Different Photographers, Varied Yearnings

Three very different photographers, coincidentally all represented by Stills Gallery http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/ are showing in Sydney and exploring distinctly varied visual yearnings. Robyn Stacey brilliantly uses computer-constructed photographs to give us her view - by digital proxy - of what colonial Australians might have seen once they entered a room, sat down to eat, or simply contemplated a beautifully imagined still-life suggesting a scene from the 19th century (pictured, above) Stacey's images give sight to memory, substance to the half-remembered and always with the razor sharp definition of digital imaging. These yearning instants are passionate attempts to plumb echoes from dead eras - in the same way we might respond, for example, to the scent left by the emotional scenes in artist Caravaggio's paintings. Polixeni Papapetrou yearns to create a different reality again - constructing dreamscapes that fall somewhere between Rene Magritte, Lewis Carroll.(pictured, above right) and Tennessee Williams (pictured, left) Using her children Olympia and Solomon, Papapetrou populates her scenarios as extravagantly as Lewis Carroll once cast his Wonderland for Alice Liddell (a mythology Papapetrou has also previously explored in her photographs) Papapetrou's immaculate photographs are, however, pregnant with enigmatic, sometimes menacing scenarios. The Australian Centre for Photography http://www.acp.org.au/ have presented a retrospective of Papapetrou's personal vision in which the arc of a remarkable career is made visible. The third artist, William Yang, appears to yearn for childhood (pictured, left) his Chinese identity, and love. In "Old New Borrowed Blue" at Stills Gallery, we discern a quest every bit as intense as those of either Stacey and Papapetrou. Yang guilelessly sifts through past and present experience using a kind of GPS of the heart. His homosexuality is unsentimentally realised (pictured, right) as well as the experiences of an Australian childhood (pictured, left) in which it came as a surprise, some years after his birth, to discover he was Oriental by race. There is ruthless honesty and candour to Yang's imagery, as always, whether examining his sexuality, mundane meals he has eaten, faces of past lovers or the memories of childhood. (pictured, left) There are also Yang pictures which sneak up on the viewer, such as a delicately toned B&W close-up, taken in 1992, of a right hand (pictured, right) clearly unmarked by hard labour which, we discover on reading Yang's caption, belongs to the Dalai Lama. Nothing, as Vladimir Nabokov was fond of saying, is trivial. "The divinity lies in the detail." Yang's pictures can be seen at Stills Gallery - until February 26 Robyn Stacey's works can be viewed at the excellent "Curious Colony .... Wunderkammer" group exhibition at the S. Ervin Gallery http://www.nationaltrust.com.au/properties/gallery/default_Upcoming%20Exhibitions.asp sadly only until February 20. Polixeni Papapetrou's photographs are on show at the ACP until March 12.
A Planetary Postscript ...
The Australian Centre for Photography are also showing the first photographs I have seen that made me instantly think of Antoine de St Exupery's epic children's novella "The Little Prince". Catherine Nelson's "Creation" series portrays the world on an unashamedly absurd scale - tiny spheres in which continents have been replaced by green, limpid pools and trees and grass sprout like stubble on a planet resembling a black bowling ball. And yet ... there is still something essentially photographic about Nelson's fantasies and her seductive exploiting of the "anything goes" constructs available to digital photo-artists today. Until March 12.
It's Head On Time Again!
I ran into Moshe Rosenzveig at Jim Anderson's excellent retrospective, Lampoon - An Historical Art Trajectory (1970-2010) (pictured) at the Tin Sheds Gallery at Sydney University. It was a emotional reunion at the gallery which featured a visual avalanche of works by Anderson, the former art editor of Australia's pioneering satirical magazine Oz. Anderson is also a passionate diarist with a camera and anyone contemplating a visit to the Tin Sheds http://faculty.arch.usyd.edu.au/art_workshop/Tinsheds.2002.html should allow time to trawl through what seemed like thousands of photographs. There are also many much larger works (pictured, above) which delineate Anderson's passionate, sensual imagination. I met a number of friends from four decades ago who were present, such as the acclaimed poet Robert Adamson (pictured) pioneering 1960's light show designer Roger Foley (a.k.a. L.S.D. Fogg), with his charming fiance Francesca.(pictured) Rosenzveig, an always passionate advocate for photography, reminded me again that anyone contemplating entering Head On's Portrait Competition should get their entries in soon. Details may be found at http://headon.com.au/ and entries close on March 13, 2011
Copyright Robert McFarlane 2011.

Big Pictures/Tiny Cameras

Annie Leibovitz: "A Photographer's Life" at the MCA
Sydney is again the site of two of the most important exhibitions seen this year - Annie Leibovitz's sprawling retrospective "A Photographer's Life" at the Museum of Contemporary Art http://www.mca.com.au/ and Jeff Carter's sadly posthumous survey of his life's concerns at the NSW State Library entitled "Beach, Bush + Battlers". For forty years, Leibovitz has been the great entertainer of American editorial photography, firstly with Jann Wenner's pioneering rock newspaper Rolling Stone, and more recently with Vanity Fair magazine. This MCA exhibition details the extreme range of imagery of which the American photographer is capable: from the most glossy, entertaining recreations of Hollywood glamour using contemporary luminaries such as Nicole Kidman in 2003 (pictured, above) to the tragic calligraphy of war, personified by Leibovitz's simple, graphic black and white 1993 image of a child's cycle lying forlornly next to bloodstains left by a sniper's bullet in Sarajevo. (pictured, above right) The archive produced by this unique artist is broad, deep and occasionally merely diarist, as in the generous selections of images from her family. "A Photographer's Life" presents one woman's collage of imagery made as the last decades of the 20th Century faded into the first five years of the 21st. Between fame, war, trivia and tragedy an essence of our contemporary existence emerges - and ample evidence of an artist struggling to balance her links with celebrity against her expressive sojourns exploring the most tragically real of days. Until March 27.
Peter Carrette's Remarkable Dream
Adelaide professional photographer Milton Wordley www.wordley.com.au dropped in the other day with a copy of the order of service for the funeral of Peter Carrette, held recently in Sydney. As I wrote in a previous blog, there were many surprising facets to Carrette's life - as a photographer, mentor and a humanitarian. At his funeral, mourners for the charismatic Carrette were invited by his family not to send flowers, but instead donate to Krousar-Thmey the Cambodian orphanage this photographer had visited and helped support. Their website http://krousar-thmey.org/ (Krousar-Thmey means "New Family" in Khmer) gives a detailed insight into this organisation's realistic ambitions (including literacy for the blind, pictured right) for their many unfairly distressed children. Clearly Carrette believed no child should live their life with the deprivations faced by orphans in Cambodia. To transfer money in AUD, please contact the ANZ Banking Group and quote the Swift Code ANZBAU3M.
Jeff Carter's Beach, Bush + Battlers comes to SLNSW
Photographer Jeff Carter (pictured, below right) was, by his own admission - and the wording on his letterhead for many years - Australia's photographer by appointment to "The Poor and Unknown". Sadly Carter died at the age of 82 on October 25 last year. This photographer understood deeply, from personal experience 'humping his swag' around "The Bush" as a young man, what hard work meant (pictured left, his iconic "Tobacco Road, 1956") and throughout his long career he never lost his rapport with Australian working men and women. This affinity is ever present in his photographs, adding to their already powerful archival value. Curated by Sandra Byron, "Beach, Bush + Battlers" is not to be missed. There will be a panel discussion on February 18 at 6pm at the SLNSW http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/ to acknowledge Jeff Carter's contribution to Australian documentary photography. http://www.jeffcarterphotos.com/ Until February 20.
Distinguished Photojournalist Penny Tweedie dies. (1940-2011)
Penny Tweedie (pictured, left) has died in Britain on January 24, aged 70. It often seemed to me as if this remarkable, talented photojournalist had seen and done everything - and perhaps knew everyone. Tweedie had, at her considerable peril, covered several wars from the Middle East to Bangladesh, and made enduring portraits of celebrities as wildly differing as Twiggy, Muammar Qaddafi, Princess Diana and John Lennon. I once worked at the Daily Telegraph Colour Magazine in London in the early 1970's when Penny Tweedie was also there and discovered by accident how far this diminutive, elegant, feisty woman would go to complete an assignment. One morning I walked into Picture Editor Patricia Elkins' office and was surprisingly offered a job photographing the CIA in London, which I knew Penny Tweedie had originally been commissioned to do. However, as Tweedie worked on her last task, photographing illegal airport abortion touts at Heathrow, she been caught and savagely beaten by thugs, leaving her unable to start the next assignment. An Australian photojournalist based in Hong Kong, Bob Davis, http://www.bobdavis-photographer.com/ has just sent me this photograph (pictured, right) he made of Tweedie in dialogue with the late George Rodger, legendary British documentary photographer and co-founder (With Robert Capa, David "Chim Seymour" and Henri Cartier-Bresson) of Magnum Photos.http://agency.magnumphotos.com/about/history The British Guardian newspaper also recently published the following tribute by Mike Wells http://www.mwellsphoto.com/ and Duncan Campbell: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/20/penny-tweedie-obituary
Discovering Indigenous Australia
In 1975 Tweedie flew to Alice Springs as part of a BBC documentary film crew filming the story of Burke and Wills. This assignment would change her life. Tweedie discovered Aboriginal culture and began a lifelong commitment to documenting indigenous Australia. Tweedie moved to Australia and several affirmative books exploring Aboriginal society followed, including This My Country (William Collins) in 1985 and Spirit of Arnhem Land (New Holland) in 1998. Penny Tweedie's enduring legacy can be viewed at http://pennytweedie.com/
She is survived by her son Ben, mother Anne and brothers James and Charles.
Point & Shoot goes Wide & Fast
Having a fast medium wide-angle lens has been part of my documentary camera outfit for over forty years - first with an early version of the classic Nippon Kogaku Auto-Nikkor 28/2 - and later, after I switched to Canon SLR's, their fine FD 28/2 SSC Canon. In the late 1970's I also bought an early version of the 35/1.4 Summilux-M for my battered Leica M2. The Leitz lens tended to flare when used wide open (as can be seen, below, in a photograph I made of that remarkable performer and writer, the late Nick Enright, at Sydney's Nimrod Theatre in 1978) but from f2 on, the Summilux's definition, contrast and colour were wonderful. Such medium wide-angle lenses broadly approximate the eye's main area of comprehension and their added speed gave me confidence to work in low light levels and still make sharp pictures - whether using either a SLR or Rangefinder camera. Now a new generation of digital compact cameras, nominally considered point & shoot, are emerging that feature wide, fast and sharp lenses - ideal for carrying when a bag full of cameras is inappropriate. These modestly priced cameras are eminently pocketable and produce results that are clearly of publication quality. Though more expensive than P&S digital cameras with slower lenses, a camera such as Canon's Powershot S95 (pictured, above left) is still well below the price of a 28f2 lens for a DLSR. I recently spent time using the Canon S95, an upgrade of their S90, and found the results from this camera impressive. Old photojournalistic habits die hard, so most of the photographs taken with the S95 were made at the zoom lens's widest focal length and at its maximum aperture of f2. Even a test I made of the macro abilities of the S95 - using a rose from my garden, with the lens set at f2 delivered more than acceptable definition (pictured, above right). No lens is really worth having (with the exception of that Summilux I owned) unless it performs well when used wide open. One of the hardest tests I then gave the S95 was a portrait I made of a friend, psychologist Michelle Sexton, as she stood, heavily backlit, before a window. I also had to add 2/3 of a stop exposure compensation - easily set by rotated a wheel on the back of the camera. The result (pictured, above left) was sharp with no visible flare. Controls for this camera will be familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of digital cameras (especially Canon's cameras www.canon.com.au) and I confess I have yet to open the instruction book. The Canon Powershot S95 lens has an image stabilized 3.8X zoom where the maximum aperture drops to f4.9 at its telephoto equivalent focal length of 105mm. The S95 also has the ability to shoot HD video and has RAW capture. As if to prove Canon are serious about low light shooting the S95 can make pictures at up to ISO 3200 at full 10 Megapixel resolution. The Powershot S95 is currently selling at retailers such as Ted's Cameras www.teds.com.au/ for $569.95
A Surprise Lunch With Sculptor Ken Unsworth
During my last visit to Sydney I received a surprise invitation from arts journalist Ann Berriman to come to a lunch at short notice with eminent Australian sculptor Ken Unsworth. (pictured, left) A photographer friend, the late Robert Walker, had once shown me part of the extensive documentation he had produced of Unsworth's remarkable vision and I soon found myself sitting opposite the 80 year old artist, who discussed his art with the enthusiasm of someone sixty years younger. As I love the diarist nature of photography I asked Unsworth whether I could photograph him and whether I could publish the picture in my next blog. "Do anything you like with the pictures! I am from the generation that just wants things seen," said Unsworth with some generousity. http://www.boutwelldrapergallery.com.au/artist-profile-detail.php?idArtistInfo=203 Again, I set the S95 to aperture priority and the lens to wide-angle, and f2 (the latter by simply twisting the knurled ring around the lens) and made an un-posed portrait of the artist sitting in a naturally lit room at the rear of Berriman's house. The Canon S95 demonstrated how tenacious is the lens's resolving power when used at its limits. But you be the judge. In future blogs I will look at some of the S95's competitors - the Lumix LX5, Samsung's EX1 and the recently released Olympus XZ-1.
Surrealism's Enduring Appeal
Of all the revolutionary art movements of the 20th Century, Surrealism has endured to the point that it has now entered everyday speech in the 21st Century. During the recent disastrous Queensland floods, television showed video footage taken with mobile phones of cars being tossed along like toys by torrents of flood water. While watching, I just managed to catch the voice of an amazed onlooker who said: "Man, this is Surreal ... " as a car bounced over a tree protruding out of the rushing water. Mischievously, I noted how his first thought was to say 'Surreal' rather than 'Cubist'. During a recent extended assignment in Western Australia I saw a remarkable photograph, constructed by digital means, by Perth artist Gary Parris. Titled "Diamonds and Heart", it reminded me again that as artists and communicators we are never far from the language of dreams, with Surrealism still a dominant influence when a picture needs to go beyond the literal. As Parris www.gapsworld.com admitted, "Surrealism plays a key role in my ... art. I love creating photorealistic images that have surreal forms that mean something to me and maybe something to the viewer too. Its the subconscious getting out through the artistic creativity of photography or through software to create 3D photo realistic images that model nature itself. I like the added element of trying to work out what the subconscious is telling me without the full conscious reality. (Salvador) Dali is by far my most influential artist.”
Discovering HP Photo Books
While in Sydney, I was invited to spend Christmas with friends in Bowral. As usual I carried a small point and shoot digital camera (this time a Samsung WB500 with an excellent 10X Schneider Zoom lens) I made only a handful of pictures of the enjoyable day and a half I spent in the country, but my companion Louise Havekes supplemented my meagre take with her series of photographs taken with an Olympus film (!) camera. As a gesture of gratitude to our generous hosts, we decided to have a book made of our collective 'take'. I didn't want to use any form of half-tone reproduction (with its inherently intrusive screen pattern) so I thought I would try HP Photobooks http://www8.hp.com/au/en/home.html available from Kmart http://www.kmart.com.au/ and other outlets. After downloading our selection of images onto a Sandisk 4GB Cruzer Blade USB drive I took it to Kmart. Our helpful salesperson Kelly guided me through a series of touchscreen activated menus (some manipulation of photographs was possible, coupled with a choice of simple, graphic layouts) and our sixteen page A4 book, complete with a spring-loaded maroon cloth cover (and a window through which the first page image was visible) was printed and assembled in an hour. HP claim 200 year archival permanence for their (presumably pigment) inks and the cost was a modest $25. My only reservation was in the choice of paper HP offers, a basic semi-gloss, fairly lightweight stock. A heavier paper stock, with a choice of surfaces from matte-art paper to glossy would be a sensible addition to what was a very positive experience.
Text: Copyright Robert McFarlane 2011

Sydney and its Photographic Tribes

Sydney is always rewarding to visit - to see friends and enjoy the sense of community that now exists among photographers in that city. In November I returned to Sydney, following that bleak avenue of warehouses, vacant lots and late night service stations in Waterloo (pictured, below) to where I was staying in Redfern. I had come to Sydney primarily to open the "Black and Light" exhibition mounted by the industrious and talented Primrose Park Photographic Group www.primrose-park.com.au at the Don Bank Museum in North Sydney. This modest house/museum/gallery is the oldest wooden dwelling on Sydney's North Shore and proved an appropriate setting for the photography of Jill Lacina, Tony Peri and Graham Butler. Lacina had previous exhibited a series of Cyanotypes at Primrose Park but this time showed an essay using primarily silver gelatin prints and photogravures illustrating those ghastly calibrations of human corruption - World War 2's death camps. (pictured, below right) "I wanted to remind people of our humanity," Lacina (pictured, left, leaving the Don Bank Museum) remarked simply at the opening. Peri showed a series of prints made using his now familiar antique Bromoil process (pictured, below left) derived from photographs taken on a recent trip to Italy and Hungary (Peri's late father Otto was Hungarian) Graham Butler's immaculate traditional black and white prints explored the British seashore with simple economy. "Black and Light" finishes on January 30. (There will be an artists' talk on Sunday, January 16th) While I was in Sydney I also travelled to Cowra for the opening of my exhibition "Received Moments"(pictured. left) I quickly discovered it is no longer easy to go directly to significant regional centres such as Cowra and was forced to travel by train from Sydney to Blayney where I was met at the station and driven on to the town. On the way to Blayney, I saw vivid symptoms of the breaking of the drought. Instead of the desiccated landscape we have become used to, what I viewed through the window of the XPT train as it passed beyond Lithgow was a luxuriant green land, with flowing watercourses, contented cattle and punctuated by trees (which I could not identify) shedding their blossoms on the land like cornflour on baize. It also occurred to me while on the XPT that having once experienced elite European train travel (In 1969 I travelled on the original Orient Express from Istanbul to London with my first wife, the artist Kate Burness) Australia could benefit from a massive upgrading of our adequate, but slow and unremarkable rail system. In Cowra, regional gallery Director Brian Langer had, with his enthusiastic staff and their many motivated volunteers, mounted Curator Sarah Johnson's work from Manly Gallery & Museum handsomely. The opening was well attended and on the following day, a Saturday, I gave a floor-talk for Cowra citizens that was supposed to last twenty minutes. Country people seemed both curious and courteous and the dialogue we established (their questions were thoughtful and abundant) lasted two hours after which I was driven back through the freezing landscape to wait for the XPT at Blayney, and travel on to Sydney. "Received Moments" opens next at the Gold Coast Art Gallery on January 15th.
Photographing Aboriginal Artistry in Motion
One of the ongoing joys of Australian sport is the contribution, at the highest level, of Aboriginal athletes - from Eddie Gilbert (the Cherbourg man who bowled Bradman, and was subsequently vilified as a 'chucker' for such heresy) to Lionel Rose and today's startlingly gifted Wallaby Kurtley Beale - a superstar in the making. Sydney documentary photographer Amanda James has gone back to the heartland of Aboriginal sport and photographed Rugby League in the local competitions that nurture future champions - through such celebrated teams as the Redfern All Blacks (their team slogan: "Keep The Ball In Motion!") I once had the privilege of photographing this remarkable group playing at Redfern Oval against a North Shore team. A man from the Redfern team proudly told me that the ages of their players ranged from 17 to 54 - and that four had played professionally for Australia! Amanda James' photographs, curated by Arthur Chan, can be seen at Customs House, Circular Quay, opening on December 9 and continuing until January 30. Her pictures can also be seen online at www.studioasu.com from December 11.
Staying In A House Littered With Still Life Images
While in Sydney I stayed at the home of a friend, Louise Havekes, widow of that remarkable portraitist and theatre photographer, Robert Walker. With her artistic heritage (her aunt Elsa Russell, was a pioneering Australian painter of real talent) and three talented daughters, of which the eldest, Saskia, runs the elite Potts Point florist Grandiflora http://grandiflora.net/ the Redfern house is always filled with art, flowers and beautifully arranged fruit. Subsequently I found it difficult to resist taking pictures of roses that may come from Ecuador, exotic orchids and fruit thoughtfully arranged (pictured, left) throughout the house. While staying in Redfern I also had a surprise visit from photographer Belinda Mason (pictured, right) who came to show me a lenticular 3D image of a portrait she had made of me previously. Not used to seeing myself in three dimensions and many times life size (pictured, right) I was rendered speechless.
MARIAN DREW flies free at ROBIN GIBSON GALLERY
Marian Drew continues to follow her elegant, dark path to exploring the nuances of bird life - and death (pictured, above) Artist are defined by their commitment to a vision, no matter where it may lead them. Marian Drew is just such a dedicated person and her work at Robin Gibson Gallery http://robingibson.net/exhibitions/marian-drewin Sydney (which finishes this week) is remarkable for its poetic expression. One of several Australian photo-artists who concentrate on exploring still life (Robyn Stacey and Anna-Maryke are two notable others) Drew's elegant necrogenic tableaux should not to be missed.
The Passing of Jeff Carter and Peter Carrette
Two very different photographers have sadly left us. Jeff Carter, (pictured, left) whom I was pleased to say I knew for over forty years, died in October. He was 82. I wrote this obituary for Carter in Timelines for the Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/a-herald-for-australias-working-class-20101105-17hes.html Peter Carrette (pictured, right) who I knew less well, died only weeks ago. He was 63. Carter loved the bush - and the city - and will be missed for his compassionate, honest vision of Australians everywhere. A retrospective exhibition "Beach, Bush and Battlers" drawn from Carter's remarkable archive (and curated by Sandra Byron) will open on January 4th at the State Library of NSW.http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/ Peter Carrette, known as "King of the Paps" (Paparazzi) was far more than the intrusive personality such professionals are generally taken for. Since his death, I have had a stream of calls from people Carrette had assisted, mentored - quietly and without any publicity. When I last saw him, I had just stepped off a flight to Sydney and was waiting outside the airport for a taxi. Carrette suddenly appeared with a camera and I knew he was on the prowl. "I can't stay and talk. (Brazilian supermodel) Giselle Bundchen has just arrived from London and I know which flight she's on." And then he was gone.
REPORTAGE is now 10!
While in Sydney, I also attended the screenings and exhibition associated with that great advocate for fine photojournalism, REPORTAGE. This year, their tenth anniversary, brought an unusually staged exhibition and several screenings of photographers' work, to the National Art School, in Darlinghurst. This institution has the feeling of an enclosed, colonial community with its sturdy walls and classic 19th century sandstone buildings. Photojournalist Glenn Lockitch, recently back from documenting the ramming of the radical catamaran Ady Gil by Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters, mentioned casually that the National Art School complex was originally a jail - and that they used to hang prisoners not far from where the photographers of REPORTAGE www.reportage.com.au displayed their pictures. It is worth commenting on the way these prints were made and displayed. Printed using weatherproof inks and paper by by master fine art printer Warren Macris http://www.gicleeaustralia.com/ these photographs survived wind and rain to carry their message to enthusiastic patrons. One of the driving forces of REPORTAGE, Jacqui Vicario, then mentioned to me that the CEO of Contact Images in New York, Robert Pledge, had been delayed for an extra day in Beijing, and would I mind saying a few words to the eloquent Mr Pledge's expectant audience on opening night. Having contributed an essay to the book of the first 10 years of REPORTAGE, I couldn't refuse so I made some hurried notes on goals met and achievements hopefully to come, and with Christopher Stewart of the National Art School, opened the event.
The Occasional Image
This space is dedicated to images which deserve their own level of attention. This picture, by David Seymour, a talented photographer from Young, New South Wales, caught my attention when I was visiting Cowra's excellent regional gallery for "Received Moments". Seymour showed me a number of images he had made using Infrared film which I found interesting. This image, however, resonated with a book project I am currently working on in Perth which involves documenting mental illness. Seymour explained this picture's importance simply:"A couple of k's out of town is a lovely picnic area called Chinaman's Dam ... where the original photo was taken. It's an Infrared taken at 1pm on a beautiful day. The bubble and moon were added via my software and the moon and reflection in the bubble were given a yellow tinge to tie it all together. This image was created to share with people the path I have travelled with my depression over the past decade. I have been doing photography as a hobby for more than thirty years and it has been the one constant throughout my life which helps me to keep focussed and continue enjoying life."
BOOKS for CHRISTMAS
There is an abundance of books to be recommended for the festive season. Not only have REPORTAGE published the best of their ten years of existence (through Momento www.momento.com.au) but Thames & Hudson, historically one of the great publishers of photography, have brought out two contrasting books on the joys (and otherwise) of photographing on the street. Perhaps this photographic genre's greatest exponent is the centre of Peter Galassi's book, Henri Cartier-Bresson - The Modern Century while Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren's STREET PHOTOGRAPHY NOW shows how this timeless way of photographing has evolved. Australian photographers are well represented through Trent Parke, Narelle Autio and Jesse Marlow. Parke's abrasive use of light illuminates his street observations while Autio's classic, ironic image of an angel stepping into a taxi is also present. Marlow's droll observations of the physically damaged (from his acclaimed book "Wounded" are also here. Mimi Mollica produces a 2008 colour image taken in Dakar, Senegal which was instantly reminiscent of one of Henri Cartier-Bresson's timeless American images. In Mollica's image a man is glancing towards a young African woman from a flight of stairs. But the real revelation is the surreal humour consistently captured in the mostly colour images of this book. Time and again we are amazed at follies embraced publicly by humanity. This is a worthy addition to this increasingly threatened genre of photography. What are our political leaders afraid that we will discover and photograph on the street? The other book worth looking at is Focus on Australia, (pictured, left) a completely commercial venture, aimed squarely at promoting the cause of Panasonic's Lumix digital cameras. If you look past the sometimes garish landscapes and sentimental sunset images, there are some remarkable pictures showcasing the fine definition and colour rendition of digital photography. I enjoyed Bill Bachman's contrasting of opposites in a young girl and her pink poodle (pictured, below left) compared with the grit, grime and sweat of a shearing shed (pictured, right) That well known lover of panoramic imagery, Ken Duncan, is one of the forces behind this book in much more than a cosmetic way. His Walk a While charity http://www.kenduncan.com/index.php/walk-a-while, which benefits indigenous children, is a tangible beneficiary of sales of this sometimes lush look at Australia. Duncan adds an uncommon spontaneity to his photograph of two kangaroos bounding towards the coast in South Australia (pictured, right) His temporary waterfall cascading down the side of Uluru also surprises. This book is clearly an intelligent, practical way of promoting photography using digital cameras. Not only are well known professionals such as Bachman and Duncan present but also amateurs contribute. This seems eminently preferable to endlessly marketing cameras based purely on price, features and megapixel envy. Focus on Australia is available online at www.kenduncan.com and at all Ken Duncan galleries for $59.95.
Shows Not to Miss before Christmas
In 1985 photographer Juno Gemes http://www.junogemes.com documented the handover of perhaps indigenous Australia's most visible sacred site - Uluru - to its original owners. Her black and white photo essay is currently on exhibition at the site of this historic event - Uluru. Entitled "Sacred Ground - Uluru Handback 1985", these historic photographs can be seen at the Uluru Kata Tjuta Culture Centre - Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, NT. Until 31st January 2011.


Tali Udovich, the energetic Director of Blender Gallery http://www.blender.com.au/blender-gallery-s-greatest-hits/ with its incorporated Just Shoot Lomo Camera shop, has again turned to the icons of rock for her latest exhibition. On Thursday, December 2nd, Udovich is opening Blender Gallery's Greatest Hits, featuring classic rock photography made on and off stage. If you could live with your own framed portrait of John Lennon or Queen looking over you, this is the show for you. There will also be a performance from the boy/girl duo The Falls, showcasing classic rock and their own compositions. www.musicfromthefalls.com/ At Mary Meyer Gallery, small is everything in her "Small Show" featuring such Meyer Gallery www.meyergallery.com.au stalwarts as Ellie Young, Jill Lacina, Bob Kersey (his remarkable sea/landscape pictured, above right) Kate Baker and Renee French. This show will be open until December 24 "Earth, Air, Flower, Water" (pictured, left) is also opening at the Superintendent's Residence, Paddington Gates, Centennial Park venue featuring photographs by, among others, Peter Solness. This exhibition is associated with HeadOn Portrait Competition. Cam Neville www.camneville.com perhaps better known as a fine-art digital printer, is showing his own work at Storm Gallery, 65-67 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills in an exhibition "The Nature Table". Neville presents tiny fragments of nature (pictured, right) at their most desiccated, but surprisingly monumental. There is a meditative quality to these images, made after Neville was severely injured in a car crash. Working on this project became, says Neville, "a matter of life and death. I cannot stress how important this process was to my recovery - and to my development as a photographer." Until December 17th.
At Point Light Gallery www.pointlight.com.au/ its co-founder Gordon Undy, that enduring Australian pioneer of traditional fine art photography is showing a series of natural and man-made landscapes, made in Australia and overseas. Anyone interested in the finesse involved in traditional forms of photography (pictured, left and right) should find this exhibition, Point Light's 100th, rewarding. At Point Light Gallery, 50 Reservoir Street, Surry Hills. Until December 19th. Finally don't miss Annie Leibovitz's sprawling retrospective, "A Photographer's Life" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Anton Bruehl's exhibition http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/BRUEHL/at the National Gallery of Australia and Martin Schoeller's confronting "Close Up" exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery - both in Canberra.
Copyright Robert McFarlane www.robertmcfarlanephotos.com 2010