exhibitionism
Now Playing: joanna newsom - the book of right-on
Topic: exhibitions



For those in Melbourne, here's all the details you need about my next exhibition,
a selection of my self-portraiture from the past four years.

I will be in Melbourne for the opening, so please drop in and say hi,
and no doubt there will be many drinks to be had afterward.

exposure
Now Playing: nick cave & the bad seeds - the carny
Topic: artists wanted: exposure



In case you feel so inclined, you can vote for my portfolio in
the People's Choice segment of Artists Wanted's latest competition, Exposure.

film noir
Now Playing: angelo badalamenti - haunting and heartbreaking
Topic: divine diptychs



Left: Elle Moss
Right: Me

I'm a little late posting this as it's been very busy around here of late.

The contributors to the Divine Diptych Project also came to a consensus when selecting themes for this round, that a diptych a week was getting too much for most. In some instances they were juggling two diptychs a week, as some of the ladies are also involved in the Female Photographers of Etsy (fPOE) diptych project, Miss Match. Other ladies are relatively new mothers, or in the midst of pregnancies.

So this is mine and Elle's interpretation for Film Noir. Elle came up with some killer themes for this round, which given we have a similar cinematic interest, were actually on my mind when I chose themes, but I'd wanted a larger grouping to be involved, so decided against film genres after all.

Despite both of us being enthusiastic about the theme, both of us had real life getting in the way, and both had issues with various constraints - Elle's relating to locations and lighting, mine relating to equipment (I still haven't been able to afford to replace my camera and / or lens).

I ended up reluctantly digging through my archives, and found this outtake from Day 229 of my 365 Days project, which I felt fit the theme.

Despite everything, I think the pairing works really well and love Elle's image.

You can keep up with the project on the Divine Diptych Project blog. There are some excellent pairings for week 10 up now.

long way home
Now Playing: tom waits - long way home
Topic: exhibitions



I can now announce my next exhibition will be at Obscura Gallery in East St Kilda, opening Sunday 13 June 2010 from 4-6pm, and running for four weeks.

The final selection of images is still to be made, but I expect at least a few of my interior / exterior images will be included.

I hope those of you in Melbourne will be able to come along!

pink
Now Playing: the dresden dolls - pretty in pink
Topic: divine diptychs



Left: Mmaeb
Right: Me

This week I was paired with the gorgeous Michelle, and I didn't see the final diptych till just now, as I sent her my image late yesterday and she paired them up whilst I've been out and about shooting with Mel Brackstone this afternoon.

I cheated a little this week, raiding my backlog of unedited images for an outtake from Day 204 of my 365 Days project. I somehow manage to have whittled down (or worn out!) my collection of pink clothing, and I think I'm now down to two slips, one of which is the palest of pinks, and an 80s style top.

I had a few ideas for still lives, but didn't get around to shooting due to various other half-cocked ideas that didn't come to fruition. Nevertheless, I think Michelle's self-portrait is gorgeous, as is the lady herself, and the match of pinks is beautiful!

game
Now Playing: the cardigans - my favourite game
Topic: divine diptychs



Left: Ligeia
Right: Me

This week I was the one selecting themes, and being uber-nerdy, chose words that were homonyms: words with more than one meaning that are spelt and pronounced the same.

I gave myself and Ligeia the theme of game, and despite the variety of definitions, we both ended up choosing to depict the playing of a game. Admission: I already had in mind what my image would be before selecting the theme, as I felt with so many photos to edit from my road trip, taking something new might be a bit much! So I had already decided to use a self-portrait from Walhalla Cemetery where I look like I'm playing Hide'n'Seek.

Ligeia had toyed with ideas of Rubik's Cubes and chess, but having just gotten a super-cute little kitten, decided to photograph it at play.

She sent me two images which initially I thought wouldn't match very well with my image, but on placing the images together, I realised the brown tones from her image worked well with the browns in the left half of my image. I had originally paired the other image she sent me with mine, but on looking again at this image realised that myself and her kitty, Byron, are in somewhat similar poses and we made a nice mirror image together!

You can see the other images from Week 8 appearing on the Divine Diptych Project blog now.

in the cemetery
Now Playing: david bowie - please mr. gravedigger
Topic: self-portraiture



I'm finally getting a chance to go through my photos from my road trip. I'm starting with my self-portraits for a couple of reasons that will be explained sometime soon.

This is one from a shoot I did at the Walhalla Public Cemetery. One of my favourite cemeteries, in the small town of Walhalla, in Victoria.

I visited there for the first time in 2005 after seeing a piece about the town on The Age website. I didn't know they had a cemetery, let alone one set atop a hillside as you enter the town from the south. I gasped aloud when I saw it.

For those new to my photography, that may not be aware, I have something of an obsession with graveyards and cemeteries and photograph them at every opportunity. I am currently behind on editing photos taken at a number of cemeteries, but you can get the general idea of my fascination with these places by visiting the sepulchre i and sepulchre ii sections of my website. Some of my film images of Walhalla Public Cemetery can be found there, including this one.

Unfortunately due to time restrictions and the distance we were covering in just three weeks, I only managed to photograph in two cemeteries on the road trip: this series of self-portraits in Walhalla Public Cemetery, and images of the graves at Kiandra Cemetery.

off with her head!
Now Playing: the residents - return to sender
Topic: exhibitions



Just dropping in to let you know the Flower Power exhibition is still on at the Artworkers Alliance gallery at the old Paddington Substation in Brisbane until 24th April, and they have an open day from 10am-12pm on the 24th, which I'm planning to attend. They actually changed the opening and closing dates back a week from my original post about it, but as I was on my road trip when they did it, I wasn't able to update the info. So you have one more week (or most thereof) to see my three prints and lots of other floral beauty.

I'm also letting you know I've entered an image into the latest round of the Saatchi Showdown. Feel free to vote.

I have two images in the latest issue of F-Stop Magazine.

And, excitingly, I'm included in the latest issue of the Australian Art Collector Magazine. Though funnily enough, it's not my work; it's an image from a series by Nick Kind that I posed for just before leaving Melbourne. His exhibition of images from the shoot, Interference, will run from 4 - 17 June 2010 at Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne. I had thought until today that I wouldn't be able to make it to Melbourne for the show, but a little birdy told me something that's as yet unconfirmed, so still secret, but I may be back in Melbourne again sooner than expected.

I'm also pretty pleased to be in this particular issue as there is an ad for the new Bill Henson exhibition on the back cover; but even more special, there is a piece on undiscovered artists which includes the fantastic Lauren Olney, whose project graces the front cover. Amusingly, I picked up the magazine and thought, "oh... someone's done a copy of Beautiful Agony...", a website of various anonymous punters showing their pleasure all over their faces as they pleasure themselves. Only to find that Miss Olney is actually the brainchild behind the project and website, which I did a tribute to in my 365 Days project.

You can see new works for Week 7 of the Divine Diptych Project here.

Oh, and lastly, I've been quite pleasantly surprised by all the views on my Facebook page the past few weeks - generally 300-400 views a week lately :o So thank you if you're a fan or have happened by.

Still haven't had a chance to get onto road trip photo editing - this is a shot from last October! - but working on it!

pre-raphaelites
Now Playing: antony & the johnsons - river of sorrow
Topic: divine diptychs



Left: Me
Right: Leilani Winslade

This week rowandevoe came up with some very lavish themes for The Divine Diptych Project, and selected Pre-Raphaelites for myself and Lani.

I have been a fan of their work for quite a long time, and though I've thought regularly about doing work in the style of the Brotherhood, I've never really felt game; or I felt I needed elaborate props, costumes, etc.

But on giving myself a refresher on the artists involved with the movement, I realised John William Waterhouse was considered to be a Pre-Raphaelite artist, despite not being born until the year the Brotherhood made a stir in London.

On my recent road trip, I took some self-portraits as a tribute to the lovely series of Bathtub Portraiture by a friend of mine, Jessica Tremp, and reviewing the images, realised there was a certain similarity of feel and pose between some of the images and Waterhouse's The Lady of Shallot, probably one of his best known paintings.

With such a strong theme and so much variety in the work of the Brotherhood, it was bound to be difficult to just coincidentally have our work fit together as perfectly as some of the previous diptychs, but I think Lani and I produced images that fit the brief well and work quite reasonably together.

I love the lush, romantic feeling of Lani's image.

artificial
Now Playing: radiohead - fake plastic trees
Topic: divine diptychs



Left: Kerrie
Right: Me

This week was a bit crazy for me, coming in late on the themes as I was on my road trip for the past three weeks.

I was a bit stumped initially on what to do for the theme of artificial, but I decided the blue wig I bought at a theatre's garage sale a few months ago would do nicely as a blatantly artificial subject.

All I knew about Kerrie's image before shooting mine was that she had already taken it, it was portrait format, and that it was on the desaturated end of things, which I totally forgot about when shooting my image, as you might be able to tell by the vibrant blue of the wig...

I love Kerrie's image and her concept for the theme, and despite my initial concern that my image was over-simplified by comparison, I think the two images end up working quite well together, especially as we're both totally 'armless ;o)

I'm loving catching up with everyone's creativity in my absence; and with the wonderful themes provided by rowandevoe for Week 7 I'm sure there'll be some brilliant pairings to come!

Meanwhile, I've finally finished importing and sorting the 11GB+ of images I took on my travels, and will hopefully get to some editing and posting this week.

Have missed everyone terribly, and hope you've all been looking after yourselves!