a summer wasting
Now Playing: nina simone - i put a spell on you
Topic: mixed bag



I'm back in Melbourne now, after 3.5 weeks of "holidays" at my parents' in Brisbane. I use quotation marks because I was still doing things like putting together submissions, taking photos (though barely any self-portraits), working on grant and award applications, researching, etc., etc., etc.

I also took the time to answer some questions about my art for Brian Sherwin at Myartspace which you can read here.

Whilst in Brisbane I visited the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art to see The China Project, Breaking Boundaries, Creative Generation and the Spencer Finch exhibition. I also dropped in to see the Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Photography Award 2009 at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery. I'll post more about The China Project soon: I was really impressed by a couple of the artists included in the exhibition.

As it was a year since the end of my 365 days project on 16 April, I set that as the last day I would have my book darkness & light available, but I am working on a couple of new books at the moment. All will be revealed soon enough.

In the meantime, as always, prints are available in my store.

If you're in Melbourne you can see one of my prints "in the flesh" until the 23rd of May in the Kodak Salon 2009 at the Centre for Contemporary Photography.

I'll also have a print in the Melbourne Silver Mine's annual exhibition of analogue photography, Unsensored09 opening on 7th August at the Collingwood gallery.

I hope you've all been behaving yourselves in my absence and I will be posting more regularly again now that I'm home.

100 people - #4: Graeme and #5: Margaret
Now Playing: laptop hum
Topic: 100 people





AKA Dad and Mum ;o)

Whilst some people talk of how much they dreaded and were bored by the traditional family slide night, I was always a fan of those evenings spent in a darkened lounge room, the curtains closed, watching colourful images from my parents' and our collective family's trips away.

Whether photographs from the trip to the USA my parents took when my brothers and I were in early primary school; a trip that brought us each various souvenirs including t-shirts, before souvenir t-shirts became all post-modernist and declared themselves uncool (mine was from San Francisco and said "Go climb a street"). Or photographs from Antarctica and other strange far away places my Uncle John traveled to. Or even the photographs from the travels we three children ventured on with my parents around the Northern Territory when we lived in Darwin.

Slide nights are up there in my list of favourite memories, along with nights spent lying rugged up on banana lounges in the backyard of my maternal grandparents' house in Northbourne Avenue in Canberra whilst my Granddad pointed out constellations and my Grandma brought us out warm cups of Milo. The hum of the projector, the clacking of the slide tray turning or sliding as the corded remote was pressed, the delays when a slide got stuck or the attempt to go back to the previous slide caused a technical malfunction, and the dust particles floating around in the projector's light.

The projected images contained amusing memories of places we'd been, or acted as portals into intriguing places we hoped one day to go. And, of course, played an important part in inspiring my love of photography.

For a couple of decades slide nights in our family died off. My parents, like most folk, started taking their holiday and family snaps with negative film instead of as transparencies; and the act of reliving our family holidays or experiencing each others' was relegated to sitting around a table, possibly as a group, and passing around 6"x4" prints; or in the case of my photographs from the UK, viewed by my parents online long distance on my website. Perhaps, given that by this time there were five of us recording our holidays in photographic form, this was a good thing.

However, with the advent of digital photography, "slide nights" are back with a vengeance in my parents' house. Now they can be enjoyed in the morning and afternoon, not just the evening as they don't require darkness; and there is (somewhat) less pfaffing with the cycle of images played through the DVD player.

After viewing my parents' photographs from their trip to Africa last year and from their travels around the Eastern Rockies, USA, in 2006, I persuaded them to set up a RedBubble account for their travel photography. You should check it out.

saturnine
Now Playing: fever ray - fever ray
Topic: self-portraiture



view larger

Feeling a bit like this at the moment, though this was taken back in February.

My birthday is next Friday. If you want to make me happy you can buy me a 17" MacBook Pro or a Nikon D700. Or you could make a donation to the "Send Bronwen to NY, LA & London Fund". Either / or. Or all. I'm not picky. Just sayin'...

Or you could do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of darkness & light.

incline
Now Playing: esthero - breath from another
Topic: self-portraiture



Less than a week to get yourself a copy of darkness & light!

And if you're looking for a way to spend your stimulus package, here's a suggestion.

100 people - #3: Chris
Now Playing: the puppini sisters - betcha bottom dollar
Topic: 100 people



I can't remember the exact circumstances under which I "met" Chris, affectionately known as Ziz. I believe I came to his notice through the Melbourne and / or Melbourne Silver Mine groups on Flickr sometime in 2007, and we started exchanging comments and messages and finally met in person at Unsensored 07 at Kerala Gallery.

Since then we've met up for various exhibition openings and viewings, various Flickrmeets, and well, any excuse for eating and / or drinking that can be made.

Chris primarily works in film photography, taking beautiful urban abstracts and capturing reflected light, and from time to time some beautiful portraiture. His love for photography (and his quirky sense of humour) has carried over to the naming of his kitten, Eighteen, with her 18% grey colouring.

I took this portrait of Chris on Wednesday as we sat in the front window of Bar Open on Brunswick Street drinking pinot grigio and Mercury sweet cider, people-watching, discussing photography and other things, whilst digesting the Kodak Salon and a large meal from Joe's Garage.

i was always your girl
Now Playing: the reindeer section - son of evil reindeer
Topic: photography



About a week ago, I received an email about what I would consider to be pretty much my dream workshop.

Aaron Hobson is running a 3-day workshop in his local area, the Adirondacks in upstate New York, primarily based around narrative, cinematic-influenced photography, to culminate in an exhibition on the final night.

Not only am I an admirer of Aaron's work, I share a passion for cinematic imagery and self-portraiture with him. He is one of the many folk I would love to share a pint with and discuss photography, inspiration and self-portraiture, and the landscapes and abandoned structures, whether houses or places of industry, in his photographs regularly invoke my jealousy at what is at his proverbial fingertips.

Currently I don't know that I will be able to scrape together the funds for a trip to the US in August this year, but failing that I hope he will be able to continue to run workshops like this in 2010 which would be more likely for me to be able to participate in.

If you're able to participate in this and you think it looks good (I think it looks awesome!), I encourage you to contact Aaron through the workshop site.

And to all photographers reading this in New York, Los Angeles and maybe San Francisco (or even non-photographers!), if I were to come over to the US in August this year, or in June or September next year, would you be interested in catching up to show me around, take photos, or even just for a pint or a coffee?

the persistence of memory
Now Playing: pink - funhouse
Topic: f-stop magazine



The collaboration I recently completed with Los Angeles photographer Aline Smithson
is included in the latest issue of F-Stop Magazine.

And if you're in Melbourne, come on down to the opening of the Kodak Salon 2009
at the Centre for Contemporary Photography,
corner George & Kerr Streets, Fitzroy, from 6-8pm tonight.

starstruck
Now Playing: paul kelly & the coloured girls - gossip
Topic: photography books



darkness & light only available until 16 April 2009!









*images in this post are not included in the book, they are "out-takes" from my 365 Days shoots.

a sidelong glance
Now Playing: depeche mode - exciter
Topic: photography



I just booked my flight to Brisbane to visit my parents for my birthday (the 17th of April). My return flight arriving in Brisbane on 16th April and returning to Melbourne on 10th May is costing me far less than I expected. Apparently I had more Qantas Frequent Flyer points than I thought, so most of the cost is being covered by them! Nice one!

So if you're a photographer in Brisbane, drop me a message and let me know if you're maybe interested in catching up for a photo walk or a drink. My parents live a bit of a way out and I don't drive, so my mobility may be a bit limited, but I'll see what I can do :o)

Meanwhile, I have an image in the latest round of the Saatchi Showdown. Please vote.

And I will have a print in the CCP Kodak Salon 2009, the opening night for which takes place from 6 - 8pm April 2nd 2009.

If you're after a print from my stores I'd recommend getting in before I jet off, as I won't be able to post / ship prints whilst I'm out of town.

And darkness & light is only available for another 20 days!

in her own image
Now Playing: the pixies - trompe le monde
Topic: photography books



About a month ago I took over the task of designing In Her Own Image, the second collection of self-portraiture from the Female Self-Portrait Artists' Support Group. Miss Aniela, who had originally been intending to design the book in InDesign, had found her career taking off in a big way and realised she just didn't have the time needed to devote to putting the book together and all that entails, so I somewhat foolhardily agreed to pick up where she'd left off.

After countless hours spent downloading, prepping and importing photos; arranging image combinations and formatting within Blurb's Booksmart software with the assistance and suggestions of many of the book's design team; adding image and artist credits and contributor details; and then proofing it all with the assistance of a couple of lovely ladies from the design team; I finally uploaded the book to Blurb about midnight last night and ordered a softcover copy for proofing.

The book is now expected to be available to the public in early April and features the work of 87 female self-portrait artists in a beautiful 316 page edition.

The front cover features a wonderfully surreal image by Erika Pham, and has been designed by the very talented Elle Moss and Heather Evans Smith.

The book will be sold at cost through Blurb, and you can bet I'll be providing a link to it as soon as it's ready.

In the meantime you might like to pick up a copy of the first collection, She Took Her Own Picture.

In Her Own Image features work from the following artists: Alisha Shevlin, Angel Lynne, Angela Gott, Angeline Stewart, Ashley Lebedev, Bazil Zerinsky, Bee Brady, Bethany Helzer, Bogna Kuczerawy, Brienne Griffin, Bronwen Hyde, Cheryl, Christina Ruvoldt, Christy Marie, Crystal Rose, Cynthia That-Cacopardo, Dana France, dani, Elise Hibbard, Elizabeth LaFreniere, Elizabeth Livermore, Elle Moss, Elsa Björg Magnúsdóttir, Emily Basch, Emily Sandifer, Emma Newson, Erika Pham, Eva Moreno López, Felicitas Klische, fernanda montoro, Gemma Gonzalez, Heather Evans Smith, Hélène Deroubaix, i.anton, Ilina S, Jennifer Evans, Jennifer Henriksen, Jill Evans, Joanne Cruickshank, Juliet Home, Juliette LaCour, Karin Elizabeth, Kate Armstrong, kate passaro, Kimberly Rose, Kiyo Murakami, Kristina Martino, Laura Acosta, Lauren Bentley, Lena Paloma, Lisa Noble, Lucy Nuzum, Lucy Wen-Shu Shih, Maggie Phelan, Margaret Tyson, María Elena Costa, Mariangela Totaro, Marico Fayre, Marie Killen, Maryam Siddiqi, MaryElise Tomczak, Maureen Fogarty, Megan Horsburgh, Melissa Gridley, Michelle McRae, Michelle Merle Pace, Miss Aniela, Monica Costa, Monica L. Shulman, ms.sparkles, Nathalie Griffiths, Özlem Haluk, Pamela Jesuitas, Qathi Gallaher Hart, Rachel Blumenthal, Rossina Bossio, Sarah Mercer, Sarah R. Bloom, Sarah Wright, Sevgi K, Sharon Cooper, Sharon T. Wheaton, SophieCharlotte, Susan Knight, Teffin, Teresa Horstmann, Wendy Anderson.