"the best landscape images, whatever their medium and whatever other emotions they evoke … propose the possibility of an intimate connection with a world to which we have access only through our eyes, a promise containing it's own denial"
Frank Gohkle
pg 696/698 1000 Photo Icons George Eastman House, pub Taschen
18.3.06
Pre-Exhibiton Research
17.3.06
The start....
of the end?
I am changing the course of my image making practise. This change has come about after a series of small but none-the less revealing incidents involving the web, materials [sliver gelatin] and processes, my own.
The final catalyst occurred a day or so ago I went to my local photo supply store, to stock up on paper. I am in the process of printing some work prints for a planned show in 2007, and had run out of my favourite paper, Forté."No worries" I thought, Vanbars will have some, so down to north Melbourne I go, wandering in I say hi to Richard and head down the back to buy said paper. While Vanbars had plenty of paper in stock generally, they had nowhere near the variety that they used to have when I last had an exhibition.
This catalyst, is the last in a chain of incidents that have been bubbling away now for several months, a discussion on flickr about the appearance of digital photographs, was one such incident. This discussion made me realise that it was probably a futile cause to try to get people who don't want to see what they don't want to see. Namely that there are differences in the look and feel of Digital Photographs over Analogue photographs. Another incident I have already talked about here.
So this slowly snowballing effect, got me thinking, how can I make something that is truly unique? The process of putting together an exhibition, has my creative juices really flowing at the moment and I'm quite enjoying the act of returning to my darkroom. This reminded me of my final days at University where I started mucking around with a film developer agent called Pyrogallol. A mythical developing agent that was as renowned for its long tonal scale as it was for it's difficulty to control, not to mention the O H & S issues! I then poked around in my note books from around 1991 and dug up 3 or four technical book that either talked about it in length or mentioned it. I now have several recipes and, am ready to begin the long process that will be mastering this developer and it's intricacies.
Perhaps this blog will track that progress, sadly the only way to really appreciate the prints will be to see them in the flesh, something that the internet is incapable of; unless you live in Melbourne?
12.3.06
Image & Text
A project I've always wanted to contribute to. PostSecret
Nan Goldin's having a show in New York, after a 3 year hiatus
11.3.06
Most viewed shopping trolley shot
This shot from my Shopping Trolley series, using a mobile has had 514 views so far. Kinda weird really
"Dry Brightness"
Seems there's some folks questioning the "art" of Digital Photography. I agree with the arguments presented and for anyone to understand those arguments and use the ideas to their advantage using digital tools will be then able to call themselves an artist to my mind.
6.3.06
Monitor Calibration
Over on flickr I recently uploaded a 21 step grey scale test swatch. My intention was to use it as a guide for my own current upload project. It has gathered considerably more views. Than I expected with several comments to boot, what a strange place flickr is.
4.3.06
What is TV?
They say TV is the bits between the ads, this very funny commercial proves it!
Here's the google.video link for it too
2.3.06
30 Boxes
Is 30 boxes the latest meme or will it fizzle so much other stuff has over the last decade or so of internet life?
Personally I've never been one to live by any kind of calender/organiser, but iCal changed all that and maybe this next Web 2.0 technology will change that even further?
28.2.06
25.2.06
Snippets
Been getting back into NetNewsWire recently.
Nice idea behind this site helps those who are interested in honing their Design skills.
Want to succeed on flickr? Thomas Hawk has some tips?
23.2.06
Robber Barons
John Allsopp's got the dope on the the current attempt to "stifle the internet", I just love that title, Robber Barons, speaks volumes!
21.2.06
Found Thought
Sometimes I write down the strangest things?
Take this for example?
What happens when Surrealism meets High Modernism in the digital era?
Sink or Swim?
Some local politics.
Our local council have been dragging their heels for several years over the state of the local swimming pool. A local action group is trying to drum up support for the reconstruction of the the pool. Even though I'm not much of a swimmer, I certainly think any large suburb should have a decent pool that is easily accessible for anyone who chooses to use it.
There is a rally and picnic this weekend.
THREE FEET DEEP IS NOT ENOUGH
Date: Sunday 26th February 2006
Time: 11.30am
Location: Service Street, Sunshine (Outside the Pool)
Quicksilver, Exhibitions & Excuses
I'm using Quicksilver these days, and I'm just starting to really appreciate it's strengths and I want to explore it further. What is quicksilver I hear you ask? Well merlinmann a guy over at flickr has very succinctly described it's use in relation to the f11 shortcut that reveals the desktop, and I quote,
F11 a) only _exposes_ the Desktop, b) requires additional clicks to actually find and open anything, and c) ONLY works for the Desktop. This trigger gives you one click access to the contents of any folder no matter how deep in your Mac's or Network's hierarchy. Then you just start typing and you're done.
Remember: almost everything in Quicksilver can be done without even looking at the screen; it's pure muscle memory, and that's a pretty effective memory.
He also provides a link to more info over at 43folders.
I'm sure both my readers will have noticed the lack of images here of late, well, I went nuts over the summer holidays as usual, and now that I'm back at work and working full-time have hardly pulled my camera out. I have a locked-in group, exhibition coming up in May/June this year and after "discovering" a body of work in my archives am planning another in 2007. So what I'm saying is some images should be forthcoming soon, it's just that they will most likely be from the archives.
17.2.06
Photography Resources
Sometimes people ask me,
"What's a good photography book to buy?"
Currently I can't recommend this one highly enough.
Exploring Colour Photography A Complete Guide. By Robert Hirsch, Pub by Laurence King Publishing London, ISBN 1856694208.
An interesting booklet I've just been lent is Advanced Digital Photography, by Margaret Brown, pub Media Publishing. This a meaty little technical booklet but useful none the less.
16.2.06
All Flickr'd out 'n Mobuzz TV!
Flickr reaches 100,000,000 photos
In my search for true independent media I've discovered MoBuzz TV which describes itself as:-
"...we strive to keep you informed and entertained no matter where you are. MobuzzTV does not simply re-adapt conventional TV programming and place it on a mobile channel. Our creative process starts with the mobile phone as a TV device, not with a conventional stationary television
checkit... enjoy!
14.2.06
12.2.06
The best gifts arrive when you least expect them.
I suppose it's no surprise to both my readers that I am participating in a group exhibition this year with 18 other photographers, that I all met online. So on Saturday morning I toyed with the idea of printing some older work shot around Melbourne in the 90's. In particular some areas near the Victoria Markets that no longer exist [the subtext of the show is Melbourne and how we 'interpret' Melbourne]. So I grab the folders containing this work from the late 80's to the early 90's and start flicking though my proofs, looking for a particular shot. After a couple of run throughs and expanding my search I gave up with that idea and found a couple of shots that I'd always liked, but never printed, then lo and behold I realise that both had some strong and similar connections, off I went in search of more of the same. After an hour or so I had over 25 shots that in essence were capable of being an exhibition in their own right. What a marvellous surprise! I then spent the afternoon making work prints on the images. In the process three of them have already bitten the dust, mainly for technical reasons, but it still looks like I've enough for a small show somewhere around town sometime next year. [Next year will be my 20th year of serious photographic study.]
What strikes me the most about this is that these images were never made with this particualr 'idea' in mind. I simply photographed places and areas that I liked then, and still do, then 10 or 12 years later ‘saw’ the connections.
I guess Frederick Sommer was right?
“…art is images you carry. You cannot carry nature with you, but you carry images of nature. When you go out to make a picture you find you are moved by something which is in agreement with an image you already held within yourself”
On a more obtuse note check this site out, it looks at ideas and asks some pretty tough questions.
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