25 August 2015

the shadows

Every year photography magazine Capture Mag seeks submissions from photographers which then becomes The Annual.  I submitted some work and as I got them together I realised there's a lack of faces and how dark all my work is!  Which also makes me think how it's the opposite of wedding photography...





 

These images are from the following series - #currentmood, thisplace., This Wild Song and onefourfour.

Good luck to all the photographers that have entered, can't wait to see what gets selected for the mag!

06 August 2015

pulleys and thread


I took photos of myself the morning of my surgery to say goodbye to my boobs.  And it got me to thinking that perhaps others would like pre-surgery portraits...  I've contacted Peter Mac to offer my services to patients who are having mastectomies, at the moment I can only commit to one shoot a month (once I'm back on my feet) but if you know of anyone who would like a portrait please pass on my details as I'd like to give them a photo shoot x

15 July 2015

unexpected meditation messages


orbital exhibition

At the beginning of the year I was invited to create work for a new community space in Altona Meadows called Orbital which is run by Hobsons Bay City Council.  Heather van Heerwaarden curated the show and I was joined by Naomi Nicholls and Larissa MacFarlane who are fellow onefourfour-ers!  The exhibition space consists of 6 lightboxes so we had 2 each to make site specific work for.

I decided to create the work in Altona Meadows and photograph my response to the environment.  Well, my 7yo pressed the shutter for me and we spent a lot of time taking photos of him jumping and running towards the camera......  He's obsessed with stop-motion animation!


The weather was pretty crazy that day, when we got there it was thick cloud and the light was dark and almost foggy which was great for me!  But by the time we wandered around for ages trying to decide on two perfect spots the bright midday sun came out shining.  I'm always happy to work with the elements so we carried on.

The first image we shot was some rocks amongst the grass with the city in the background.  I really wanted to do something different for this exhibition and I had planned to show this image as a series of four scrolls that fit together.  In the end I used four different images which I printed, rolled into scrolls and lined up to expose different parts of each image.


We then shot the following image and the plan for this one was to sew gumleaves from the dress with all the cotton exposed, I absolutely love sewing into photographs and want to do more of it but haven't had the time to just play and experiment.


It was an interesting process creating work for a particular size and trying something new, I forgot what it's like to get out of my comfort zone!  That's never good, I have a bunch of ideas I want to try and need to make more time for being uncomfortable in my work.

We had our photo taken with the mayor one night and I super quickly (had the boys with me causing a ruckus) took some photos of the work all lit up and it looks great.  The work will be there until August so if you happen to be visiting Aldi's in Altona Meadows....



Larissa staged handstands all over Altona Meadows and documented the process...



Naomi created a site specific installation for one of the lightboxes and some teeny tiny art books for the peep hole...



And here's how mine turned out, I think I'd like to print the leaning one full frame and sew the leaves on again and get it framed.  I really do love the sewing, or adding other mediums to make the photo more than a straight print.  Just like how I love to create installations when I'm exhibiting work so it's not just a line of photos on the wall.  Maybe I want to make my work a fuller experience?  That's not quite the right word I'm looking for, fuller experience sounds a bit arrogant or something...

Anyhoo I want to say a HUGE thank you to Hobsons Bay City Council for supporting the arts, they've commissioned me for a variety of things over the years and I really appreciate it.  Thanks to Heather for curating the show and giving us free reign on what we wanted to create.  It's been awesome.

sharing embarrassing mistakes with Artshub. and their huge audience.


The lovely Madeline Dore from Artshub phoned me for a quick interview about what it's like to host an exhibition.  I happily shared some of my embarrassing mistakes (a select few, I have plenty more in the bank) and I hope people learn what NOT to do from me!

I also spoke about The White Cube ebook I'm writing which is a how-to on hosting exhibitions!  I've been working on it in fits and starts over the last few years in between deadlines but now that I've publicly declared what I'm doing it's great motivation to get it finished :)  Join my mailing list for future announcements here.

And you can read the Artshub article here.

x

08 July 2015

encounters.


Another failed visitingthebushtoshootnewwork trip but we did find this BEAUTIFUL gum leaf, in fact I found a branch that had fallen off another tree which I was going to drag back to Melbourne in the car but it didn't fit.  It was so pretty.  We also had a visit from a kookaburra which transported me back to my childhood, listening to their laugh was my normal background noise when I was growing up.  I miss opening the door and walking straight into the bush, looking out the windows at gum trees, the smell of the bush when it's raining and the songs of the birds free to be where they please...

Last night I dreamt I saw some pink galahs up a tree and I quietly sat on the ground to watch them, it was so peaceful... until some guy starting to chase me and I had to run off.  What a meanie.

unexpected meditation messages