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.