Exciting stuff! I have just been confirmed a place for an Exhibition in Sydney as part of the Head On Photo Festival in May.
Working with Warren Macris from Giclee Australia to print the work. He is also hosting the show in his space,
Airport North Gallery.
Details to come. For now, I will be hard at work preparing. Thanks to both the crew at “Head On” and Warren for making it possible.
As mentioned in a previous post. I was invited by the “Head On” Festival to Exhibit a Large Format Landscape during the month of the Festival. Well, the exhibition is open and ready for eyes to be laid upon it. All pieces are 1.5m on the longest side and are hanging outdoors at Paddington Reservoir Garden. A Fantastic setting.
I finally found the write up for it and am honored to be in the company of a group of photographers I’ve admired for many years.
If anyone is in Sydney or heading that way over the next few weeks please check it out. Unfortunately I can’t make it to the Festival this year so I’d love some feedback on how it looks.
If you don’t know about Head On get over to the Website and have a look at the incredible program they have going on for the next few weeks.
Thanks to the crew who invited me to Exhibit!
This is my piece:
“Eyre Pastel 1″
Lake Eyre during a filling event takes on incredible colour from a variety of sources, from minerals to algae.
It’s not too far away from the Alice Springs Show. For me it’s an exciting time. A continuing project documenting the show itself and Roy Bells Boxing Tent. It is the third year and each year I am granted a little more access.
This time I’m keen to get some solid behind the scenes Portraits, interviews and atmosphere recordings with the ZoomH4 and mix them into the sound track of the presentation.. I’ve downloaded Audacity for mixing which will be another learning curve. Hopefully I’ll find a course this year which will fast track my usual blundering..
To slowly get back into the spirit of it, I knocked up a slideshow in LightRoom with a Nick Cave sound track. An interesting process and the first real edit with some resemblance to a story line. It is still long at over 4 minutes and still from an onlookers perspective rather than an intimate doco but I know, through this editing process where it is headed, what images I want and how much more there is to do to get it close to a story of any depth.
Here is the Vimeo. HD takes a few minutes to load but probably worth it if you watch full screen.
I got a call last week from the crew at hEADoN Photography Festival It was a very teasing call because it is around the time they let the Portrait Prize Finalists know they made it. For a sec I thought the impossible was about to happen. 2 in a row?…..It wasn’t to be. In the end they were inviting me to hang a “Lake Eyre Pastel” piece in an Exhibition during the festival……..
It’s called “Head Off” and runs for the duration of the festival from 3 May-3 June. It is a large Format(1.5m) Outdoor show with about 20 other selected photographers at the Paddington Water Reservoir in Sydney. “Head On” choose the image which is a nice way to go for me cause that can be the hardest part and I’m pleased with their choice.
The setting is amazing. I’m stoked to be part of it, and it is all Printed by Warren Macris, best in the business.
The finalists in the Portrait Prize were contacted yesterday. I did enter but didn’t make the final 40 this time,(Ridiculous I know), so the let down comes slightly easier having a spot at this Exhibition. Hopefully I can head to Sydney for the seminars, workshops, portfolio reviews and exhibitions. Full Photographic Immersion.
If your into Photography, May is the time to be in Sydney for the 2nd biggest photography festival in the world. Check out the Exhibition line up-Huge!
This shot is not the selected one for the exhibition but comes from the same as yet unreleased series.(though there are a bunch on the website from where I’m culling the finals). I could be exhibiting the series in Alice Springs later in the year but that is another story.
Gaia.
When I’m big I’m going to shoot the Central Deserts in a Cessna, window down or door off. If there is a pilot out there who’s keen- Get in Touch.. I think this every time I find myself in a flying machine. This time, as I gazed down on the Simpson Desert and Channel Country from 20 000ft on my way to Brisbane from Alice Springs.
I shouldn’t be up here. Locked in a noisey tin can way above my home going 1000km/h. We all do it so easy these days, but despite the frequency I find myself in this situation, I am always deep down nervous and amazed at the same time.
I love to fly, unless I can’t see the Earth below. Photographing from this height through a double layer of distorting, scratched and often unclean perspex seems pointless, yet I will not go without the 5D and 24-105mm and if the machine is empty I’ll even break out the 70-200mm. I pack alcho-wipes and tissues to get the window as clean as possible. If I could, I’d use a ladder on the outside but for some reason my pleas fall on deaf ears. I have written to Qantas about incorportaing a special photographers seat with a large distortion free window. I’d pay a few bucks extra for sure. No answer as yet. I really try not to bother fellow passengers as I wander the plane from window seat to window seat and accept they think I’m a nutter. I very well could be. If you happen to be a suffering passenger as I scamper by, please accept my apologies in advance. I’ll try not to donk you with my camera.
Strange to feel so attracted, and attached to the planet at times I’m so far away from it. The Earth breathes and from up here I feel closest to being able to see it. It’s where Geography and Anatomy become one and the same. The Earth and I so obviously of the same stuff. That, and the fact that it just looks funky makes these distorted images worth the pain it takes to get them.
Gaia- Alice Springs To Brisbane
Gaia- Central Deserts- Alice Springs to Brisbane
Gaia- Alice Springs to Brisbane-Channel Country
Gaia- Central Deserts- Alice Springs to Brisbane
Gaia- Central Deserts- Alice Springs to Brisbane
Gaia- Channel Country- Alice Springs to Brisbane
Gaia- Channel Country- Alice springs to Brisbane
Gaia- Channel Country- Alice Springs to Brisbane
Gaia- Channel Country- Alice Springs to Brisbane
Gaia- Central Deserts- Alice Springs to Brisbane
This visit to Lake Eacham in Far Nth QLD to see my family was the same as usual. Great to catch up with my folks and Sister. Tons of swimming in the gorgeous lake. The boys were well spoiled, raiding the lollie jars with Nanny Liz and bashing up Pa Lionel at every opportunity. They own and run the Lake Eacham Tourist Park. Goats and Chickens and ducklings, Cats, Native Rats and Snakes, and a dog called Lilly, a perfect playground for rascals.
For me though there was a deep sense of loss under the frivolity. Red Nan is 92. It is always special to see her with the boys, as they understand each other on a level only they know. I think this was the last time she will recognise me, or her Grandchildren as her memory slips away. It is a strange feeling not being recognised by someone you’ve known for so long.
Gwen has always lived a full colourful life- I think the husband count is around 5- and Since moving to the Tableland she has helped out as much as possible and always makes sure the shop counter has daily fresh banana cakes, scones and biscuits. She still plays scrabble with the women for a few hours on wednesdays.
The photo below I snapped as Gwen watched the boys feed the Goats.
Red Nan- Indeed a Great, Grand Mother! XX
Red Nan at the Goat Pen
