I went and saw Bill Cunningham New York last night at Dendy in town. What an insightful and inspiring movie! For those of you not familiar with the Bill Cunningham, he is a street photographer who has been photographing the clothes of the streets of Manhattan for the past 40years. He's over 80 and still gets about on his bicycle. This documentary was made in 2010 and released in March 2011. For me, the film provided a much-needed (for me anyway) alternate perspective on the whole notion of 'Street' photography; something I struggle to balance ethically. Cunningham is only interested in the clothes ... and interesting clothes at that. That people are wearing these clothes speaks out to be admired or seen as different and Cunningham responds to that by taking their picture. I guess where I begin to have issues with 'Street' photography is when it becomes inherently intrusive in a voyeuristic sense ... the desire to share in the grief or suffering that is not your own. It seems to me to be largely a product of a middle-class seeking to appropriate something missing, something more real or valid than what they themselves feel is present in their own lives. That said, I have seen some fantastically powerful images of the ordinary people engaged in their lives unaware of how in touch with the real they are. At the same time I have seen whole albums of ridiculously gratuitous (and highly lauded) 'Street' photography that borders on the disturbingly voyeuristic. What struck me about the film last night was that here is a man who has dedicated his life to photographing the happenings on the street, producing an unparalleled historical archive. Perhaps he is equally aspirationally voyeuristic? Maybe Cunningham conducts himself in a more kindly way ... there certainly seems nothing creepy or ulterior about his approach. I found the film intensely interesting and there were some great people interviewed. Go see it if you can.