One week; three cameras. Part One: digital

Yes, that's right, I took not one, not two, but three cameras with my on my holiday to Perth. In my defense, the third - and the largest of the three - was loaned to me in the hopes that I could, through using it, diagnose why its owner had managed to shoot an entire roll of photos with a black haze over them. Ten seconds on Google and a PDF manual later, I had indeed diagnosed the problem, and the Pentax MZ-50 and I got along swimmingly. These shots however, are from my little Nikon digital camera, which at present is not getting along with me well at all. Allegedly it has been suffering from a lens error ever since I got back from Rottnest Island. I am in somewhat of a state of denial about said failure, and am hoping that little Nikon will get its groove back of its own accord. Meanwhile, I am snapping away on film cameras, and thanking my lucky stars that I had the extreme foresight to take multiple cameras on holiday. Ha!

 

  

  

  

  

 

  

 

 

Hat Trick

Great music + stop motion animation + an abandoned house = everything I love, all at once. I think LA band Local Natives just became my new favourite.

Because art is good for you

Dear reader,

Are you there, or am I talking to myself? If you are, is your 'there' Melbourne? If so, get yourself to Lamington Drive gallery, pronto. Opened last Thursday, their current exhibition, Risographica! features over thirty bright and beautful two-colour risographic prints. The artists all come from the stable of the Jacky Winter Group, a Melbourne-based agency set up to represent and promote Australian illustration. As JW states it on their website, their aim is to "...connect a diverse range of Australia's finest contemporary illustrators with a broad international and local client base." With prints running to an edition of only ten, and selling for the super cheap price of $50, to say the show is sure to sell out is the understatement of the month. I particularly like that Lamington Drive is making art assessible to a wider audience rather than just trying to profit of high end pieces. It is art, done democratically, with many a good vibe to boot -- part of the proceeds from the sales of the prints go to Medecins Sans Frontiers. As if I needed any further encouragement to buy one! The difficulties on the night were a) navigating the clinging Mebourne humidity through the heaving opening night crowd, and b) trying to whittle down the "I-want" list. I managed to finally get it down to one (though I was sorely tempted by Matt Huynh's Matador): Stolon by Dylan Martorell, as seen above. Technically, it's my first ever real-art purchase, and all I can say is its making me wicked excited for the collecting journey ahead.

My shortlist can be seen below:

1. Matt Huynh, Matador

2. Beco Orpin, Follows Night

3. Clements Habicht, Hens

4. Rik Lee, Whoop Arse

All images from Lamington Drive's Risographica! catalogue, which is available for download here.

belated//beloved

This is far from a recent Holga - it dates from early November 2009 when I braved the running lane alongside the Yarra, armed with not just one but two cameras. I'm sure all the fit and sweaty types thought I was an absolute nutter, but it was worth it all for this, which I think may just be my all time favourite Holga photo:

Got the New York blues

Being more than a little interested in historical photographic processes, I have to admit that I am completely enamoured with cyanotypes. I want to own one for myself very badly. So when I found a set of beautiful blue images on the New York Public Library's flickr stream, I swooned, and then swooned some more. Anna Atkins' Cyanotypes of British Algae is not only beautiful, but also represents two important steps in the history of photography: it is the first published work by a female photographer, and moreover it is the first book produced entirely by photographic means. Even the title page is a jewel-like blue. Whoever knew algae could be so photogenic?

New York Library's flickr stream found via Swiss Miss.

Cut and paste

Anthony Zinonos, I love colour collections too! Actually for that matter, I love all your work. If only I could have such patience with the scisors/stanley knife. One day.

Anthony found via Black Eiffel, all images from his website/flickr.

Fragile, handle with care

 Vietnamese born, American based artist Diem Chau turns everyday objects like crayons and crockery into art which is in equal parts delicate, quirky and surprising. I still can't get my head around how she manages to get the thread through (on top of?) the china, but I guess not knowing is just part of the magic.

Images 1 & 2 from Diem's website; images 3-5 from all the mountains

Trash and treasure

 

Snaps from a hot and hectic morning at the Rotary Markets, Camberwell. I think my favourite is the one of the Incredible Hulk, furious to have been left in such un-Hulk-like surroundings, yet powerless to escape.