Acmp Blog

Sarah Andersons Capture Tree project

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:36:00 +1000

Sarah Anderson, Melbourne Photographer, who has been working with Trampoline Melbourne for the last few years shares about what she gets out of being part of the project.

In 2009, after many years of assisting and a two and a half year stint in Canada I decided it was time to break up with my assisting career and start my photography business. It was so scary to stop assisting and get out there with my folio and show everyone. But the hardest part was spending days, weeks and months on the phone trying to book meetings.

I was lucky that I had experienced photographers to call on for advice and support and give me cheap rent at a studio to get me started.

I did feel that it was a very lonely time and somewhat depressing "selling" myself every day and having practically no work. One of the photographers suggested I organise ACMP Melbourne Trampoline meetings because they had been dormant in Melbourne for a while and I wished it was still going. I took on the challenge despite the fact I had no idea of what I was really doing. The ACMP connected me with past organisers and people in the know in the ACMP to help me get going and I have never looked back.

I find it so satisfying putting on these meetings, connecting with fellow photographers and seeing how much people get out of attending and being a part of Trampoline. Many have moved on as they are now too busy with work to continue and that is satisfying to see too. I always go home buzzing with inspiration after the meetings. It is a great opportunity to meet pros through organising the talks and hear about how things can be done from different perspectives.

I have found the peer connections I have made over the years invaluable for support in my business. I see Trampoline as a great way to connect with like minded people and build relationships that will help you out throughout the rest of your photography career. We no longer accidentally meet at labs and rarely at the camera store so this is a great way to get connected and hear about what is going on in the world of photography.

I am now looking to grow Trampoline even more through university involvement to have it evolve into what the next generation of photographers want it to be. I see it as a fluid project that can easily adapt to maintain its relevance for the up and coming photographers to give them the information they need in an engaging format and am always happy for input, suggestions and new people to become a part of the project.

I really feel fulfilled giving back to the photography community who helped me immensely throughout my studies, assisting, starting my photography career and all the other projects along the way. My most recent project is creating a free online resource for students, assistants and emerging photographers. It is information created by photographers for photographers to further strengthen and create a sense of community in the photography community. I will be officially launching the project "Capture Tree" this Thursday the 9th of May at 6:30pm at 7 Phoenix, 7-11 Phoenix St, South Yarra. Sally Brownbill and Tommy McCubbin will be our guest speakers on the night with Sally speaking about common mistakes assistants and emerging photographers make when starting out and Tommy speaking about new technology and the way content will be viewed along with the role of social media in the future. I would love to see you all there and have you be a part of the project. To find out more head to http://capturetree.com/

Also, we always have opportunities in Trampoline to be a part of the project. If you would like to be involved please email me at sarah@sarahanderson.com.au

Photographing in Public

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 02:15:00 +1000

It has been 4 years since my last exhibition, so I recently started thinking about the next one! I shoot mostly people for my commercial work, but generally exhibit industrial images for my fine art. Nice & easy - old factories do not answer back, or demand to know "why are you taking my photo, mate?!?"

So... I have some images I have been shooting for the last couple of years - crowds of people crossing the street in the Melbourne CBD. I think it would make a nice series to show, but I have been having constant thoughts about how to deal with the legal and ethical issues that come with photographing random, anonymous people in the street & then selling prints for profit.

The legal issues (here in Australia) are quite straightforward. A few grey areas perhaps, but basically if you know your rights & keep a sensible, intuitive head on your shoulders while you are shooting, you can't go too far wrong. The legalities first:

It is generally legal to take photographs of people in a public place without asking permission. With a few caveats, including:

1. There are no publicity or personality rights in Australia, and there is no right to privacy that protects a person's image.

2. If you are using your shots for a commercial purpose (see below), you should obtain a model release form signed by the subjects you are photographing to ensure you have authorisation to use their image to sell a product.

3. There is no restriction on taking photographs of people on private property from public property. To photograph on private land, you need permission from the landowner, and he or she has the right to impose restrictions on photography. Therefore, you may only be allowed to photograph certain objects or locations. This type or restriction is common in many museums, galleries and sporting grounds, and may occur on land owned by Councils (that's a whole conversation in itself!) If you do not have permission to be on privately owned property, you are liable for trespass. The landowner may use reasonable force to remove you from their land. Fact.

So, now for my moral dilemma. In the context of photography, "commercial use" does not mean the sale of a picture, but the use of a person's likeness to endorse a product or service. So the mere sale of a picture does not make its use commercial. A person's likeness has to be used in such a way that it appears they endorse some product or are trying to entice others to buy something. So selling a print at exhibition is NOT a commercial use, but using the same image to promote the exhibition IS. Another grey area!

What would you do?

Photographing people in public, part 2.

In Part One of my article regarding Photographing people in public places, I covered some legal issues & skimmed some ethical ones. I posed a question about what constitutes "Commercial Use" with images taken of people in public. The law is straightforward, but the moral issues are vexing. Even if the law is on your side, is it moral (or ethical) to sell an image taken in a public place that clearly identifies a person or people without their permission?

So, how did you react? Are you in the "if you're in a public place, you lose all rights to expect privacy" camp? Or are you in the "when you're in public, you should be entitled to retain your privacy & not be subjected to someone photographing me whether I am aware of it or otherwise" camp?

One person who has clearly been of the former opinion is respected American photographer, Philip-Lorca DiCorcia. Several years ago, DiCorcia clamped a radio-slaved strobe under scaffolding on a New York sidewalk, in effect turning the sidewalk into his own "studio". He then photographed people with a telephoto lens as they passed through that space over many months, making a series of striking street portraits that became the basis of his exhibition titled "HEADS'.

After the exhibition opened, one of the subjects of his images, an elderly man, sued DiCorcia, claiming that he (DiCorcia) has used his image for "commerce and advertising", the commerce being the "sale of the image in the art gallery" and the advertising being the "use of the image to promote the exhibition - (posters & catalogue.) DiCorcia took the case to 3 appeals before he successfully defended his case.

His argument was that he was within his rights to practice his art in this manner, and that there is "no expectation of privacy in a public place anymore... (most major international cites)...are saturated with surveillance camera's ... in a way, it's what you do with those images. I don't believe I defamed those people with those images. I don't think I was even sneaky about it!" He compares his working methods with those of some famous iconic photographers that we have all studied and admired, including Walker Evans, who at times used hidden camera's to photograph people without their knowledge. One does not have to draw a terribly long bow to add any number of iconic photographers to the list of people who in these modern times might be considered to have questionable working methods: Cartier-Bresson, Winogrand, Klein or Levitt, to name but a few.

What these photographers have in common is that they have all produced images that have shaped the way we look at our world; the candid image, unposed and undeniably evocative.

The main argument against the right to photograph people in public tends to be a simple one: How would you feel if you unwittingly found yourself to be the subject of a photograph featured in an exhibition? If you put yourself in the shoes of your subjects, how would you like to be treated? Speaking personally, I know that I have a good head for radio, and I hate being photographed, either candidly or with my knowledge. However, I think we should always defend the right of anyone to practice street photography, providing the subject(s) is treated with empathy & dignity. If you want to do an artistic series of people picking their noses at the traffic lights, count me out!

But if someone in 100 years time looks at an image of me taken in a public place tomorrow & it gives an understanding of what life was like back in the good old days, then I don't really have a problem with that.

Just make sure you get my good side...

For more reading on the Phillip-Lorca DiCorcia case, check out:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2011/05/sidewalk-art.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/arts/17iht-lorca.html?pagewanted=all

For great resource material on this subject, check out Andrew Nemeth's website (www.4020.net), as well as the Arts Law Australia website: (www.artslaw.com.au/info-sheets/info-sheet/street-photographers-rights)

*Mark Munro is a Melbourne-based photographer who shoots for a range of corporate & advertising clients, including some of Australia's leading corporates including ANZ bank, Origin Energy, Worksafe Victoria, Transport Accident Commission, Australia Catholic University & Dairy Australia. He has recently retired from the board of the ACMP, where he served for over 7 years. www.markmunro.com

ACMP member Keturah de Klerk and her Partner Morne show what responsible tourism and human endeavour can achieve.

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:47:00 +1100

Georgery has suffered too much. He is scarred for life. But he is a picture of hope.

The odds seemed heavily stacked against an 11- year -old South African boy with shocking burns injuries from a house fire and the later unrelated deaths of his mother and sibling twins.

Adding to these traumas, as a toddler he was rushed to receive an antidote to a poisonous spider bite.

His problems are no way over but thanks to Australian based freelance photographic couple

Morne and Keturah de Klerk he is another symbol of what world responsible tourism and human endeavour can achieve.

Morne admits he’d long forgotten his pictures of Georgery.

”Ten years on I wanted to find him. I had taken the shots in my home town of Upington in the Northern Cape.”

Morne, 32, now with an established international reputation, recalls :“I had only my photo to go on and was heading nowhere until, amazingly, a local newspaper story brought about a dozen responses and I traced him last June.

“I found Georgery a bubbly, energetic kid, though, apparently, he doesn’t like school and lands in lots of trouble!

“He is very poor and needs ongoing treatment. The fingers on one hand have not formed properly. “  Aussie Keturah, 35, from Adelaide, met Morne in England and is also a graduate in education and applied linguistics.

www.wtmwrtd.com/page.cfm/link=287 for further details

Timor Leste

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:31:00 +1100

I am an emerging photographer currently based in Sydney. Originally from Aotearoa NZ, I arrived here via years of travel overseas and study in Melbourne.

My photographic work focuses on humanitarian themes & provides a social commentary on the world around me. Many of my clients are NGOs and humanitarian organisations.

I am happiest when completing projects overseas like this work in Timor Leste for Australian Volunteers International (AVI). I was commissioned to travel to Timor Leste and photograph AVI's volunteers at work throughout the country. I photographed doctors, ambulance staff, nurses and physiotherapists but some of my favourite images are of a weaving cooperative in Lospalos in the far eastern tip of the country.

The Cooperative for Tais, Culture and Sustainable Development (CTKDS) is a grass roots cooperative of local women. It comprises of three women's groups; two in the sub-district of Iliomar and one in Lospalos town. CTKDS focuses on long-term sustainability by supporting a range of women's needs. Its programs span health and nutrition, education, tourism, income generation and micro finance.

It was a huge privilege to meet these women, see and document them at work and to sit in on one of their meetings.

Coming up in 2013 is a photographic trip with Australian Red Cross to Fiji and Vanuatu.

You can view more of my work at www.louisemcooper.com.

Louise M Cooper

[ Photographer ]

+61 404 653 534

louisemcooper.com

@loumcooper

Social Media and Networking – The Fog is Clearing

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:10:00 +1000

As a photographer, you're part of an overwhelmingly large community. Flickr alone claims 60 million, albeit not all professional, and then PhotoShelter hosts 70,000 professional photographers and then you only need to look at Getty which incorporates iStock before the numbers become mind-boggling. Whatever the specific stats, we can safely say there is a lot of competition for business amongst photographers.

Just as we were all coming to terms with the advent of 'web businesses' and the expectation that if you are a 'professional' photographer, you MUST have a website to prove it, comes a whole new wave of technologies to market yourself and your talent: Social Media and Social Networking.

The definition of social media according to wikipedia is:

"The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content." (1)

Does that clear it up for you? Me neither.

To add to any confusion, every day, literally, there is a new product available to educate you, help you manage, and increase your social media profile. It's Pandora's Box and the information overload can be overwhelming.

And who has the time? I mean you're a photographer right? Your time should be used 'being' a photographer! Well, yes. But where that business comes from has changed dramatically and to stay on top of it, you need to dedicate time to understanding it, managing it and capitalizing on it.

In all the confusion in the arrival of MySpace, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and myriad of other networking sites, it is increasingly difficult to identify what is relevant and how to use your limited time.

Firstly, you need to establish the difference between Social Media and Social Networking. Social Media is sharing information - in your case images, tearsheets etc to a large, public audience without any clearly defined direction.

Social Networking is engaging with defined groups, business or individuals based on common interests - in your case, photography and the business of photography.

Initially, the race was on for everybody to get as many followers, likes, shares and friends as possible but as the buzz and confusion is wearing off, we can see that there is some order and even better, huge benefits in the madness.

One of the best things... it's free - well for the most part. You may wish to upgrade to pro accounts or pay nominal fees for advertising, but compared to traditional advertising or marketing, social media and social networking is free. The second upside is that you are in the business of selling a visual product and talent. Can you imagine trying to sell your writing capabilities or prowess for accounting online? Your work, your talent and skills are visible right there for everybody to see!

So how do you use the new mediums successfully?

My suggestion for Social Media... Select a photography-relevant portfolio site that has a heavy social-media aspect. For instance, Behance Network or The Loop, which gives you the opportunity to showcase your talent and use the integrated social media tools. Facebook is also a valuable platform to establish a portfolio of your work, or even a basic blog page. Gavin O'Neill's is a great example, combining valuable and interesting information with his most recent work. His musings and tutorials add value and are worth sharing, meaning he is increasing his brand awareness to people and groups relevant to his business and being shared amongst them.

These platforms provide you with a link that can be forwarded, followed, referred, recommended and shared amongst colleagues, piers and clients. It shows your most up-to-date work, some personality, and offers something about yourself. They can even replace a website altogether. They're easier to maintain, cheaper to host, flexible, easy to update and usually have social sharing tools already in place.

My suggestion for Social Networking... Again pick only what suits you and don't try to be Mr Everywhere. If writing is not your thing, don't sign up for lengthy blog posts. Keep it manageable and in line with what you're most likely to continue. LinkedIn is a great platform for connecting with very specific groups and people and is not intrusive. Twitter is a lot more demanding but has a wider spread. Once you've selected your comfort spot/s, follow these golden rules!

Golden Rule #1 - This is not a numbers game. You could spend every waking moment with one finger on the follow/like/share button but the impact will be minimal if the people you are 'connecting' with are irrelevant to your core business. Do you need to be connected to the butcher if you are a landscape photographer? Probably Not.

Golden Rule #2 - Engage with the people you connect with. Don't just click the button and be happy that your number of 'friends' has increased by 1. Add a message and point out why you are a good fit to connect. Perhaps you can offer them something, perhaps they can offer you something, perhaps you are particularly interested in a community they are a part of or that you share some clients and could be reciprocal referrals.

Golden Rule #3 - Stay relevant. Whether it's Twitter, Facebook or another platform, stay on track and stay relevant to your business. One "just had toast for breakfast" in your feed can spell the end of your valuable followers. If you want to share pictures of your nephew's Bar Mitzvah and your Mother's 60^th in frame-by-frame detail, set up a separate account. That's not to say that everything you share has to be strictly about photography but some relevance. It can be about software, equipment, industry movers and shakers, an experience, a request for advice, a legal story, or sharing another photographer's page that you found interesting, exciting, unique or just bizarre.

Golden Rule #4 - It's not all about you. Don't be a sandwich board for your brand by simply advertising at every opportunity. Even great Ad folk will agree that editorial content has a much greater influence than advertising. As Coca-Cola is not just about the flavor, you're not just about your pictures. You have a work ethic, a moral code, interests and experience to share. A great way to find out about relevant topics is to subscribe to some industry leader bloggers. A Photo Editor by Rob Haggart is one of my preferred blogs and stops me in my tracks everyday for a quick read.

In summary, make it is as simple and manageable as you can by selecting what suits you and your style. Use your time to find the right people to connect with and be active in communities that are directly related to your business.

Resources:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Industry LinkedIn group, Photo Editor, Creative Director and Art Buyer Group -

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Photo-Editor-Creative-Director-Art-2093733?home=&gid=2093733&trk=anet_ug_hm

A couple of good Showcase site's with great social sharing tools, Behance -http://www.behance.net/home/dashboard and The Loop - www.theloop.com.au

A combination of a showcase site and image sales with great social networking opportunities, ImageBrief - www.imagebrief.com

Gavin O'Neill's blog - http://blog.gavinoneill.com/

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

By Meg Moss - Director of www.imagebrief.com

From The 90%

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:33:00 +1000

Welcome to a new initative from the Board there are many members of the ACMP that we don't get to hear from, be it because you are busy working or perhaps you're not sure how or where to be heard.

So who am I and what do I photograph? Bio's and portfolios aside we want to see you and your work that you shoot from week to week. I'm here to kick things off.

My recent work has seen me cover the National competition for WorldSkills Australia, this is the third time I have covered the National competition for them. It is a huge undertaking from a photographic/data management/client expectation point of view.

A brief run down of the competition;

In the order of 500 competitors come together under one roof to pit their skills against each other in vocational and trade based industries. They range from restaurant service to beauty care, automotive mechanics to meat retailing (butchers) and IT software solutions to web design and many many more.

The brief as per the last two competitions was very similar capture each competitors in action during competition, not hard really.... Except that this time I was alone and had three days to get the job done! Surfice to say busy days ensued to get the task completed. The images go on to be used for media all across the country from the smallest of newspapers and trade magazine to metro daily papers. Employers also use them for newsletters and promotion to their markets showing how they are involved by way of having apprentices competing. The have life leading into the International competition the following year and are a vital part of the on going marketing for WorldSkills Australia to attract sponsors from corporate Australia.

These are images you might never see but have tremendous value for the client in their continual quest for sponsorship and media coverage.

By ACMP member and Board member Matt Vailesscu

Dave Tacon. Member profile. International Man of Mystery

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:36:00 +1000

Dave is a Shanghai-based photographer and writer. This year he won the inaugural Walkley Award for Best Freelance Journalist of the Year and was a finalist for his second time in the National Photographic Portrait Prize. Dave's work has appeared worldwide in such publications as Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, Corriere della Sera, Monument, ELLE, Saturday Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. Dave has also worked with NGOs such as WITNESS, Australian Red Cross, Oxfam, CARE Australia and Medicos del Mundo. Other clients include Shell, State Government of Victoria, University of Melbourne, Jeff Banks and Absolut.

Dave's portrait and photo-documentary work is held in a number of Australian permanent collections.

"I certainly feel that joining ACMP as an assistant back in 2003 was a major step in becoming a full-time professional", Dave says. "I never studied photography, so in my early days, the ACMP provided a crucial part of my education. The ACMP is not just a great way to meet like-minded people and to network, but its events have provided inspiration and a deeper understanding of how the photography industry works. In particular, as someone who works predominantly in the editorial market, ACMP has taught me to value my copyright and helped give me the knowledge and skills to negotiate contracts that seek to erode a photographer's livelihood."

Christian Pearson Photography and the High Life

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:47:00 +1000

I was scared of heights... well I still am yet I am quite happy to hang out of a helicopter at 1000 feet and take photographs. It is a strange and complex arrangement I have with myself that allows me to place a camera in front of my face and thus separate myself from the reality of my relative distance from the earth!

It was never my intention to add 'aerial photographer' to my list of photographic job descriptions. A meeting with the communications team of a major road project led to the question of "Do you do aerial photography?" Using my early career mantra of 'fake it till ya make it' the only answer was "Of course no problems!". That was 8 years ago and since then I have passed the half-century in regards to assignments requiring the use of a helicopter.

Shooting from a helicopter has its own set of rules. It is a relatively stable platform to work from yet there is always some sort of movement no matter how skilled the hover. I always ensure I shoot above 1/750^th to minimize camera shake. A long lens can at times poke itself out of the cabin and cop a ferocious blast of air that no stabilizer could help with so my relative position in the chopper is crucial.

My safety harness is attached to the floor of the helicopter by a carabiner as the door is either open or off all together. This allows for a great angle of view including straight down. My camera is attached to a lanyard because of course a camera falling out of a chopper is going to be no good for anyone. My clothing is an important consideration as living in Melbourne it can be cold even on a mildly warm day at one thousand feet! I dress using the Sara-lee method of 'layer upon layer' including long johns, thermals, beanie, scarf wrapped around my face and two layers of gloves; fingerless thermals and full silk liners provide the best warmth to dexterity ratio. It is a given that on very cold days my eyes will water like crazy which apart from wearing goggles I don't think anything can be done about.

Much of my aerial commissions come from my industrial clients. In most cases my brief is to document the progress of a rail, civil or infrastructure project. On a recent four hour commercial shoot for Microflite helicopters I was commissioned to shoot its fleet of helicopters in operation. It was a complex shoot that required me to direct the position of not only my helicopter but also the two water-bombing helicopters I was shooting and a further helicopter doing some film work.

Photography from a helicopter is a thrill and a challenge and offers a unique view of the world in which I inhabit. A world that presents itself from above as quiet, peaceful and stress-free...

http://www.misheye.com

http://www.christianpearson.com.au

https://www.facebook.com/Misheye.photography.by.Christian.Pearson

iPad Vs Print Folio

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:38:00 +1100

IPAD VS PRINT PORTFOLIO - Meg Moss, Content and Photographer Management at ImageBrief.com

Are the days of individualized printed portfolios gone? There are plenty of new IPad apps on the market today for artists and agents to explore for showing images. IPads are certainly a convenient way to share images, but does that mean death to printed portfolios?

We put this question out to a collective group of bookers, art buyers and photographers and had an overwhelming (and quite emotional) response - both for and against.

The Photographers' Perspective:

The pros are the same pros that apply to all digital media. It is easily shared, quickly edited and updated, transportable and less-expensive. However, it seems size (and quality) does matter and this is where opinion varied the most. While the IPad is small and portable, maybe it's too small.

Here's what one of my colleagues had to say:

"If I'm going to see a magazine or an advertising client, (people who are interested in the 'quality' of my work) then I would definitely take a printed portfolio....and for me that's about quality of printed work, the detail (which is important to me for beauty), and also just the feeling of actually looking at a book, turning pages etc, its more professional, and it feels like I am showing someone a little more respect if I give them an actual book. Its like I care about them enough to have carried this heavy book (that's taken years of work and lots of money to create), so for me it would seem a little disrespectful to go to see Vogue or someone like that, and hand them a 10 inch screen. Often I will have 3 or 4 Art Directors from an ad agency present during a meeting, and the size and format of a real portfolio allows them to easily look at the book together as a group..." - Gavin O'Neill (www.gavinoneill.com)

And this from members of our Linkedin Group (Photo Editor, Art Director and Creative Buyer Network):

"Looking at my book on the iPad is a great experience, but it doesn't have the wow-factor that my printed book does. On the other hand, I can re-organize it while sitting on an airplane, it is much cheaper to replace, and I carry it everywhere! The last Photo Editor I met with met me in her crowded office. Her desk was covered with work, and there wasn't a clear place to open-up my printed book... When I took out my iPad instead of a printed book, she looked really relieved to receive something small and manageable. When she saw a few photos she really loved, I opened my printed book on my lap, just so she could see the true quality of the work. I think it worked really well to have both!" - Andrew Stiles via LinkedIn

"The best possible argument for "print" is that it leaves a psychological "imprint" that electronic media may never match. Strategically and economically speaking: "Share" the IPad. "Leave" the promo. "Pray" for phone call!" - David Casteel via LinkedIn

The ability to edit your images within your portfolio to perfectly tailor it for each client is an undeniable advantage. Your ad agency client looking to book you for product photography has no interest in your landscape work or what you can do with skin tones and vice versa. Those images can be easily removed from your iPad portfolio. Of course you can take pages in and out of your portfolio but each edit causes a little more wear and tear to your book, and the prints.

Keeping printed portfolios up to date is costly - in both time and finances. Prints are expensive and as each shoot is your best ever (until the next one), you always want your latest work to be shown to your new clients.

Tailoring your portfolio on the iPad is simple and can be saved for future, similar clients, essentially giving you a range of ready-to-show portfolios.

Gavin does, however, raise a valid point in talking about 'the quality of printed work'.

If the client is booking you for a job that will be finalized in print, there is no better way to show them what their end product will be, and the quality that you can offer than to provide them with a printed piece of work. There is a difference in how your work looks on a monitor versus how it looks in print. There are also many factors that can interfere with how your work appears, such as varying colour calibrations from screen to screen.

The flipside is that many clients are now booking you for work that will appear in a digital format. In that case, surely showing how your work looks in a backlit device is more relevant.

The Buyer's Perspective:

As with the photographers, responses from the buyers varied.

"I vote for an iPad when an agent comes to see me and wants to show me books of multiple photographers and/or artists. However, I still prefer a big, beautiful printed book for presentation. I know our Creative Directors still want to see a well-put-together printed portfolio when they're deciding on shooters for upcoming projects" - Clair Carter-Ginn (Buyer) via LinkedIn

"I would have to say having a photographer hand me an iPad over a traditional portfolio would be disappointing as I could get the same experience sitting at my desk going through the photographer's website.
Gadgets are cool but hey its the images that count right?" - Tom McGhee, via LinkedIn

And this from ImageSource:

'Art directors and art buyers make a choice based on what they have seen on a website, before you ever get to present the work,' said one noted agent who preferred to remain anonymous. 'They rarely have time to see portfolios, and they will pretty much make their mind up from the website so that's really where you need to put the attention.' - ImageSource 10 May 2011 http://blog.imagesource.com/the-end-of-the-portfolio/

No Conclusion

Perhaps the bigger question here is tactile or digital? E-Books can be downloaded in the thousands and are cheaper than buying a physical copy, in your reach immediately, and portable. And yet there are still die-hard (physical) book lovers (myself included) who want to feel the pages, smell the paper and dog-ear where you are up to for next time.

This isn't a new argument. It is a branch of the whole argument for the digital age. The entire publishing industry is having this same debate - do we still need to print our magazines?

Some of the words used by the people in our survey to describe printed portfolios were 'magical', 'memorable', 'special', 'respectful' and 'treasures'.

The words used to describe the iPad portfolios were 'portable', 'light' 'easy-to-edit', 'convenient' and 'quick'. Harsh adjectives in comparison to the warm, emotional used to describe the print version.

It seems that the printed portfolio is becoming the fine china while the iPad steps into the everyday crockery equivalent. There is a luxury associated with the print portfolio. Perhaps it's the money that has been spent, the physical maneuvering often required to actually get your printed portfolio to the office of the client. Perhaps it's the feeling of belonging to an old-school, elite club that hits you as the smell of prints waft out of a newly opened portfolio.

The one and only conclusion here is that there is no conclusion - it is all about personal choice both on the photographers' part of how they would like to present their work, and from the buyers' part of what they need to see in order to book you for the job!

My personal thoughts are that this will go the way of all mediums where there is a digital and physical option. It will be discussed, delayed, debated, agonized over and then one day it will just be that the digital option is the standard. Pulling out your big, albeit beautiful, printed portfolio will be like offering to pay somebody by cheque or sending some transparencies by courier... Old-fashioned, inconvenient and expensive. Even the tactile folk among us (myself included), have to acknowledge when there is a simpler and better way.

Resources:

Some of the portfolio applications recommended within our LinkedIn group are:

http://iPadportfolioapp.com/

http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/

http://www.foliobook.mobi/

http://www.xtrafolio.com/

http://aphotofolio.com/designs/

Meg Moss is a Director of www.imagebrief.com.

"On Assignment" James Pevitt

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:06:00 +1100

Port Fairy's East Beach is regally visited by Southern Right Whales during the cold winter months. I had been into water photography for some time and my equipment being an EOS 3 with a 70-200 zoom all in an Aqua Tech Water Housing.

Looking at the East Beach I noticed a large whale cruising around the bay. Could I get a pic of it with the water housing? I was going to soon find out!

The old surf club malibu was a beauty. I was glad to have it and can still remember when the Port Fairy Surf Club first got them. I was a young lad then and always looking for any excuse to get into the ocean..

There was now a large plastic container strapped to the front of the board. It held my camera and water housing so my arms are then free to paddle. As I padded out to the general area of the whale, little did I know how close I would actually get to it!

I paddled to where I first saw the whale and from a distance started taking pics with my lens on full zoom. Next minute the it has swam underwater over to me for a closer look. I suddenly felt very alone and imagined it picking me up and launching me with its tail to shore.

Next minute it surfaces right next to me. Now I am a bit scared. It swims straight under me a couple of times. I take a few pics but it was difficult to achieve focus with it now being so close.. Only need one good pic I determinedly thought.

It was now way to close for the 70-200 but managed to get focus as it surfaced again. Took a few pics and was wrapped to find when I got the film developing (Yes film) that at least one was sharp.

The whale did not harm me and it turned out to be an experience I would never forget. You are rightly so, not meant to get so close to these amazing creatures but someone should have told my friend the whale that.

James Pevitt works mainly revolves around travel photography. James has worked in Brunei, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Syria.

www.jamespevitt.com

www.portfairyfolkfestival-archives.com

"On Assignment" Andrew Richey shoots for the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1100

To date, this year has been a busy one. We have had some fun working on some exciting projects and I thought we would share a few pics with you...

We were recently selected to shoot the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week Campaign images. It's a thrill to see the huge multi media exposure and our pictures flying high on flags, billboards, posters and all sorts of other applications across the city and further afield...

The brief was "to enhance Melbourne's reputation as a world class city of unique fashion, design and culture", and to bring back a greater focus on Melbourne, which had apparently been lost over the last couple of years.

The location was to have an architectural setting, based in Melbourne of course and focus on clean lines, strong shapes and shadows. Our beautiful city offered many suitable locations but after jumping from rooftop to alleyway I came back to one of my first thoughts - the concrete banks of the Yarra and Crown Plaza Hotel (formally Work Trade Centre). I found a unique beauty in this building, once described as ‘an abomination' and ‘an ugly lump of concrete'. It was built in the 80's in a ‘Brutalist' style and for our shoot offered the most amazing platform for a strong campaign.

A key and most important feature of this spring shoot (shot at the start of winter) was sunshine. It was essential and would add extra graphic lines and shape to our location that was not possible to re-create artificially. A picture perfect day in the middle of a terrible weather period was a definite long shot and to add a pinch of pressure the deadline was solid and could not move an
inch.

With fate ordaining, the rain stopped, clouds parted and we were presented the day we asked for. Combine that with a wonderful creative team, gorgeous talent in Sophie Van Den Akker and fashion designer Yeojin Bae who constructed an exceptional custom dress for the shoot and you can't go wrong...

We had a great day and came home with a beautiful set of pictures.

I hope you enjoy them...

"On Assignment" Mauro Risch, Shooting a Concert GigaPixel Crowd

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1100

"Shooting a Concert GigaPixel Crowd"

A few months ago I was contacted by a Sydney based Agency to help them check the viability of a project. The reference they had was the Glastonbury festival, where there were 8.000 people in the crowd on a sunny beautiful day. The final shot(1.2GB) was placed on the web(FB) where most of the attendees tagged themselves.

I thought it would be technically challenging, but if the guy did in the UK, we should be able to manage the same results Down here. The difference would be: our Gig was indoors.

My plan was to shoot a series of images and then stitch them together. I'd need a day before the GIG, with the Good Charlotte Band, to rehearse all the camera moves and all the technical specs I'd be facing during the shot.

Bad luck. The Big Top Hall, Luna Park in Sydney, had another event on the previous day of the GIG, so we couldn't rehearse anything. We had the day of the concert to check all at once. I arrived with Craig, brilliant assistant, at the venue around 8am. Nothing was ready.

No stage, no lights for the concert, hundreds of containers, cables, etc...

I was told then, that the ceiling lights would all be off, between the warm up presentation and the Good Charlotte BAnd start. The show director told me it would ruin the mood. So, we called Kayell guys and they sent us 10K of tungsten in less than an hour. Light problem solved.

My goal was to be able to enlarge the image, until the point where you could see the individual face full-screen on Facebook. For that, I'd had to shoot with the Hasselblad 39Mpixel.

The moment came pretty fast for us to shoot. Around 9pm, the warm up circus show was finished, the crowd was excited, and we would have the endless 3 minutes to shoot the crowd facing the mezzanine across the stage, where we were ready to shoot.

The MC, came to my side with the microfone and asked all the 1400 people to look at the camera. At that point we had the Hasselblad (80mm 2.8), the 5 Canons 5D mkIIs(35mm 1.2, 50mm 1.2 and 85mm 1.2) ready to shoot the whole crowd in 3 minutes.

At the end, we shot over 500 images to be stitched together. 3 long minutes. But at that point, everything worked perfectly, except for the fact that they had the fog machines putting smoke everywhere.

The final image came out of a combination of 85 images from the Blad and the Canon.

Final file size: 1.93GB (36.614 x 18.870pixels)

I have to thank everyone involved in this project. It really brings another dimension to what I love the most in life; Photography.

Photographer: Mauro Risch (www.maurorisch.com)

Assistant: Craig Proudford

Client: Mastercard

Personal Projects - Glenn Campbell

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Many photographers have personal projects where they explore ideas and different ways of expressing them. In the first of a regular Series, Darwin based Glenn Campbell talks about his project.

My latest exhibition "Shrine" is up on line and in the Supreme Court of the NT as part of the Darwin Festival, it also contains my first foray into the DSLR video world with shooting what I'd describe as a series moving stills shot on the 5dMk2, recording wild sound and interviews separately and then editing in final cut pro.

My motives for embarking on this project were mixed, I my first memory is of a car accident that we happened along on a lonely stretch of the Flinders Highway, the death of the first person that was close to me was my best mates little sister at the age of 17, I was utterly drained from a tumultulous couple of years crossing the country and the world and needed to be somewhere else for a while, and at that time being in a car with no fixed destination was the best place to be.

As I drove I thought about the grieving families I met in the aftermath of the 2002 Bali bombings , both in Sydney and later in Kuta as people tried to deal with such a mindless act that tore apart their lives and changed forever the way they saw the world because the ones they loved the most were no longer in it.

I would start to slow down when I passed a cross on the highway, then started to get out of the car, then started to photograph, now seeing, now having an inkling of the depth of the emotions that drove those left behind to build some reminder to their loved one who left them on what become the worst day of their lives.

Glenn Campbell's blog

"On Assignment" Fiona Lumsdaine making a heartfelt difference

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:03:00 +1000

This member blog post comes from Sydney photographer Fiona Lumsdaine. She is one of the members of a very special photography orgainisation called Heartfelt. (An organisation that I am proud to be the president of). Heartfelt is a volunteer organisation of professional photographers from all over Australia dedicated to giving the gift of photographic memories to families that have experienced stillbirths, premature and ill infants and children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of their local hospitals, as well as children with serious and terminal illnesses. With the kind blessing of the family, Fiona has written about one of these sessions. Gavin Blue

.......................

The email comes through... "There is a session at a Sydney Hospital for a still born baby boy. I spoke to his father today and they would like the session in the next day or so and he is expecting a call from the photographer that can help them out."

The next day Iʼm on my way to the hospital. My Think Tank is prepped (as a Heartfelt photographer, you always have your batteries fully charged and CF cards formatted and read to go) and Iʼm telling myself that Iʼm good to go. I arrive on the ward and am directed to the Mumʼs room. I knock on the door and wait to be invited in.

This is possibly the most difficult moment that we experience as Heartfelt photographers. We are walking into the most intimate and harrowing moments of a strangersʼ life. We donʼt know them, and they donʼt know us. We donʼt know how they are coping with their grief. We usually donʼt know any details at all about their baby or child.. other than their medical situation or prognosis.

Some parents greet us with relief and gratitude. Others are barely aware that weʼre there. Some are desperate to talk to us... a person outside the system but there to support and help them. And others are terrified to speak at all, lest they break down and canʼt find a way to hold it together.

Iʼm invited into the room and introduce myself to Mum, Dad and their 5 year old daughter. Weʼre all waiting for their baby boy to be brought into the room from the mortuary. I get my gear ready... the room is big enough for me to use my 85mm f/1.4, and so I pop it onto my D3S and put my 35mm f/2 on to my D700. I have my 50 f/1.4 ready to swap out with my 85mm. I would use my 24-70mm but itʼs back-focusing a tad and I canʼt risk missing a single frame. There is no do-over.

The daughter is shy. She doesnʼt like having her photograph taken and Mum is worried that she wonʼt be able to have a photograph of her two children together. I kneel by the daughter and ask her to look through my viewfinder. I ask her what she sees. I show her how to press the shutter, and we spend a minute or so together as she takes photographs of me.

Mum touches my shoulder and mouths "thank you". She sits by her daughter, and I capture them laughing together.. hugging each other. Dad is lying on the bed. Barely talking. Mum asks me why Iʼm a Heartfelt photographer and I tell her that I know what it is to experience loss. In those few words, we establish a trust. She knows that I understand, and I know that she knows that I understand.

I ask her if there are any specific photographs that she would like taken, and she explains that there are a few family traditions that sheʼd like to uphold. And that other than that she would simply like a record of their precious time with their baby boy.

Baby is brought into the room and I begin shooting in earnest. My primary role is to record this moment in this familyʼs history. To provide the only photographs that they will ever have of their time with their first born son. To prove that he did exist. To keep his memory alive and with them in a tangible way.

Mum is howling. Dad is silent. Daughter is hiding in a corner painting with a family friend. Tears are streaming down my cheeks, but I hardly notice them as I move around following the light and the emotion. I realise that Iʼm short of breath. I have almost stopped breathing, as if in respect for the depth of emotion in front of me. I struggle to slow my breathing back to normal.

Daughter eagerly and gently helps her parents bathe her brother. She sits with him on the bed and kisses his forehead. She watches her Mum and Dad holding each other and leans into them and places her hands on their arms. Immediate family come and go, and I shoot them all. I ask Mum if sheʼd like me to leave them alone for a while, but she tells me that she doesnʼt want me to miss a single moment, and so I stay.

After what seems like 15 minutes, but is really an hour and a half, I tell them that I will leave them alone with their precious boy, and pack my gear up. We hug. We cry. I explain the Heartfelt process and make my goodbyes. This is the next hardest part of being a Heartfelt photographer. I make my way into the corridor and gulp back my tears. I try to regulate my breathing and tell myself that I can cry once Iʼve made it to my car. And when I have made it to my car, I let it all out. The injustice. The grief. The cruelty. The heartache. It comes POURING out of me... loudly. And then I call my state rep and debrief as I drive home. Home, to my healthy and alive children.

*Mum wrote and sent an amazing letter to Gavin Blue after our session. She has given her permission for me to share it here with you. She has also written a very profound and moving blog post describing her experience of having a Heartfelt photographer turn up in her most devastating moment. That can be found here;

http://hesperasgarden.com/2011/08/heartfelt-2/

"Hi Gavin,

I just wanted to take a moment in the stillness of "The After" to write to you.

Wow. What can I say. You have helped me in such a profound way, and yet we have not met, have not spoken, and only briefly "talked" on facebook before all this started. I was one who asked for flyers many moons ago to give to my midwife to keep on hand if every she had a client who needed to get in contact with you and the Heartfelt services. I never received the flyers (time gets away from all of us), however as Murphy's Law would have it - I would have been that client to need your details.

I have promoted Heartfelt and spoken many times of what you do - all before. Before it happened to me. Before I really knew. And now we are here in this place, where Avery is not with us and Heartfelt has become a massive piece of me, in ways I never imagined.

Before the news of his death was even 12 hours past the sonographers lips, I was talking about Heartfelt. I was telling the midwives, the social workers, the ICU nurses that I would have heartfelt come. The midwives went home and looked you up on the internet. The Obstetricians took down your website on their notes so they could have you on file, and the Social Worker wrote your website on the front page of her diary. Everyone who came by my room heart about you. And by the time they left, they knew how important you were to a family like mine.

To have to make that call, and have you send someone is a big ask. But you sent us more than just a photographer. You sent us Fiona. What an angel she was when she came into our lives, on the Darkest of journeys. When she opened the door and became part of our family, with tears shed, warm embraces and an understanding beyond all comprehension. We asked for a couple of photos for the funeral, just one or two. Fiona sent us a collection that warmed our hearts and told a story we could not utter in words. Shown on a slide show they illustrated the grief, the joy, the family and the love for our little boy.

The small snippet of photos sent through blessed our families and friends with a million memories of Avery - without them having ever kissed his cheeks. I have attached just one photo. It is one moment that was caught, but I think it says everything that Heartfelt means to me. It captured love, time, relationships, joy, heartache and more. The photo is magic. To my little girl, it is a perfect moment of her being a big sister to her little brother. To a mama, it's is a magic family portrait of my two beautiful children. This photo is everything. We gave a small flyer out to all of our guests with Avery's photo on the front and the attached photo of Fiona's on the back.

We included a message underneath asking for donations to Heartfelt in Avery's name. I know a number of people have already made donations. I hope many more do.I am hoping to raise some money myself to donate to Heartfelt in the next few weeks as I process all that has occurred. It is the least I can do after what Heartfelt and Fiona have given to me and to my husband and daughter. I know my friends and family and acquaintances will come to the party and dig deep for the cause and hopefully my darling Avery will help you get the word out to other hospitals around the country. I know that none of the people had heard of you at the hospital before Avery - but they all do now. I really hope I can help with the book. It is the very least I can offer.

Gavin, thank you so much for the tireless work you do, and the special breed of photographers that work under the Heartfelt banner do. I know you know how much it means.

With love and blessings

Kristie Tatton, Avery's Mama."

.......................

If you are interested in becong a Heartfelt photographer, you can apply online at www.heartfelt.org.au

Tools of the Trade - iTools

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:01:00 +1100

Sydney photographer Chris Benny shares one of his Tools of the "Trade"

Currently 95% of my work is on location and there are two gadgets I wouldn't leave the studio without.

The first is my iPhone and an application called Sun Seeker. I probably use this application about twice a week.
It uses your iPhones camera, GPS and magnetometer to work out solar position, path and your current location... Ehh...Make sense?
Simply point your iPhones camera at your subject and the sun's path and current location is overlaid on the screen. (See image below).

It's perfect for scouting locations - Turn up to a location at any time during the day (or night) and you can precisely work out where the sun will rise, set or be at anytime.
If your client hasn't seen the location, you can take a photo (with the Sun Seeker overlay) and message or email the photo directly to them.
The application can do a bunch of other things too, but this one function is pretty useful for any photographer.

The second gadget is my iPad & its ability to tether wirelessly to my 1Ds III. (God! This is starting to sound like an Apple ad).
Originally I bought the iPad as a digital portfolio and thought it would be pretty much useless for anything else. This was pretty much true until I stumbled upon this little video. (http://fstoppers.com/ipad/)
All I did was purchase a Eye-Fi SD card (transmits images wirelessly over WiFi.) and install a couple of applications onto my iPad.
I set my camera to shoot RAW to the CF card and low-res-jpg to the SD card.

Now when on location, I give my iPad to my client and let them watch the shots instantly pop up on the screen. It has completely replaced my old system of tethering to my laptop on location. The iPad is always turned on, half the size and more than twice as light.

"On Assignment" Rob Anderson, Shooting a "WildCad"

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:37:00 +1100

My client gave me the telephone number of Mario Condillilio, the creator of "WildCad", a custom 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Its amazing appearance is due to the five different colours of unique PPG Vibrance range fadeaway paint in a job that Mario estimates costs AU$200,000 alone. It won the award of Top Custom Car in Australia at the recent MotorEx show in Sydney.

Click here to read more about the award.

I called Mario. He had been working eighteen hour days to finish the project and there's another challenge: The vehicle had to be photographed in the car park of the industrial estate of his workshop in Sydney's western suburbs. No budget for a studio and no room inside his workshop. Ouch!

Fine particles of aluminium are embedded in the paintwork which only shows up in direct light sources - either full sun, tungsten spotlights of direct flash. My strategy? I packed my four trusty Nikon SB800 Speed Lights, a new Nikon SB900 and Nikon D3x camera.

After various shots in full sun (yes sun was out the entire day), towards dusk we set up flash units on the concrete down the side of the vehicle, plus one held at waist level at the front/rear of the vehicle. The direct flash makes the metallic paint pop and when strategically positioned hot spots can be minimised. The flashes were also used through scrims & inside the vehicle on other shots.

After a 5:30am start in Melbourne I was on the 10pm flight back home. Thanks to Mario and Catriona Colalillo for making the day run so smoothly.

Rob Anderson

"On Assignment" Mark Watson, on location for North Face

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:42:00 +1100

Mark Watson, a Nikon Ambassador and ACMP Member, writes about a recent project;

This project was one of the best of 2010 and whilst photographically i didn't achieve all I wanted to because of a 100km+ hr wind and snowstorm bearing down on us (meaning we lost 3 days of intended shooting), from 'having fun in some amazing terrain' angle, this project was amazing.

This little behind the scenes snippet has been edited for Nikon Australia and so takes a look at some of the challenges involved with a back-country big-mountain multi-day skiing photography assignment (Wow! That was a mouthful)

Although I ended up with mild hypothermia and first-degree frostbite on my toes (finally regained sensation a month later), the project was a blast, so if you find a spare five minutes and want to have a laugh at me trying to snowshoe, breath and talk exhaustedly into the camera (we all know blokes can't multitask)... then click here to see the linked video and have a peruse.

I even decided to wear some new head-garb for those of you who chuckled at my last head-ware in the glorious days video - (if you didn't see the last video about hangliding the 'tsunami of the sky' then check out http://inciteimages.com/cool_stuff/glorious_days/glorious_days.html)

If you are in Oz then enjoy the warm weather and sunny surf days, if your elsewhere then enjoy the oncoming falling of the addictive white stuff (snow)

Cheers,

Mark Watson

Tools of the trade – (You know when you are getting old when…..)

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:23:00 +1100

Most of my current equipment geared towards efficient location work. It all needs to unpack and pack quickly and efficiently.

For corporate portraits I often provide different variations and one is often a plain white paper background.

I used to tape and untape the background between shoots which tended to damage the paper. I found a simple way to keep the paper tight on the roll as well as protect it while in transit.

Unfortunately it also had me realize that I also must be getting old that I would be finding alternate uses for this product outside if it's original purpose.

This particular product doesn't come from Manfrotto, Nikon, Kayell or B&H. It comes from Mount Gambier's Mick Mullan's Building & Plumbing.

It is the humble stubby holder.

It is easy to apply, feels natural and familiar in the hand and readily available.

Thanks to Mick for supplying this "Tool of the Trade".

Personal Projects - Rodney Dekker - Tides of Resilience

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:45:00 +1100

Rodney Dekker is a documentary photographer and multimedia storyteller. He has photographed the affects of climate change and its resulting hardship on livelihoods in Australia, Bangladesh, Tuvalu and Kiribati.

In his upcoming print and multimedia exhibition ‘Tides of Resilience', opening on 24 October at Obscura Gallery, Rodney continues to explore how climate change affects communities, this time in Bangladesh. The exhibition is raising money for a charity that builds schools and provides education in Bangladesh. You can make a contribution to the project by visiting www.indiegogo.com/tide

Rodney's photos have bun published in Asian Geographic, The Age, Australian Geographic, The Big Issue, Outback, Capture, Australian Photography and Weekend Australian amongst others and in many book publications. You can view his photos at his website www.rodneydekker.com

Collections of his photos are held in the National Library of Australia and most state libraries. He is represented by Obscura Photos www.obscuraphotos.com and is a member of MAP Group www.mapgroup.org.au

Tides of Resilience opens on Sunday October 24, 4pm - 6pm at Obscura Gallery and runs to 18 November 2010. Proudly sponsored by Pixel Perfect and the Climate Advocacy Fund www.climateadvocacyfund.com.au

Tides of Resilience
Obscura Gallery
Opening Sunday, October 24 · 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Exhibition dates: 24 Oct - 18 Nov
First Floor, 285 Carlisle Street, East St Kilda, 3183

Personal Projects - Mark Farrelly

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:53:00 +1000

I work as a commercial photographer and I am also an artist. While I have been exhibiting my work since 1995, it was only in 2006 that I sought gallery representation. I have now been represented by the Jackman Gallery since 2006 and that has fulfilled a long-held ambition.

In my upcoming exhibition, Halcyon Days 2, opening at the Jackman Gallery in St Kilda on Wednesday September 29, I focus on architecture and in particular the often mundane spaces and buildings that we walk by, and pass through, every day, with an eye to the composition of the structural and architectural elements.

Images in the series include arcade machines, a faded department store, an empty food court, a staircase and an escalator. We walk through these spaces every day without noticing the architectural elements - through my art I am paying homage to some humble spaces where I see beauty - through symmetry and organization. I love the detail and the pattern that those structural elements provide.

Technically my photo-based artworks blur the line between painting and photography. I have played with colour: de-saturating the photographs that form the foundation of the piece - which are attached collage- style to plywood - and using digital processes to selectively add colour. The department store series is linked visually by the use of red and green on key elements.

I also extend the boundaries of the image with paint and paint on and over the photographs. The paint is sanded back and sealed with glaze and shellac, resulting is rich textured pieces.

I invite all ACMP members to the opening on Wednesday 29 Sept at 6.30pm at the Jackman Gallery, 60 Inkerman Street, St Kilda.
(Halcyon Days 2 runs 29 Sept to Sunday 17 October, Weds-Sunday 11-6pm)