Sydney Looking Forward 2003 (6-26 Oct 2003)

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Sydney Looking Forward (2003)

This large format photographic exhibition, displayed along the central walkway of Hyde Park North, creates an open air gallery against the leafy backdrop of the park.

Twenty six photographic images have been selected from the over six hundred entries, to create an impressive visual experience reflecting on Sydney - its mood, vitality and environment.

After the outstanding response to last year's Sydney Looking Forward exhibition, I am delighted to curate this second exhibition in Hyde Park, which is like a natural gallery amongst the trees.

Once again, the work of both emerging and established photographers sit comfortably alongside each other, creating a vibrant portrait of Sydney as a unique and dynamic place.

Photographers were asked to portray both the physical and cultural makeup of the city in a positive way by selecting images using unusual colour and light. Images were also chosen for their uniqueness and for the way they reflected a contemporary historical moment.

Sandy Edwards, Curator
Sydney Looking Forward

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The Photographers and their Photos

Tamara Dean - Festival of the Winds
Peter Collie - Our Lady of the Snows
Dean Sewell - Blue Tongue
Wendy McDougall - Summer in Sydney
Paul Murphy - Rooms with a View
Nikki McLennan - Bondi Afternoon Gold
Greg Weight - Max
Evelyn Rose - Chinese New Year
Mark Rogers - Worker Bees
Moshe Rosenzveig - Prime Location
Dean Sewell - Hot Dogs
Jenny Templin - Picnic - Dangar Island
Roslyn Sharp - Getting Married
Robert Billington - Opera House to Fort Denison Swim Classic
Adrian Brown - Tom and Shirley, Ingleburn
Paul Blackmore (Stills) - Tamarama
Tamara Dean - Ferry to Balmain
Anthony Browell - White Bay Power Station
Alexandra Crosby - Corporate Nirvana
Beverley Veasey - Urban Vistas
Kye Thompson - Iron Horse
Catherine Dowd - Expecting
Tanya Lake - Feet
Maylei Hunt - Stop the War on Refugees
Andrew Mamo - The Great Majority

At www.archive.org - Catalogue (pdf), Sydney Looking Forward, Art and About 2003

Things forbidden us by the quickness of the moment, and the social constraint against looking ..

On Street Photography - TR Smith (Online Photographer - Tue 10 May 2011) ..

the most interesting images would likely come from breaking commonplace social conventions, and going where people do not often go, looking where people do not often look. [..]

that consists of paying attention to things that we generally pass by without looking at closely.

Things forbidden us by the quickness of the moment, and the social constraint against looking.

Random Recollection: We sat quietly on some steps in front of a large hall in Central Brussels to rest our legs and to watch the crowd pass by.

It was easy to spot the lady in the pink dress holding a can of beer - Brussels being the home of beer to many.

She circled rather randomly in front of us and then sat beside us. Unknowing to her, I snapped the following sequence of photos, which to me seem to capture some of the sentiments from the above quote.

Street Photography #1 - Brussels / Belgium (Wed 09 Sep 2009)
Street Photography #2 - Brussels / Belgium (Wed 09 Sep 2009)

Street Photography #3 - Brussels / Belgium (Wed 09 Sep 2009)

Looking Down, Looking Out - Cirkewwa / Malta (Tue 23 Sep 2014)

Looking Down, Looking Out - Cirkewwa / Malta (Tue 23 Sep 2014)

Looking Up - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)

Looking Up #1 - Red Tint - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)
Looking Up #2 - B&W (Yellow Filter) - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)
Looking Up #3 - The Original - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)

Sydney Looking Forward 2002 (16-29 Sep 2002)

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This large format photographic exhibition displayed along the grand central walkway of Hyde Park North turns Hyde Park into an open air gallery. These stunning images and the park's natural beauty complement each other to create and impressive visual treat. Stroll through the park on your way to work, amble home as the ligth fades or return at the weekend with all the family.

Artists were invited to portray a single image, a representation of Sydney. Their brief was to create an image which would make a unique and contemporary statement about the city and its inhabitants - its mood, vitality, celebrations, natural or man-made environment - in essence to evoke and uplifting sense of the present and towards the future.

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"I am delighted to have this opportunity to curate this exhibition that so beautifully profiles the work of both emerging and better known Australian photographers. To curate this exhibition I specified themes of light and life. I was seeking images that use light in an unusual way to make a striking and unique statement about Sydney life and culture."

Curator, Sandy Edwards

The Photographers

Michael Amendolia
Narelle Autio
Paul Blackmore
Patricia Casey
Peter Collie
Christine Gleisner
Matt Glenn
Emil Goh
Tim Hixson
Lisa Hogben
Sophie Howarth
Meagan Leece
Junko Miyama
Trent Parke
Anita Mathews Pollard
Emma Reilly
Peter Solness
Anke Stacker
John Williams
Anne Zahalka

Meet the artists on location in Hyde Park from
2pm-4pm, Saturdays 21 and 28 September.

A photograph of a person will always.. - Looking for Snapshots (Mon 16 Sep 2013)

Darcel (*) - Cafe Sofia (*) / Erskineville (Fri 08 Feb 2013)
Looking for Snapshots (*) writes on Portrait Photography (*):

a photograph of a person will always tell us something about the relationship between the photographer and the subject—that is, it will show the relationship as well as the subject. In most kinds of photos the relationship is so attenuated that the subject is really all that’s left. But in a snapshot the relationship is a real and enduring one, not a merely professional one that exists only for the purpose of the shoot. We can see it clearly in the photo along with the subject, and we can also see that the photo occasion itself is tangled up in it.

via Relationships (*) by Looking for Snapshots (*).

On Imitation - Looking for Snapshots (Mon 13 Oct 2014)

Che 'Homer' Guevara (*) - Rialto Bridge / Venice (Thu 11 Sep 2014)
Looking for Snapshots (*) writes on Imitation (*):

We know that snapshots are mostly boring, but a found photo—a snapshot or other non-art photo given meaning by someone who didn’t take it—can be boring, too: finding a photo can be as thoughtless an activity as taking one. Both logic and experience suggest that the percentages are no better for found photos than for any other kind. One way a found photo can be boring is to be derivative.

[..] imitation is something you don’t want to get rid of: cultural transmission couldn’t happen without it. There’s no bright line between an artist who imitates and one who is (productively) influenced, or between an artist who isn’t doing anything new and one who is carrying on a tradition. An artist who imitates is probably one who loves, and love is a good thing.

via Imitation (*) by Looking for Snapshots (*).

Another great piece of writing and presentation. Writing seems to be easy if you know what you want to say. Rule 1: know the point you want to get across.

The Balancing Act between Looking and Doing - The Story of Telling (Fri 17 Oct 2014)

Look - Street Portrait (*) - Oxford Street / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)
Bernadette (*) writes:

sometimes you forget to stop looking and start doing. [..]

Great works or art, design, graffiti (*) and literature from Banksy to Brontë are all inspired (*) by lived experiences (*) or drawn from within.

Your inspiration (*) is all around you in your day to day. Your advantage probably already exists.

You’re just not looking there. Yet.

via How Everything Truly Great Is Inspired (*) by The Story of Telling (*).

Sydney Looking Forward (2002-2003) and Sydney Life (2004-2010) Programme Covers

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Sydney Looking Forward (2002-2003) and Sydney Life (2004-2011) Programme Covers

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Great Southern Land - Icehouse - Australia Day Live Concert / Canberra (Tue 25 Jan 2005)

Great Southern Land - Icehouse - Australia Day Live 2005 / Canberra (Tue 25 Jan 2005)
City on a rainy day, down in the harbor
Watching as the gray clouds shadow the bay

Great Southern Land - Icehouse


A pretty random post, but it has put a smile on my face and was fun to put together.

Heard this song on the radio on the way to training yesterday evening. It's a song you will often hear on the radio on a stormy afternoon or evening.

The storm clouds were looming as we got closer to Bank Street and it had started to lightly rain. The wind came up and the air became colder, and in combination with the songs haunting lyrics, driving beat of the bass and drums, and the memories it evoked, it made me tingle and I was covered in goose bumps.

The music and lyrics seem to capture the feelings and mental images that I carry with me, to be and feel Australian.

Australian Parliament House - Canberra - eight years ago today (Sun 17 Mar 2002)
I guess that's all reasonably vague, but feelings for me are difficult to describe - much in the same way Dennis Denuto demonstrates so passionately, yet unconvincingly, in the classic Australian Movie The Castle:

It's the vibe of the thing, your Honour.

The vibe or the gist are terms I use a lot to cover for my inability to express my feelings or what I am thinking :-) Dennis is my hero. Here he is at his definitive best:

The Castle - in the Federal and High Courts (youtube)
Some random memories. The song goes back to 1982, which would have been my last year of full-time uni. I did see The Flowers (Iva Davies predecessor to Icehouse) at the University Union in the 2nd Term of 1980 and then a few weeks later back in Wagga Wagga for the University Holidays. Was excited to have some friends, from my school days in Wagga Wagga, to be the local supporting act. For some reason I asked Jenny whether we could have the song played at our Wedding Reception. She liked it and it was played during the night and as a filler as we said our farewells at the end of the evening. It was put on repeat as I we took a lot longer than we had planned.

Great Southern Land Lyrics

Standing at the limit of an endless ocean
Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea
City on a rainy day, down in the harbor
Watching as the gray clouds shadow the bay

Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you
This is not the way that I remember it here
Anyone will tell you, it's a prisoner island
Hidden in the summer for a million years

Great southern land
Burned you black

So you look into the land and it will tell you a story
Story 'bout a journey ended long ago
If you listen to the motion of the wind in the mountains
Maybe you can hear them talking like I do
"They're gonna betray you, they're gonna forget you
Are you gonna let them take you over that way"

Great southern land, great southern land
You walk alone like a primitive man
And they make it work with sticks and bones
See their hungry eyes, it's a hungry home

I hear the sound of the stranger's voices
I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes
Great southern land, great southern land
They burned you black, black against the ground

Standing at the limit of an endless ocean
Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea
City on a rainy day, down in the harbor
Watching as the gray clouds shadow the bay

Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you
This is not the way that I remember it here
Anyone will tell you, it's a prisoner island
Hidden in the summer for a million years

Great southern land, in the sleeping sun
You walk alone with the ghost of time
They then burned you black, black against the ground
And they make it work with rocks and sand

I hear the sound of the stranger's voices
I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes
Great southern land, great southern land
You walk alone, like a primitive man

You walk alone with the ghost of time
And they burned you black
Yeah, they burned you black
Great southern land
Great southern land
Great southern land
Great southern land

You might be able to guess why I picked this particular youtube clip of Great Southern Land. Two weeks to Nationals. Canberra here we come .. really looking forward to the racing with my team mates and catching up with all our friends from right across Australia.

Lake Burley Griffin Sunset - Black - Canberra (02 Aug 2002 *)

Looking towards the Sun - Between Fifth Station and 6th Step / Mt Fuji (Wed 19 Sep 2012)

Looking towards the Sun - Between Fifth Station and 6th Step / Mt Fuji (Wed 19 Sep 2012)

On Success and Searching - Bruce Wrighton (1988)

Poster Boy - Erskineville Road / Newtown (Wed 13 Feb 2013)
Bruce Wrighton (*) makes the following observation On Success (*):

Success is, of course, as an internal factor – a connection that we, or I, have made with whatever I am searching for.

Sometimes it can be elusive.

Sometimes it can be immediately self-evident.

The expression. The pose. The posturing. There can be windows that open up that are surprises.

But it’s that connection.

It’s the connection between having a sense of what you are working for, but not really having it defined well enough, so you always have to search, you always have to dig a little bit, it’s always a little bit unknown what you are looking for.

which leads onto a rather interesting observation about the relationship between Success (*) and Searching (*):

If you know what you are looking for I’m not sure what the value of finding it is.

That is to say, I’m not sure what’s the value of doing the search. At that point that part of you has been ‘played out’ so to speak.

If I find myself making the same images over and over again,

I begin to suspect that I have to dig a little harder or deeper to find what the next level of mystery is in a particular subject matter or go on to a different one.

via INTERVIEW: “An Interview with Bruce Wrighton” (1988) (*) by Sean Phelan.

As always, Bruce is talking about his experiences with photography, but these simple observations can be applied to all aspects of our lives.

Bloody Gum - Royal National Park (Sun 28 Jan 2001)

Bloody Gum - Royal National Park (Sun 28 Jan 2001)
I took this photo 10 years to the minute (Blogger's time is 19 hours behind Sydney time). It was the first photo that I took with my little IXUS that I thought was more than just a record of an event or a place (and BTW there is nothing the matter with that).

It was a Sunday, the last day of a long weekend (Australia Day was Friday). Jenny and I decided to do a Sunday afternoon drive down into the Royal National Park and end up at Stanwell Top to watch the hang gliders and to have an ice cream.

Along the way we stopped to look at various features and land marks, mainly the coast line.

For some reason I randomly pulled up into a small dirt parking area along the road in a forested area of the Park. I was drawn to the large Gum Trees at the edge of the parking area and noticed the sap oozing from the bark.

Looking at the photos I took that day, most were of the trees from a distance. The above photo was the only one I took up close to the trees. I set the camera to macro mode and I am pretty sure I would have held the camera about 15 to 20 cm from the side of the tree. I remember getting back to Sylvania and looking through the photos from that day and this was the one that caught my eye. It was beyond anything I had captured up til then.

Around the same time I found photo.net and this was one of the first photo's I submitted to my portfolio. Amazingly, I received a number of critiques which were very helpful and they helped guide me along my photographic journey, particularly this one:

this is a great piece. My only complaint is it's on digital. It would make a wonderful Ilfochrome if it were on film -- gallery quality.
Matthew Kees (22 Sep 2001).

In many ways the photo and the positive feedback I received help me explore photography in a way I had never expected when I first bought the little camera a few months earlier.

I have tagged many of the photos I have taken with the little IXUS, here. Many have become my Favourite Photo's, which I have randomly rambled about on this blog over the last year or so.

Makes me wonder where the last 10 years have gone.

Finally, if I have added up correctly this should be my 300th post.

On Instagram - Stephen Shore / ASX (Tue 30 Dec 2014)

Nibbles - Ealing / London (Sat 13 Sep 2014)
Stephen Shore (*) writes on Instagram (*):

One thing is it’s fun. I like the quality of conversation that goes on, where there’s a group of people who I know are looking at my posts every day, or whenever I do it, and I in turn am looking at theirs, eagerly, waiting to see what they post. And it’s a very different kind of communication than what goes on in a book or a gallery, where you just put the work out there and there’s no sense of dialogue.

via Stephen Shore ‘Likes’ Instagram (*) by Stephen Shore (*).

Happy with my little nook here on the Internet. No need for regular viewers or constant feedback. I had that opportunity on photo.net (*) a long time ago - well before Flickr (*) and Instagram. I learnt a lot, but mainly watched. Not really my thing. It's too hard to be engaging in critiquing and providing insightful feedback. Might be lazy or untalented (*), it's just who I am. I don't expecting to be signing up to Instagram in the near future.

Tree - Tompkins Square Park - Alphabet City / New York (Wed 17 Aug 2011)

Tree - Tompkins Square Park - Alphabet City / New York (Wed 17 Aug 2011)
Stumbled across this blog - NY Through the Lens - New York City Photography (*) - recently and added it to me Google Reader.

It sparked my interest because of the photography content and the interesting stories about the 5 boroughs of New York, particularly the Lower East side of Manhattan which I spent a bit of time exploring on the recent trip to New York.

This story - Street corner and ode to Bob Arihood. Alphabet City. East Village, New York City. (*) - popped up today on my Reader. Its a story of the Lower East side area known as Alphabet City where the north to south running avenues of Manhattan are named by the letters of the alphabet, not the more well known numbered avenues a bit further to the west.

The post was sparked by the passing of a local identity and photographer by the name of Bob Arihood (*). I read the post with interest and it brought back some recent memories for me ...

During the recent trip to New York (*) I spent a couple of days exploring parts of New York I had not even heard of before. One place was Alphabet City on the Lower East. Decided I would explore these areas by wandering around at random after looking at my well used crumpled A4-size Map of Manhattan. Looking at the map I saw the area had a number of parks which I thought I would visit and sit in for a while to just observe what the locals were doing,

Started out at Washington Square Park (*) and then moved quickly onto Union Square Park (*). Both were full of local market stalls and I quickly passed them by as they were crowded with the tourists.

Thought I would try my luck at the next park, Stuyvesant Park (*), a bit further to the east and hopefully away from the tourist crowds. Found it easily and it was what I hoped it would be - a small park for the locals of the Lower East side. There were many seats and tables in the shade provided by the many leafy trees that filled the small and inviting Park.

As it was quite hot, I decided to sit for a while and just observe the going ons in the park. Indeed it was a park for the locals and time quickly passed and I nodded off for a while into a dreamy sleep.

When I woke I sat a while longer and then moved onto the next park - Tompkins Square Park (*). This park was bigger and busier, and there was an eclectic mix of people there. I can remember dog owners walking their little friends (actually one was probably the biggest dog I had ever seen), street people, joggers, people walking home after a days work and others just like me sitting in the park. I can still hear a small band singing religious pop songs on the edge of the park near the Flea Market Cafe (*).

As I look at Bob's (*) photos (*) (*) I can remember the time and I can sense and feel the place. His photo from 27 July 2011 (*) put a smile on my face, particularly when I read the comment - Joe gets photographed a lot these days (*).

For me, his photos give me a strong connection of place and being there, even if it was just for part of an afternoon. At the same time Bob's photos motivate me and give me a strong desire to return to New York for an extended period of time and just do what I did that day back Wed 17 Aug 2011 (*).

Bob seemed like great guy and his passing is no doubt moving time for those that knew him. He leaves a legacy which I (and many others) will no doubt explore further both online and hopefully in person when I next go to New York.

Trees - Looking Straight Up - Fraser Island (Wed 24 Apr 2002)

Trees - Looking Straight Up - Fraser Island (Wed 24 Apr 2002)
This photo always reminded me of a William Robinson (*) painting, Think I have one his books somewhere.

Make Pictures that are Larger than the Frame - Michael Davis - Montreal (Thu 25 Aug 2011)

Recently stumbled across a great blog (*) hosted by Michael Davis (*), a Professional Picture Editor (*). Lots of great insights there for any budding photographer.

The following is an extract from a post, that caught my attention:

You can engage people who look at your work more dimensionally if you decide whether to make the picture larger than the frame. [..]

The notion is pretty straightforward but explaining it is not so easy.

The idea is that when people’s minds complete aspects of a photograph that don’t appear within the frame, the experience of looking at the photograph is more dimensional than when everything fits within the frame.

From Make Pictures that are Larger than the Frame (*) by Michael Davis (*) [Tue 29 Nov 2011]

I think the first photo below demonstrates the dimensionality that Michael talks about above. The rear part of the car on the left hand side of the frame and the reflective puddle leading in from the bottom of the frame, being the elements needing completion.

I did spend a bit of time in this car park photographing the surrounding buildings. As I sit here looking back at that time in the car park, I can see that I experimented with different framings, trying to find something that was stronger than the others.

Maybe this is a good way to think about composing a photo - be a bit looser in the framing and make pictures that are larger than the frame (*). Thanks Michael.

Mural (3 of 3) - Sainte-Catherine St / Montreal (Thu 25 Aug 2011)
Mural (2 of 3) - Sainte-Catherine St / Montreal (Thu 25 Aug 2011)
Mural (1 of 3) - Sainte-Catherine St / Montreal (Thu 25 Aug 2011)
PS - If you look at the first two photos close enough you will be rewarded with the tiny detail that caught my eye - it was not the giant mural, but something much smaller that resonated with the mural. Will show this detail in a later post.