Urban Landscape II

Today's image a pair with yesterdays is getting as much attention as the one I uploaded yesterday? Maybe it has to do with the geo-tagging that I'm now applying to my images?

Urban Landscape

Normally I would expect an image on flickr to get 100 views after at least 3 or 4 weeks, this image purely based on its title [I am surmising] has received over 100 in less than 12 hours. Sigh, it's kinda sad really.

Geotagging

I have discovered a great tool that allows you to precisely pinpoint the location of any shot taken and add the geographical co-ordinates to it. This shot is of the up-ramp to the rooftop car-park of Footscray shopping centre, a 2005 image that resurfaced thanks to iView Media Pro3. I've also used iView Media Pro3 to confirm the date I made an image as recently as two weeks ago. It's funny how our memories are never that as sharp as we'd like to think they are.

Meanwhile over at the Melbourne Flickr group, outrage at Southbank's recent decision to ban photography inside the complex has prompted some action by some of the group.

While I wholeheartedly agree amateurs and artists alike you should have free reign to photograph whatever and whenever they like, however, it still boils down to the place being private property and the owners have the right to ask that no photography occurs there. I mean really, there are some interesting architectural details there and there is always lots of life and colour, but is it really going to dampen Melbourne's cultural life or creative energy, I think not. Personally, Southbank is rarely a place I would go out of my way to visit, just to photograph, I'm more inclined usually to pull out my camera because I'm there and "happen" to see something I like, and these days that's pretty rare.

This issue even made the mainstream news, and little Johnny even had two words to say about it. From where I sit it's really all about shopkeepers thinking that their displays are somehow worthy of protection, or if you photograph them you are stealing ideas or using the photographs to somehow undermine their sales, meh whatevah!

Update

Now the Age has weighed into the argument

Corporate Terrorism?

More tom foolery from corporations over photography in public places! Taken from the Herald Sun. Reproduced here for educational purposes.

TERRORISM fears have seen happy snaps banned at a site popular with tourists. Southgate management has posted "no camera" signs.

The signs are around the Yarra River retail and dining centre.

The edict follows an incident in which tourists were seen photographing "obscure" parts of buildings and were asked to delete the photos from their cameras.

They refused, and security called police to insist.

"We've had a couple of incidents of tourists taking photos of obscure things, and they were approached by security and asked to stop taking photos," Southgate property manager Kathy Barrance said.

"It was just the facades of buildings, things that would be of no interest to put in a photo album."

The new signs banning cameras state that "Southgate thanks you for not taking photos within the complex unless approved by management".

Ms Barrance said anyone found taking unauthorised photographs would be told to stop by roaming security guards.

"It's policy around Southgate for security to ask people not to photograph," she said.

Exceptions will be made for photos of such things as the Ophelia sculpture at the main entrance. "On the (Yarra) promenade, it's fine, or if it's of Ophelia," Ms Barrance said.

Asked if the restrictions were designed to deter terrorists from conducting reconnaissance, Ms Barrance said, "Yes, that type of thing."

Victoria Police told the Herald Sun it was unlikely any police officers would order the removal of images from a camera under such circumstances.

"I've checked with our privacy people and they said there's no law against taking photos," a spokeswoman said.

Southgate workers were stunned at the restrictions.

"I think it's stupid," Oras Charcoal Souvlaki Bar employee John Tsarpalas said.

"There's got to be better ways than that."

One shop owner who did not wish to be named, questioned whether there were any vital targets in the complex.

''It's a bit much. I know they are trying to protect us, but it's just a food court," she said

The shot above I took down there, so does this make me a terrorist?

Update

Tourist photo ban over the top: PM
From: AAP
July 25, 2006

PRIME Minister John Howard has described a move to ban cameras from a popular Melbourne tourist precinct amid terrorism fears as "over the top".

Southgate management has erected "no camera" signs around the Yarra River retail and dining centre after security guards tried to force tourists to delete photos taken of "obscure" parts of buildings. The police were called when they refused.

Mr Howard said he did not think the terrorist threat in Australia warranted such a move.

"I think that is over the top," Mr Howard told ABC Radio.

"Everybody's got a camera now. Does that mean a mobile phone camera?

"I don't think the terrorist threat in this country warrants that. I really don't. "I don't know who did this and I don't wish to offend them, and I'm sure they mean well, but I do think that is going too far."

Southgate management said exceptions would only be made for photographs of things such as the Ophelia sculpture on the Yarra promenade.

"We've had a couple of incidents of tourists taking photos of obscure things and they were approached by security and asked to stop taking photos," the Herald Sun quoted Southgate property manager Kathy Barrance as saying.

"It was just the facades of buildings, things that would be of no interest to put in a photo album

.

Digital Assest Management

So I recently lashed out and bought this software to get on top of my burgeoning collection of digital camera files.

There several on the market some of which are free, I chose this one because of it's speed and agility, as Lightroom is far too slow on my humble machine and the 'word' out there in cyberspace is that Aperture is a hefty beast also.

Another reason I bought iView Media Pro 3 is because unlike it's free counterpart it reads Raw files as well. Which was perfect because I found a 'missing file' after wondering about it and looking on what seemed very disk it turned up as a raw file on a disk from early 2005

Here is the shot re-edited and re-loaded into my flickr stream.

When I first signed up way back in late 2004, I was using the then free account, which had limitations in terms of bandwidth usage. In an effort to maximise my throughput I kept images to a fairly small size. Nearly two years later I wanted to find it and re-load it at a higher size, as well as consider it for an exhibition piece, one day, and it took a cataloguing session spanning several days and god knows how many CD roms to find it.

So far iView Media Pro is looking real sharp for me!

All thanks to flickr

Technorati tags:-iViewMediaPro3, DAM, archiving, digitalfiles

Digital Fine Art Portfolio Workshop

I am very fortunate to work with a talented artist and musician, by the name of Andrew. He also works at the VCA, Victorian College of the Arts, in St.Kilda Rd. VCA have just begun running short courses in digital and photography. Given his knowledge and passion these short course/s will be value for money.

The course that Andrew will be running is called, 'Digital Fine Art Portfolio Workshop', costs $550.00 and runs for 2 days, Saturday the 2nd and Sunday the 3rd of September 2006 from 10:00 to 4:00 both days.

This two-day workshop is devoted to the production of a fine art portfolio that expresses your personal photographic and/or artistic vision. With the advice of experts you will learn how aesthetic concept, image selection and even choice of paper, can define the narrative of the portfolio. Film scanning and image editing in Photoshop will revolve around implementation of a sound color-managed workflow. Printmaking options, including the use of monochromatic or color ink sets, RIPs, printer linearization and profiling tools will be explored. Documentation of editions, preparation of an artist statement and effective use of promotional materials to reinforce the portfolio will be discussed.

Contact the VCA for more info

You Call That A Knife?

Excuse me while I get all philosophical.

Poetic logic is the sensuous apprehension of what we
do not yet understand in the presence of reality.

Poetic logic had to invent art to understand nature
as the positional growth of structure
within the matrix that is life.

We are the ones who put life into stones and pebbles.
When feeling is lucid, structure is art.^*

^* Frederick Sommer
THE POETIC LOGIC OF ART AND AESTHETICS in collaboration with Stephen Aldrich 1972

Ok absorbed that, now watch this slide show

Photoshop Curves

After my weekend photoshop workshop last weekend I remembered this Photoshop curves trick.

It is a great trick I learned a long time ago, but, I can't remember where or how I learnt it?

This is the usual curves dialog box, after I have reversed the values by clicking the small black and white triangles at the bottom of the graph.

If you hold down the option key on the Mac or the alt key on Windoze, hey presto you get 10 squares vertically and 10 square horizontally.

Divide 255 by 10 gives you 25, this then enables you to loosely apply zone System ideas to your images in Photoshop.

You can even make a tool, that can help you visualise this all by making a strip that has 11 shades of grey from 0 to 255 in it.

Another little tip is if you click the small button on the bottom right of the dialog you get a large version of the dialog box.

Technorati tags:-photoshop, curves

Flickr Toys

Busy weekend here this weekend.

Thanks to barb for sending me to check my unofficial flickr score which I'm pretty pleased about, the score that is. It is a very elegant and beautifully designed site by netomer, who is not only one of my contacts, but a damn good photographer too

According to his neat little tool this image made Explore / Interestingness in the last 7 days, I'm kind of not surprised as there was a lot a banter and discussion under this image, and it was faved pretty heavily too. So thanks to Kent, AvD and all the other folks who made comments and faved this image. Now, I'm back to work!

New York Exhibtion!

Self-Portraitr: An Interactive Exhibition Curating the Flickr Community

Very interesting, wonder how it will work, might even give it a go myself?

The press release in part reads,

Pace/MacGill Gallery and the School of Visual Arts’ graduate photography department are pleased to present an interactive exhibition of self-portraits drawn from Flickr.com, the online digital photo-sharing network. Flickr’s user base consists of over one million members who share images and image-related information. Two leading forces in the New York art world—-a major photography gallery and a top art school—-have joined together to observe this online conversation of image making. The mining and showcasing of this material strives to engage and expand a rapidly growing virtual arts community. The exhibition will be accessible to both viewers and contributors alike via the Pace/MacGill website www.pacemacgill.com. Pace/MacGill’s gallery space will house ten computers on which visitors can peruse the pictures gathered from numerous global photographers as they would online. A few monitors will display slideshows of images specifically collected via the gallery website.

The exhibition will not only rely on the Flickr community for content, but will also depend upon the activity of the site’s users for the organization and editing of what is anticipated to be thousands of images from the age-old genre of self-portraiture. Whether the image is taken by a professional photographer overseas or by an amateur experimenting with a camera phone in New York City, each image posted on Flickr and “tagged” as a self-portrait will automatically be filtered and directed into the exhibition. The Pace/MacGill Flickr interface, created by SVA’s Jeremy Chien and Stephen Jablonsky and programmed by Kelvin Luck, allows users to vote for favorites, track the most viewed image, and create categories. Sorting options or subcategories (self portrait “with mirror” or at “beach,” for example) within the virtual exhibition will enable further definition and refinement.

The work in the exhibition will perpetually expand with the proliferation of users until the popularity of each category aids in its editing. As more images are collected and more users are interacting with the site to make selections, the work will become more discerning and interesting. One can choose the role they wish to assume: curator, artist, etcetera. With every click of the mouse, viewers become participants; the interactive community defines the exhibition. The hope is that the final result will be a 50 print exhibition of images chosen by the community.

Well exciting indeed!

Technorati tags:-flickr, gallery, exhibition

Public Art

Some cool sound and multimedia installations going on around town at the moment.

Machines That Read?

Flickr has an algorithm called interesting-ness, today I made pg 37 with this image, but it's almost like a kiss of death really, I mean how can a machine be taught to judge beauty and merit of an image? From what I can tell it requires a certain number of visits and comments as well as favouriting to make this part of the site, with less than 20 views and a mere 2 comments and 1 favourite, what the hell is going on?

[Edit] Well less than 24 hours later and it seems to have disappeared! It's a very fluid thing this algorithm, but meh whatever!

Proofs in the Digital Age

Well maybe it is possible to treat one's digital wok in a similar manner to analogue, perhaps I just need to learn some more patience in dealing with my digital files.

Just spent the day flicking through my archives using iView. Found some gems and will over the coming days upload them to flickr.

iView, is a freeware app that used come with Roxio Toast. It helps you keep track of your images, by allowing you store facsimilies of your images on other drives or external storage devices.

I use it in my workflow to create a file of the contents of a CD as I burn it. Then some time down the track when either I'm looking for a specific image or just browsing for images I open the file of a given date and browse the contents of the file, if I find something I think I want to use, I match the CD to the file and load it up and away I go. You can even open it from the iView interface into any app I choose to add to the list of available applications.

Proof

There is something special about sitting down with a cup of coffee and flipping through tactile proofs exploring and wondering about opportunities, of images

Cameras

Digging deep into the archives on flickr now!

This was taken with what, was then, a fairly reasonable camera sometime in the late 90's, hasn't camera technology moved along a long way since then? My wife's current camera about 1/2 the physical size of the one that took this image cost 1/2 the price of the Kodak DC260 and produces twice the file size. Back then I enjoyed using this camera but never was quite sure what I was going to use it for, as the images were quite small, too small for print, anyway, well large prints. And in those days broadband was a dream for most Australians, and flickr was just a pipe dream. Multimedia was one way I was thinking of using these, 13000 plus images, but coding up 13000 plus pages of html didn't really grab me. So Images from my Kodak DC260 sit here on CD roms awaiting some use.

Well here we are more than 5 years later, and I am shooting even more digital images now, big enough for small prints, and broadband enables me to share this work with the world.

Thanks to all those folks on flickr who make it a great place to hang and look and talk photography.

Arnold Newman Dies

Sad Sad News!

Arnold Newman, died earlier this month.

From Wikipedia.

Newman graduated high school in Miami Beach and attended the University of Miami studying painting and drawing with an introduction to ——Modernism. Unable to afford continuing after two years, he moved to Philadelphia, PA to work for a studio making 49-cent portraits. His time there taught the importance of interacting with his subjects and allowed him to developed his technique.

Newman returned to Florida in 1939 to manage a portrait studio in West Palm Beach. Three years later he opened his own business in Miami Beach. In 1946, Newman relocated to New York, opened Arnold Newman Studios and worked as a freelance photographer for Fortune, Life, and Newsweek.

How the hell did I miss this one?

Well anyway even though I am not much of a portrait photographer, I always remember with fondness being introduced to him and his importance within the history of photography

Wating... Waiting...Waiting...

Today is the 30th of June.

"So!" I hear you say!

Well today is important not because it being the end of the tax year, but because, I am waiting to hear about a gallery appliction lodged with the CCP and a competiton I have entered at the MGA.

Needless to say I doubt much will get done around here today!

A dip into the flickr archives then for this image of Eureka Tower.

New Bodies Of Work?

Not only is the light really nice at the moment, but I've started a new series of images based on some discoveries,one of which was at a local croquet lawn.

Chairs and shopping trollies are the two things that seem to most turn up in the oddest of places.

The kind of places I've always enjoyed 'hanging around' seem rife with them.

My sets are growing. This is something that I've been contemplating in terms of my output as an artist,can I justify producing work that is a culmination of an experience [walking around with a camera], rather than having some idea in my head and making images about it, the idea?

Is the idea of exploring an external world in an inner way justification enough? After all, Marcel Proust said,

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

So seeing and make images of my own local area with new eyes, or in a way that is interesting is this enough?

While we're on quotes, here's another again by Proust, that speaks volumes,

Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments. An artist recreates those aspects of reality which represent his fundamental view of man's nature.

The site where the quotes are from? BrainyQuote.com, a great site indeed

More Winter Light

While we're on it, more winter light.

Again part of the maps project

Incongruous

Another example of the gorgeous winter light to be had sometimes in Melbourne.

This sight seems so common, abandoned furniture in obscure pockets of big cities, I don't understand how. Our local council has regular hard rubbish collections and a 6 day a week tip that allows locals to dump their rubbish quite easily.

Despite the light this shot sums up the occasional state of mind I find myself in these days. Hence the title.

Not that that is a bad thing really?

Bollywood Director?

Wanna be a TV producer, of a Bollywood classic?

2006 Winter Light

Winter light sweeps though my house in amazing ways.

It days like this that really make me appreciate what it is "I do"

Even better that I get paid to "do it".

You do remember don't you?

we are not what we remember of ourselves.
we are what people say we are.
they project upon us their convictions.
we are nothing but blank screens.

So sayeth casoulbyrd, indeed a powerful sentiment.

There were many reasons I like the look of flickr when I signed up, irregulargirl's images was one of the reasons, so here's a peek at her set that just keeps on growing.

"it was electric... so frightfully hectic"

Recently experienced an interesting 'spectacle'. A Dance competition!

Several things that struck me were that this kind of event even existed, that it was actually a competition between 4 dance studios owned by the same company, that folks could get so into the whole competition idea in the first place.

Photographically I new I didn't have a hope in hell of subtle or nice lighting, so I resorted to my one of my favourite techniques in this kind of situation, 'Flash & Blur'. It can be a bit hit and miss, especially over longer distances, but when it works it works well.

Tech specs, f4.3 0.5 sec 400 ISO, flash set to -2. According to my EXIF data in Photoshop.

Here is the EXIF data pulled from the file using Graphic converter.

• Image title:
• Make:-NIKON
• Model:E5400
• Orientation of image:1
• X resolution:300.0 ppi (pixel per inch)
• Y resolution:300.0 ppi (pixel per inch)
• Resolution unit:inch
• Software:E5400v1.4
• File date and time:2006:06:24 20:40:51
• Y and C positioning:co-sited
• -- Exif IFD --:
• Exposure time:1/2 s
• F number: 4.3
• Exposure program:Normal program
• ISO speed rating:400
• Exif version:0220
• Date and time of original data generation:2006:06:24 20:40:51
• Date and time of digital data generation:2006:06:24 20:40:51
• Meaning of each component:YCbCr
• Image compression mode:4.0
• Exposure bias:-0.7
• Maximum lens aperture:3.0 APEX = F2.8
• Metering mode:Pattern
• Light source:unknown
• Flash:Flash fired, auto mode.
• Lens focal length: 10.3 mm
• Color Space:sRGB
• Valid image width in pixel:2592
• Valid image height in pixel:1944
• File source:reserved
• Scene type:reserved
• Custom image processing:Normal process
• Exposure method: Auto exposure
• White balance:Auto white balance
• Digital zoom ratio:not used
• Focal length in 35 mm film:50 mm
• Scene capture type:Standard
• Gain control:Low gain up
• Contrast: Normal
• Saturation:Normal
• Sharpness:Normal
• Subject distance range:unknown
• Compression scheme:JPEG
• X resolution: 300.0 ppi (pixel per inch)
• Y resolution:300.0 ppi (pixel per inch)
• Resolution unit:inch
• Offset to JPEG SOI:4596
• Bytes of JPEG data:6819

I was trying to capture the movement colour and light from the whole night and this is the best I could do. Several things impeded me. The table settings were PACKED in as much as possible not allowing much freedom of movement in and out of them, and being a 'guest' I didn't want to put any noses out of joint by jamming cameras at people in the wrong place or wrong time, besides anyone who knows me will know that a people/portrait photographer I ain't.

The town hall itself was an interesting old building and worthy of several hours of wandering with a camera and tripod. I didn't shoot much by my standards only a dozen or so shots, but the colour and movement seemed well captured, even if I do say so myself.

All Done - For Now!

Well all done, now 6 rolls of film to process and given the light and me being at home all day, I think that number will rise!

Next the flattening & the numbering, then over the coming months, the perusing, to see if anything is worthy of further exploration or printing even?

Photoshop may even fall into the equation at some point, if only I had access to a nice printer like the Epson 7400! The 9400 would be even better though!

Something that I of course have forgotten about is the waste, over 50 rolls of film in the last few months, equals 50 test strips and 50 proof sheets, not counting a pair of rubber gloves, no end of hand/paper towel, several empty plastic bottles and assorted packaging, oh dear. analog indeed!

1 of 13

One down 13 to go, several ideas on this one.

Kent's Portrait involving fabric and bodies, headless bodies, as well as some ideas I'm tinkering with in relation to flat surfaces and shadows, and the usual urban landscapes too.

Of Course!

Vernacular?

So more than 90,000 views. I'd like to se my work get that level of exposure at the NGV.

Speaking of the NGV, maybe I should write an exhibition review of a show I've seen lately?

American beauty at the NGV international at the moment has got to be one of the best shows I've seen since the Bill Henson show of 2004, or was it 2005? Anyways, Lee Freidlander Walker Evans and Robert Frank have got to be in my top 10 of favourite Overseas Modernists photographers from the last century. Lee Freidlander I'm told shot enormous amounts of film to get the kind of 'visual' treats he achieved, and Walker Evans, documenting life with an 8 x 10 camera, with the most superb compositions and drawing that I have ever seen. Robert Frank well I'm almost speechless here. His controversial book from the 50's 'The Americans', even has an introduction by one of my favourite poets/authors, Jack Kerouac. The space at the NGV international is small, so sadly the amount of work on show is scant, but several of my Favourite Lee Freidlander shots are there, the one with the triangular cloud over the stop sign, and the shot of the tourists at Mt. Rushmore, are moments never top be repeated, slices of time that say as much about what is being photographed as the photographer and the time and place, and managing to be funny as well!

This show is a must see, just for the ideas it portrays, which is an idea close to my heart. 'The Vernacular'.

“I speak of the things that are there, anywhere and everywhere – easily found, not easily selected and interpreted.”
Robert Frank

13 May to 22 October 2006
Photography Gallery, Level 3
Admission free

One of the Elite!

So I took an Art Fag test?

Go on I dares ya!

Suburban Gothic

Still no sign of the proofing beginning.

This is from a scanned neg, and I am pleasantly surprised at it's success.

We have been experiencing a little fog here around Melbourne on and off for the last few weeks and finally I got out into it and made a couple of shots, which by the way will fit perfectly into, my Winter Mornings series/idea.

Despite the apparent low contrast in this scene, there was still enough to justify a contraction development of one stop.

The old adage that "everything in photography is a trade off" is even more telling these days. When I was shooting only 5x4 film, no compromise required, each sheet/shot/scene could be developer as required. Now that I'm back using roll-film minutes hours and even sometimes day separate shots so a compromise is often needed. One of the things I've learnt with T-Max film is. NEVER overdevelop under normal lighting situations.

We're all pilgrims on the same journey-but some pilgrims have better road maps.

Well the process of proof printing is yet to begin, here's a worked scan, in the interim, of an image shot in the back streets of Carlton. A cursory look at the negs on a light-box and already I'm pretty impressed with the results.

One aspect of this way of working that I had completely forgotten about was the whole surprise factor when you pull a wet roll of film out of a tank and scratch your head and wonder where did I shoot this?

The magic of that moment of surprise and realisation is one to cherish that's for sure.

I have so far managed to scan a handful of shots, from the 13 rolls, more to come as I work them. Subject matter ranges from portraits to the abstract to my usual landscapes.

Just added a neat little piece of javascript that pulls an artistic quote from another website - enjoy!

Forty Five Plus

I'm back after a refreshing weekend away for my birthday.

All 13 rolls of film are now processed. Next proofing, filing and contemplating. May do a quick scan of the negs for a look-see first as it'll be a few days before I can get into the darkroom for any extended period.

Small subtle coincidences are difficult to catch at times. This image from a set called three, is an example.

Swings & Roundabouts

Yesterday afternoon the light was again truly magic, so I headed off to buy more film and some other bits 'n bobs, from a store in North Melbourne Called Vanbars. It just happens to be very close to a the rail yards on the western edge of the city. There is a freeway overpass nearby, and creek as well. All the usual fodder for me and my camera. Alas, things just weren't quite firing for me, I shot a roll, but… Last week was a different story.

Shooting or printing on Tuesdays will, over the coming weeks, be a bit of a ritual for me from now on, I hope. Last Tuesday for example was a beauty. This location is close to where I work on Tuesdays. After work on my way home,I decided to stop, actually I had decided the week before but was in a hurry to go somewhere else, anyway as I carry my film camera pretty much everywhere with me a habit picked up form digital I might add, I stopped on the way home last week. Well 3 or 4 rolls later and on one of those creative highs that make it all worth while, I arrive home. It was one of those days where everything just fell into place, the light, my mood, the subject matter, it was all there. So once the films are processed I'm sure I'll have a few good ones worthy of printing and exhibiting.

I now have 10 rolls waiting to be processed. At least the developer is made up now, and ready and waiting.

Begininnings

The beginnings of the series, looking at texture tension and 2d.

Shot in Sutherland lane, handheld with my 'blad, 1/125 @ f4 or f5.6, developed in D25, @ 24 ° Celcius for 13 minutes.[I need to stop being lazy and carry a tripod around more]. Besides these laneways seems to see very little light at the best of times!

Normally I wouldn't print this dark, but it seems to suit the location, and who knows how the idea will pan out over the coming months. I am already planning on writing a 2008 CCP application, as I am not holding much hope for the 2007 one.

I am glad photoshop, handles black and white better than colour, I seem to be drifting back towards it as a medium of expression. The lessons that I have learnt form foray into digital are still being rationalised in my head. This doesn't mean I will stop using it as a means of working, but certainly will change how I use it, and my approach as well.

Busier Than Ever

Got a bit going on at the moment.

Recently handed in my 2007 CCP solo exhibition application, and on Friday hand delivered my MGA competition application. Plenty to mull over, will know later this month on the CCP gig, and the 30th of June is the date for the MGA show/prize.

Meanwhile, my new Hasselbald is going great guns, still ironing out the bugs with D25, but once nailed they are going to be awesome shots.

Two things are going on with the 'blad at the moment. One. I am of course shooting in those incongruous places I've always shot, as they invariably have power-lines and all the usual detritus of modern life. Two, I am looking a flat surfaces and exploring a level of formal composition with those flat surfaces. I have discovered a series lane-ways in the CBD one of which is called, Sutherland Lane. This small pocket of Melbourne seems untouched, you can almost hear the horses and carts going about their business delivering and sending goods to and from the various places that commerce existed in Melbourne's early days. Texture and markings on the walls are both recent and ancient, and I hope to revisit there more over the coming months, several sections that see little light really draw me in, with the damp and brick and mould and small plants that barely survive.

One of the things that my forays into digital has also taught me is to really take my time with the 'blad. I mean isn't that the real attraction for a lot of people with digital, myself included, blast away from all sorts of angles and hope for a good one? Well no more, softly softly is the approach now, and with 12 shots to a 'roll' it is rare to finish a roll.

As of this writing I stil have 9 rolls waiting to be processed!

Dead Trolleys

Wandering home today, stumbled across a veritable shopping trolley graveyard.

Keeping your books organised online now could be the next big thing? Social elements to this software are not unlike de.licio.us, and another fun way to while away the hours?

Colder by the day

Final in this series of images from my flickr albums.

One of the reasons I use flickr and enjoy it so much is the ability to organise my work into albums, which is ultimately what good art photography is generally about, an idea an thought an emotion, and groups of images do that, really well they can use repeated visual elements to move the viewer beyond, oh that's a pretty picture of [insert assanine sunset or baby photo here]

Splashed out yesterday, bought two new books. Photography A Cultural History, by Mary Warner Marien, and Photography Reborn, by Jonathan Lipkin. Possible book reviews to come, Photography Reborn is not too heavy a read so that won't be too hard, the other is a thick historical volume and will take some time to read for sure. Books are another passion of mine and I use a little software app called Books, to keep a record of what I own and who I lend it too. The writer of the software I use now informs me that there is an online catalogue for books, so naturally I signed up.

First Day of Winter!

More from the 'formerly informal' series

First day of winter, how long before the winter blues set in? If the light keeps going the way it has been for the last few weeks never!

Might even shoot a shot today and upload it, we'll see?

Last Day Of Autumn

Today is the last day of Autumn. The light has been magnificent of late. Yesterday I shot several rolls in one of my usual kind of locations, under a freeway that had several on and off ramps with creek running beneath it all, totally incongruous. [A term I use sometimes to describe myself.] Hopefully the light will hold for a few more weeks, as term break for both jobs is just around the corner.

One of the things I love about photography is it's ability to abstract surfaces and add a sense of formality to the everyday. So much so I have a set dedicated to it. This image being the lead opening shot. Taken on a car-park rooftop in Footscray in late 2005.

Minimal Photoshop processing here, except for the usual levels and curves and sharpening.

The MGA are having a competition/show with a deadline set for later this week, I have decided to enter it this year. I am surprised that one of the entry conditions is a small print plus a slide or jpeg! Suits me, my work is as much about the final print as it is about the subject matter, the idea, the emotions evoked by the image and the politics of images. And I have a digital high rez version of the file on my hard drive. It will of course need some work as I have simply scanned it in as a 16 bit file. As digital files are notoriously low in actuance, I will use the Lumnious-Landcsapes sharpening trick with the high pass filter to get the image as sharp as I can

I am printing this image, as it will hopefully form part of my CCP show in 2007, if I get it, the show that is.

Opening Night Shots!

Last night was the opening, of the show Web to Wall at 69 Smith St. Thankfully somebody managed to document the evening in a way that reflects it all.

Thanks to Colin for doing the whole job.

Utterly Urbane cont'd

I've always liked this one in ways that have been dificult to define, the complexity of the composition and the light all add up to a rather successful image even if I do say so myself.

The series continues

More Metal

More from the ever-growing 'Utterly Urbane' series.

For what it is worth, these steps have been gone for some time, they used to be part of the old Spencer St. Station complex. Now that it is being re-built I wonder if something similar will re-appear?

Shot on my old DC260 made by Kodak. Now dead/stolen, and processed in Photoshop.

Aluminium

I'm glad I stopped to make this picture.

I've never seen it, this composition, since. It's from a scrapyard near my house I pass often.

"... something...."

Traditionally, landscape and documentary photography relies on techniques such as deep Depth of Field, and dramatic light. Sometimes though for me if the image just cries out to be made, you do the best you can under the circumstances. This is a perfect example, and if anything these perceived shortcomings are, what makes this image successful to me. The shallow D.O.F, the soft light all add a sense of mystery, a kind of quiet casual glance that seems to indicate, something, something delicate and aloof.

This image describes something a place a moment, but the actual place and moment is not clear. Sure it's a galvanised iron fence in a lane-way in Richmond, but what else does it describe? A state of mind, a fleeting gestural response to a place?

Is this then a documentary photograph, if not what is it?

Handheld at 1/125 at f2.8. A lane-way somewhere in Richmond, Melbourne Australia

Winter Light Continued

Robert Adams, one of my favourite photographers, early in his career published a book,called, 'Summer Nights'. Lately I've been enjoying the morning light and given it's winter here in Melbourne Australia, I think I will attempt something similar. Funnily enough called 'Winter Mornings'.

My new camera, is now all calibrated and ready to go. So producing the soft and hopefully luminous prints I am used to making should not be a problem.

On a technical note, my film/developer combination is T-Max 400, rated at 160 ISO, developed in D25, with my 'N' development time being, 13 ″ 40 ′ at 24 ° C. This particular shot was shot at f22 for 1/4 of a second early in May before Midday facing south east in a nearby industrial suburb. As of this writing I haven't been able to even do a darkroom proof of it, as I've been a bit busy with a group show I have been helping set-up. D25 can be found in Steve Anchell's book, the Darkroom Cookbook, but basically is Metol, Sodium Sulphite and Potassium Metabisulphite. I'm told that it is very similar to Microdol-X and is supposedly a good fine grain developer. It even smells like Microdol-X when i mix it up.

One of my aims with this kind of work is to, make the harshest suburban environments look like something else. Something while not necessarily pleasant at least a little less inhospitable, after all we as human beings make these places and use them. I am also interested in the formal capabilities of the the camera and how they transform our world, into something either hyper-real or surreal.

Also Today Marcus and Scott are being interviewed on 3RRR for the exhibition Web to Wall. Could someone please tape it for me as I am at work and may not get a chance to hear it?

Winter Light

Despite it being winter, the light has it's moments and my new Hasselblad really excels at capturing that.

Recently submitted a proposal to the CCP for a show in 2007. The title of the body of work I am planning on showing is "Grids Switches and Gates", this is another contender for the show.

Polaroid Positives

It's been a while since I've done this, but I occasionally like to show off other folks work from flickr. 

Here's Mae-Fleur's work using polaroids and scanning in the resulting negative. Pop on over leave a comment tell her I sent you. Please bear in mind this image of Mae's has had full copyright assigned to it so respect that please.

More Flickr Grey Archives

Life is a million shades of grey III.

Lot's Of Views!

Well it took a while but here it is, 80,000 views. I guess a watched pot never boils!

Flickr Archives, more grey

Life is a million shades of grey II.

Flickr Archives

Life is a million shades of grey.

NY Times Technology Writer Gets Blog!

David Pogue has a Blog!

David Pogue, is a technology writer for the NY TImes, has written several Books on Computer Hardware and software, and seems to me to be a cool level headed guy.

From Wikipedia

David Pogue is a New York Times technology columnist, Emmy-winning tech correspondent for "CBS News Sunday Morning," tech guest for NPR's "Morning Edition," and author of several books on Macintosh-related topics including Macs for Dummies and Macworld Macintosh Secrets, later Macworld Mac and Power Mac Secrets, an enormous book on the Macintosh, circa 1993.
He has written a number of books in the "...For Dummies" series, and launched his own series of computer books called the "Missing Manual" series in 2000.
Pogue also wrote a 1993 techno-thriller, Hard Drive.

Folio; Re-discovered II

More re-discovered folio shots.

For a planned show in 2007, and the upcoming, Web to Wall Exhibition taken in the late 80's early 90's

This is a *work print* which means, they will look very different by the time they hit the wall in 2006 - in subtle photographic ways of course.

Folio; Re-discovered

Nth.Melb. 1
2006
Toned Silver Gelatin print 190mm x 190mm

For a planned show in 2007, and the upcoming, Web to Wall Exhibition taken in the late 80's early 90's

This is a *work print* which means, they will look very different by the time they hit the wall in 2006 - in subtle photographic ways of course.

Hasselblad Research

Hasselblad is a Swedish manufacturer of high-quality still photography cameras based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company was established in 1841 as a trading company. In the 1890s, Hasselblad began distributing photographic products from Eastman. The photography branch grew, and during the second world war Victor Hasselblad was commissioned to develop an aerial camera for the Royal Swedish Air Force. After the war, camera production changed into civilian cameras. Introduced in 1948, the Hasselblad 1600F was a medium format SLR that became the camera of choice for many professional photographers.

Perhaps the most famous use of the Hasselblad camera was during the Apollo Program missions when man first set foot on the moon. All photographs taken during these missions used specially modified Hasselblad cameras.

Hasselblad cameras are still widely used by professional and serious amateur photographers. One reason is the superior image quality of 6x6cm size rollfilm over smaller film and digital sensor formats, along with a reputation for long service life.

In August 2004 Hasselblad merged with the Danish company Imacon A/S. Imacon is a manufacturer of digital photography equipment, e.g. digital camera backs.¹

A pictorial History of Hasselblads, a unique system consists of a body, lens removable film magazine and interchangable viewfinders. Each lens incorporates its own leaf shutter. The design has been copied by several other medium format camera manufacturers. Although recent models incorporate electronics, the bulk of the cameras are totally mechanical incorporating intricate interlocks. The use of interchangable film backs allow a photographer to change film types in mid roll.

One of the highlights in Hasselblad history was its role in the US space program. The moon camera used by Neil Armstrong was a Hasselblad 500EL/70 (special model 500 with a motor drive and a 70 mm film back). Due to weight restrictions only the film (backs) returned to earth with the astronauts. There are 12 Hasselblads available free, for the next person who visits the moon.

The 500 C/M was in production from 1970 until 1989. A Hasselblad camera or accessory can be dated by a 2 letter code in the serial number. V H P I C T U R E S represents the codes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0. Therefore a two letter code UC in a serial number indicates the year 1975.²

An extensive look at the 500 series Hasselblad.

A brief look at the differences between 35mm and 120 format cameras.

A Hasselblad Lens Guide, and how to un-jam or unlock a Hasselblad Lens & Body.

Melbourne Flickrnaut's Infamy

Well it's official, yesterday's Green Guide in the age has an article, by Terry Lane that talks about Flickr and even mentions the Flickr Melbourne Group. Now it seems that Terry Lane also writes online, and the blog entry is on a site called dpexpert.com.au. So yes indeed we are infamous now.

Photoshop Workshops

Hate to brag but, look has who the two top spots on google for the phrase "photoshop workshops".... today.