It seems the times I find, or inclinations I get, to post something here get further and further apart. Perhaps I'm just not cut out to be a blogger, so on the off chance that someone actually reads this, hello! and sorry, as you'll probably be disappointed. I tend to simply forget about this page when I'm busy photographing or working in the darkroom, I still work totally analogue.

lately I have been spending time on book projects that I'm printing next year, therefore I'm spending a bit more time on the computer, hence this now.

The picture here was taken outside my studio in Sydenham a few weeks ago.

For anyone interested, I am doing a talk at the Christchurch art gallery on April the 15th next year, (check with the CAG Bulletin to confirm the date) on the changes in my photography over the Eleven years since moving to Christchurch.

Merry Christmas

It's been a long time since I said anything here, but I guess thats a good thing for me, as it means I have been busy working, I've been photographing, debating, printing, and to a friends wedding.

Right now Scape is on in Christchurch www.scapebiennial.org.nz and this picture is of one of the Scape pieces. Only the writing on the wall is the scape artwork, other events are coincidence!

I have been using the Scape works as subject in the last few weeks, I find it really interesting to use conceptual art as a subject to photograph, they become what Duschamp called readymades, but for the camera. People gravitate to them creating energy and opportunities. I hope to talk about these works and other photographs using art as subject sometime next year, and will post here when that will be.

Once upon a time Edward Weston and his ilk revolted against pictorialism on the grounds that the great thing about photography was its ability to record objects in great and exact detail, and that fuzzy Romanticism should be left to the painters. He would say no other medium was as able to reveal such truth in things. However the world of photography has expanded from the camera obscura to the CMOS sensor and beyond, with an ever increasing ability to record things accurately, especially in lower and poorer light. So now of course the photography he spoke of, which is the photography I use today (Analogue and predominantly B&W) is no longer capable of representing things as exactly as digital photography can now! So this has made me wonder, where does analogue photography fit now? There is no doubt in the minds of those those who have actually seen or made a beautiful analogue print, that while technology can make things faster, clearer, and more accurate etc. It doesn't compare to the aesthetics of a beautiful hand crafted analogue print. So perhaps conceptualism is the domain of digital photography and beauty is the domain of analogue photography now. Which kind of takes us back to what Weston revolted against!

The picture above is from a body of works produced with this in mind.

This is my studio-home in Christchurch, the picture in the window is from my friend John's home in Melbourne where I have often stayed when Ive been there. I am eternally grateful to friends like John who have put me up in their homes over the years, the generosity of my friends has made so much of my work possible.



This picture was made from my friend Mike's place when he lived in Sydney, I stayed there a lot, this picture is of a print showing a train crossing the harbor bridge.



This the picture in my widow above. It's part of a series I made in Melbourne in response to the photography of Bill Henson.

vacated shop Manchester street

I read a really good quote today by Robert Rauschenberg that I believe relates well to photography, it was something to the effect of

'If you walked out your door and around the block and could not find enough material to make great art, then you just weren't looking hard enough'

I guess I related quiet well to this quote because I have been doing a lot of walking and photographing in the near vicinity of my studio-home lately, as a result I think I will make this work and ideology the subject of my next exhibition.

I have been making some self portraits lately. A real photographic self portrait, as in done alone, is difficult to do but ultimately rewarding. This one was made with an old graphlex 4x5 camera, www.clickondavid.com/graflex.html, this is the same camera as used by the American photographer Weegee. The 4x5 film size renders so much detail it can be scary, especially with closeups. This makes me wonder, is a portrait actually a portrait if it doesn't reveal the truth? Understandably, I guess, most people would prefer to see an idealist photograph of themselves than confront who they really are, but the photographic portraits that are remembered are those those that reveal more than a persons ideal and at times vain vision of themselves.

One of my favourite self portraits is this one by Chuck Close


However, for a series of self portraits, American artist John Coplans 'body parts' is hard to go past, it is the ultimate self revealing.

It's been a while since I posted anything here, but sometimes you just have nothing worthwhile to say, and sometimes your just too busy doing other things. But I'm pretty sure nobody will be brokenhearted by my lack of entries here.

Anyway, this picture was taken last week on the bridge just down the street from my studio. As is usual of late I have been doing a lot of walking and photographing around the area where my studio is, and it seems this part of Christchurch is quickly changing. I am noticing things gone or changed already from photographs I've taken in just the last few weeks. The best change has been the introduction of a Greek Souvlaki restaurant a few doors down!

I'm going back to Melbourne for a while later this winter to continue a series of photographs I started there a few years ago, and was going through my Australian files to consider what I will do next, and came across this picture taken in a Myers store in Sydney.
I like to photograph accessible scenes like this on the rare occasion I come across them. It is as if It's already a photograph, where the world has stopped for you to select which picture you want.

This picture was taken out my studio window. It is one of those pictures that only happens when all the elements come together, by chance or fate or whatever you want to call it, and there is a camera pointed in the right direction at that very instant.

I read somewhere recently, a man can never be lonely if he has a window with a street view to look out on, and for the past few years I have been recording the scene from my window. Geoff Dyer says in his book "The ongoing moment" which is as good a read there is on photography. looking out at the world from a window is a way of being part of the world without being in it"
I think photographers are almost always in that state of being part of something without being in it.

The southerly is coming and I can feel the cold creeping through my studio, it makes me think warm thoughts. Like this day in Samoa last year. I don't often photograph in colour, and this is one of the few I have printed that I did make in colour. I like the movement and colour contrasts.

Lately I have been exploring and photographing the Christchurch neighbourhood where I live, there are still signs of the past, but they are disappearing pretty fast. I liked the fact that this old cottage was in the grounds of the factory.

I took this picture in Belgrade, Serbia. I have a friend who lives in these buildings, and at times when it is so beautiful here, like it is now in Autumn, I cant help but think about the people I know who live in such less fortunate places than we do. My friend who lives here is about 29 yrs old now, and at no time in her life has she known peace and prosperity anything like we do, and yet she maintains a creative life in an environment where most of us would probably struggle to simply survive.

a landscape is a moment not a place

This is Pitt St in Sydney. I thought the lights in the building looked like lanterns in the tree. It reminds me of something I read recently about winter being for photographing and summer for the darkroom, and that I like big cities and winter light.

life imitating art

Spotted this guy sunbathing in Melbourne last year. The wreck is actually a sculpture (I'm not sure if it's still there or not) but I really liked the relationship between the two.

things arent always as they seem

Last year I visited Samoa and took this picture of some monks. To me it looked like a ceremony of some kind, and in a way it was, however the ceremony was simply some gardening at their grounds.

Monday 7th April

I have had some good conversations recently, among them about the recent work of Peter Peryer. What these discussions do most is remind me that in the majority of cases photography is about seeing and recording something that relates to the photographers interests. This of course can be many things, such as irony or beauty or something shocking or humorous, or relate directly to specific themes of the photographer, such as Mr Peryer would say " one of my themes concerns size, more specifically, just how big is the subject that we are looking at"
Interestingly when Mr Peryer shows these photographs they go back into the public domain as the object was when it was photographed, and the viewer is left asking the question that attracted Mr Peryer. So to understand why an individual photographed something, it helps if we understand what interests and concerns them. Considering this helps me to better understand what is at the core of my own photography, and confirms to me that we are always better off trying to comprehend the things we don't understand, rather than dismiss them. We don't have to like something for it to be beneficial for us in some way.

#3

This picture is titled "The undeniable truth part 3, everyone else is famous" part of a series that is titled The undeniable truth. Being alone in an empty space full of people, these new works I feel are in line with the minimalist seascapes I have been doing in the past few years.

#2

I am often asked how I go about my photography, what interests, inspires, and influences me.
I would say that primarily I am an observer, everything starts with an observation, then grows as I walk with my camera

#1

This picture was made in the lane-ways of Melbourne. I am really interested in space and isolation at the moment, and this is becoming a dominant theme in my current work