seascapes

I have started to explore the possibilities of seascapes this last month or so using large format cameras -- namely, 4x5 and 5x7-- and photographng in colour.

The location from which I work is Rosetta Head (the Bluff) and the subject is Encounter Bay in the early morning around sunrise. I park the Forester in the top car park over looking Petrel Cove then walk around the northern side of the Bluff and then up the eastern face carrying the camera gear. The 5x4 and carbon tripod are no problem as they fit into a pack, but I struggle with the 5x7 Cambo and the Gitzo tripod.

It is a slow process as it is a hit and miss situation. I do not really know what the clouds, light and atmosphere will be like until I get there. All I know is that there are clouds over the sea and the direction of the wind.

an old MA revisited

Art photography is often about journeys along winding tracks and trails, some of which lead to no where.

Sometimes these journeys are in the form of working on projects over a long period of time. Eventually an archive of photos builds up and we start to wonder what can we do with these photos over and above showing them in the the odd physical exhibition that is quickly forgotten and only exists on a CV. Often these projects are then put to one side, we forget about them, and we move onto new projects.

A classic example of this is my old MA (photos and dissertation) at Flinders University in South Australia in the late 1980s.

The general idea of the MA was to explore Romanticism's critical response to industrial capitalism and then to map this onto Australian modernity. I worked on it for 2 years, then had to put it aside (ie., dumped it) when I upgraded to do a PhD in continental philosophy at Flinders. I forgot about the MA and the photography whilst working on the PhD in the 1990s and when I moved into the paid workforce in Canberra. When I picked up photography again in the first decade of 21st century I would sometimes take photos that were within the boundaries of the industrial MA project, but I never thought about it as a project.

The MA was something best forgotten. I'd failed. I was embarrassed by the failure. I realized that it had became normal for people to do MFA's, complete them, and then teach/lecture/research photography in a university, such as RMIT. My old b+w photos just reminded me of my shame over my failure. I was now happy just making new photos like most other photographers.

One day, when I was bored, I started going through my old black and white archives. I saw a body of work sitting there, asked a few friends to look at it, and then to help me quickly draft up a dummy photobook. I showed the dummy to a few people, then put it into the background. The dummy photobook was a bunch of photos of Bowden. However, that didn't really make sense of the old MA, since the text was missing, and it was the text that I had struggled with so long ago.

Mallee Routes Murtoa photoshoot

I was so pleased with myself for this section of the recent Hopetoun phototrip for the Mallee Routes project. I had timed the photoshoot at Murtoa, in the Wimmera Mallee perfectly.

The light was right. So were the clouds. The Cambo 5x7 monorail was set up properly. I took a behind the camera snap with the Sony NEX-7 to record the moment, then loaded the double dark film holders.

The spring in the camera back broke as I was loading the double dark film holders. I took some photos but there was no pressure holding the film holder tight against the camera body. So there would be light leaks everywhere.

at Wirrranendi

Suzanne returned from her holiday in Queenstown--at Carnarvon Gorge and Mission Beach---yesterday evening, and this gave me the space to do some large format photography early on Sunday morning.

I'd seen this Morton Bay Fig in the Wirrranendi section of the Adelaide Parklands on the poodlewalks when Suzanne was away, and I had scoped it for an early morning shoot.

on location

This the photographer on location in the early morning. The rock being photographed is this one.

I'd come across the rock form when I started exploring the cliffs east of Kings Beach on an evening walk with the poodles. I took some snaps and they looked okay on the computer screen. So I returned with my film cameras.

It was a struggle to get the gear down the cliff face early in the morning. The Linhof Tripod is heavy and bulky and difficult to carry. But it comes into its own in situations like this, as it is very flexible and sturdy.

My interest in the rocks was form and light. Modernist abstraction in photography made sense-----it is abstracting from the forms in nature. This abstraction of the forms of the landscape has nothing to do with romantic subjectivity or transcendentalism.

I don't see many Australian photographers or painters doing this sort of work.

at Petrel Cove

Welcome to the blog of Encounter Studios, which is situated in Victor Harbor South Australia. This weblog willl be updated occassionally as I live in Adelaide and weekend in Victor Harbor. I will only post when I'm in Victor Harbor.

I've started the blog to basically talk about, and share, my attempts to set up a film based digital studio whose primary focus is to photograph my local neighbourhood--specifically Victor Harbor and, more generally, the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Since the early years of colonial settlement the south coast of Adelaide--the Fleurieu Peninsula-- has been frequented by artist--primarily painters. It is a beautiful part of South Australia and still underrated. Landscape painting still dominates the visual representation of this region.

I use a variety of cameras--mostly film cameras because of historical reasons---and I'm working on a book of the region. I've also started a gallery of pictures.

Encounter Studio: experiments + journeys

brief notes on experimental photographic journeys