Wednesday 27 June 2012

...in a general fashion.

G'day fellow marsupials,

there's a new book on the shelves....here's the link

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3340776

Started thinking about work for the new show in September .... ballet images... well let's say ballet based works. Will start shooting in a couple of weeks time once ideas have been clarified.

 ... a friend posted a portrait image she found attractive from the "Head-On" show in Sydney. It was fine except that it was a copy of a Scandinavian photographer's work.
This seems to be happenning more and more...which led me to think about the image above that has been "ripped-off" even to the extent of being used to advertise the thiefs website. It's not that you can't be influenced or practise the technique or adapt the lighting but to present a concept that is literally a plagairised image says a lot about your morality.


 From a fairly recent portrait session with Greta B.


And a couple of images from Paris 



The Winged Victory of Samothrace being a "still-point" amongst the lemmings in the Louvre .... and the delightful St Martin's Canal just awakening for the party... that was a good place....






Politics in The Tardis State 

 

Tim Smith Q.C. (Judge,Supreme Court) rolls his eyes and seems to shudder when asked in interview about IBAC’s  potential success in limiting corruption. 
Wonders why A/, Baillieu (Silvertail Incompetens) and a Premier of truly Lilliputian stature, didn’t just institute the NSW model and B/, how the Tardis model that will not investigate minor corruption; allows no further investigation of a suspect who says “I didn’t do it!” and shall not be coercive, can possibly work.

Penny Armitage (30 years, Dept of Justice) walks plank to swim with sharks at KPMG. Says she is very sad to go (?) 
Why go? 
Oh, she didn’t say it was to keep her quiet about who told her to ignore advice that Carl William’s life would be in danger in prison.

Sniff, sniff… smell a rodent called Peter (I-know-Nuffin) Ryan?

Sniff, sniff… did the Tardis Govt. pay off the woman mis-Planning Minister, Matthew Guy allegedly dudded over the re-zoning of her land at Phillip Island?

Sniff, sniff is Matthew Guy going to close down the Waubra wind farm?
Will he accede to the side issue demands from those who think that there is "...potential ill health..(effects) from windfarms and use their complaints "...to make the VC82 Amendment retrospective.." ?
And if so, how much will it cost the State for this creative vandalism? And is all electrical power in The Tardis State to come from Brown Coal?


Sniff, sniff… did the Attorney General of Tardis State, Robert Clarke interfere with the integrity and independence of the Equal Opportunity Commission by refusing the boards choice of chairman? He says not! The three board members (from four) who resigned in protest say he did!

And Big Bird Ted (Silvertail Incompetens) reckons teachers should be paid according to results?
Perhaps implementation from Premier level down might be a good way to see if it works.

In other likely but un-healthy realities, BIG Gina, the Miner-with-the-Most, stamps her foot in a hissie-fit with the Fairfax board…. says she’ll take her toys home if they don’t play by her rules.
Clive (Titanic2) Palmer gives a ROFL performance as a “stand-up” playing a democrat and upsets Mr Rabbit in the process.
The Slippery Pete “Affaire” is to be officially re-named “Godwin Grech2 The Sequel”.
Script by Pyne the Whyne (in lieu of policy development), ‘ghosted’ by “The Australian’s” journo’s, acted by staffers and asst. directed by Mal Brough. This reality/melodrama makes “Desperate Housewives” look Shakespearean in comparison and content.

Gillard and Rabbit are bickering over how best to treat people who are dying to come to Australia.

Indonesians give twenty years jail to Bali bomber assistant… Geez, Schapelle... wadderya reckon?

Cheers Petals,
Shane


Tuesday 19 June 2012

...to the Dance

Shane as a Wili
G'day Possums,

we recently attended and photographed a ballet performance.... so thought I'd dress up.... gives you the "willies", eh?

Suffice to say it was a very good performance and congratulations to all: performers, choreogrphers and particularly the Director of Ballet Theatre Australia, Leeanne Rutherford.

There were a selection of excerpts on the program with Giselle Act 2 as a major piece and without writing much more I'll let some of the images taken speak for themselves.

For those interested in tech details
I used a 5D, and 5D mk2, 70-200 f2.8, 50mm f1.8 and 85mm f1.8 @ 3200 and 6400 ISO.
Suite en Blanc
Suite en Blanc
Suite en Blanc
The Talisman
Corsaire
Diana and Acteon
Diana and Acteon
Diana and Acteon
Giselle, Wilis
Mrytah
Giselle, Wilis
Myrtah
Giselle, Wilis
Giselle, Albrecht
Myrtah
Albrecht and Giselle
Hilarion
Satanella
Gypsy Suite

Wombat Droppings


The Premier, Baillieu (Genus: Sivertail Incompetens)  has had a bit on his plate this week.
Although handing generous bonuses to Liarbril Party supporters who just happen to be property developers is nothing new, I suppose it was a vain hope that the six new suburbs in “Green Wedge” and agricultural areas get at least sufficient developmental infrastructure to offset, to some extent, the loss of farmland. No such hope. 
All are going to rely on existing public transport. Some new development is “proposed” but the track record of this government in following through on promises is bad and as they wouldn’t want to interfere in the developer’s profits, I wouldn’t be holding my breath on that proposition.

“Silvertail” irritated a few when it was discovered that, in his words, “a hiccup” caused the overcharging the public $300,000,000 on water accounts and that it had been determined that it will only be paid back when the water companies are ready.
Nothing to do with the government’s dividend of $117,000,000, is it?
Ummm, isn't that close to fraud, Ted?
Only in The Tardis State
Police Minister Peter(I-know-nuffin)Ryan, has been in the news again for all the wrong reasons. It seems that colleague, Bill Tilley secretly recorded a phone conversation with Ryan as an insurance policy because he felt that the Police Minister was “verballing” him over evidence given to the Office of Police Integrity concerning the pushing out of Police Commissioner, Simon Overland.
Ryan said “..it’s much ado over nothing.”
Yeah, right!

Federally, things are looking very interesting in the “Slippery Pete” saga….
It seems to be shaping as another Liarbril “dirty tricks” concoction a’la Godwin Grech that may turn on the accusers and “bite ‘em on the bum.”
Messers Rabbit & Whyne, to deflect some of the heat, attempted, (hypocritically) to scamper for what they thought the “high ground” of moral indignation and criticised a report that PM Gillard has set up a “dirt unit” in her office. So there!
Apparently staff  are being instructed on how to use Goggle to dig info on opposition pollies!
Given their planning ability in other areas they will probably discover the NSW “right’ of their own party in less friendly than the Liarbrils.

Gina Rinehart (the biggest, wealthiest miner in Australia) now has nearly a 20% share of Fairfax .... and is demanding three board seats.....
Imagine, she's in charge of national newspapers and Clive Palmer (another big miner) is the new Treasurer...ahhh.... democracy in action, well at least till they get the jobs. 
Then, who knows?
cheers Petals
Shane.


Tuesday 12 June 2012

.. to Brissie and QCP


G’day, Echidna’s

Here we are in the salubrious surrounds of Tiger Airways’ departure lounge…
on the rail transit from Brisbane airport… and on the apartment ledge in Brissie.
 
We’re up here for Wombats’ No:2 daughters’ part in a group exhibition at
Queensland Centre for Photography.
More of that later.

 
Its been a very long time since I was in Brissie and it has changed a lot.

 Image on left: used to be the Treasury Building, now a Casino... and if that’s not a metaphor of Australian governance I don’t know what is.

  Man upstaging dog…. I’m not kidding!

Young buskers had me thinking of a little girl drawing in the Musee Rodin. they were very good, too.

A much more vibrant city than when last seen…may it continue as such under its new regime.

At The Art Gallery I met and chatted with Henri van Noordenburg who was also going to QCP…. check his website .. very fine work.
http://www.vannoordenburg.com.au


exhibition
Kate Bernauer “I need a compass not an anchor”
Interesting works “…is an examination of our purpose and place in society.”
“Circles” I found quite intriguing in that the figure in the centre seemed to be a symbol for a nipple on a breast. Interestingly, too I found the increase in contrast in the catalogue images added much to the punch of the pictures.



Kathleen Winder “Columba Livia”
Portraits of pigeons .. clear, simple, straightforward expositions which allow an informing view of genetically modified birds. One comment was that they were in the vein of haute-couture fashion photography statements  which although an interesting insight says, I think, more about the commentator than the images.









 Gerwyn Davies “Steel Town Disciples”
“…playfully interrogates the construction and performance of normative and dominant masculinities and their iconography and in doing so, aims to contest the authority of prevailing masculinities and their commonplace representations”.
Yep! They were fetishistic and reference was made to Baroque Nature Morte and lighting but Caravaggio ‘s brio has become turgidly tub thumping.

Yavuz Erkan “Unorthodox Aphorisms”
“…..poeticise in the power relationships between showing, looking and being looked at.”
Catalogue made reference to “…a range of hues that are highly sensual”
I found the high key and limited tonal range belied that sensuality in the images. Rather, they took on a thin, sickly, cloying and insipid tone.
The placements struck me as too precise for such little content … these had the effect on me of a finger-nail being dragged down a chalkboard. 

Nicolette Johnson “A Real Winter”
 A rite of passage, a return to roots and a documentary of a journey…  very gentle and personal images that needed cross referencing to effectively contextualise them.
Was the framing intended as an institutionalised document?

Paula Mahoney “Just a Touch of Death”

A presentation of a series of portraits of different people, in the same pose, from the same viewpoint and in the same lighting, not resting their hands on the skull, symbol of vanitas…. Which is presented as a lone, irrelevant, or ignored(?) image.
It was an interesting concept in that you are somewhat forced by the repetition of elements to concentrate on the differences in the personalities.
“The images were photographed in the traditional way of the Baroque portraitist Cornelis de Vos.” This is disconcerting as much of de Vos work is generally lit from almost front, top and not as presented here at 90’ , “off prompt.”
Hmm, Baroque? More  High-Renaissance to me.. the light is not an active part in the composition as it invariably is in baroque work and these are presented in a very planar fashion, space stepping back parallel to the picture plane rather than sliding obliquely away which would have suggested a more complex lighting plan. I also thought these works could have been more successful, framed and at a smaller scale. 


 Annemarie Dzendrowskyj  “Betwixt and Between”

The notional terms- ‘Twilight’/’Haze’ suggest a relationship of sorts that already exists between these two states
Painterly and evocative videos.
 
 
The contemporary fashion of extensive external referencing to somehow validate the existence of the works really gets an outing in this show.
I have now, the same rule of thumb for this practice as I do for advertising: The quality of the product is generally inversely proportionate to the amount of blather!
I think it’s a “blind” for the conceptually askew and those suffering from personality relevance deprivation.
It seems to me that much “art-photography” really tries too hard to be ART.
The heavy hands of “relevance”, the “glance askance” faux snapshot, the “choreographed meaningfulness” of staged landscape, the banal obviousness of “seminal metaphor”, the misappropriation of “art historical concepts”.
All of this is so bloody mock-serious.
Where’s the fun?
But its good to see it all; as each has its own merits and its also fun to hear other “takes” on the meanings, although as said earlier, we often express more about ourselves when critique-ing than we do of the work. 

Kathleen with significant admirer

 
And finishing with a “teaser” for the next post

Giselle, Wilis....




Politics

State of Tardis’ top bird, the reluctant Ted Baillieu (genus: Silvertail lncompetens) was finally snared (after ten invites) for an interview with the redoubtable Josie Taylor on ABC’s “7.30 Victoria”: subsequent interview showed why.
His best shot came when challenged as to why he’d taken so long to appear; answering along the lines of ….I give lots of interviews and you’re quite welcome to come along any time.       
So there! 
And looked embarrassingly uncomfortable when Taylor suggested there were rumours that his media minders were advising him to go public as little as possible.
It was a contrived set-piece; there were no questions as to the obliteration of public secondary school and TAFE funding, Whooping Cough vaccinations, the sacking of environment workers, the corporate shambles at Hartie’s, the demise of private school, Mowbray College (from the maladministrations of a board of “enthusiastic amateurs”).

Baillieu doesn’t think his backbencher (allegedly)-with-hand-in-the-till, Geoff Shaw, should be charged by the police as no-one has laid a complaint…. I wonder if I could?
A member of the public did try and was fobbed-off by the police with what he said sounded like Tardis Govt. “spin”.
When Police start being overtly party-political you know something is really rotting in the state fabric.
But he thinks his Liarbrils are “….growing the State….” Yeah, right!
(Museum of Victoria has canned its work experience program for school students …”lack of funding” from Tardis Govt.)
The Tardis State: where all goes Backwards.

Mr Rabbit and Pyne the Whyne competed for the “Best Parliamentary Schoolboy Lark” by trying to escape Federal Parliament Question time by………………….. running away! 
These people see themselves as a credible government in waiting? 
Duuhhh! 
Apart from their tasteless jibes, like “…dead man…” and their importation of the worst of American political practice what else can one think of them except as being a vicious, vacuous and policy bereft assortment of petty mealy mouths whose lack of alternative policy was exposed when recent Treasury numbers showed Auz to be in quite a healthy state.
The “Henny-Penny” crew’s doom-sayings were shown to be just dismal rantings for a bogan audience; Dun & Bradstreet quoted in its Global Risk Indicator that: “… Australia is one of the safest trade and foreign investment destinations globally…. best ranked in the Asia-Pacific….”

Australian Federal Police are looking decidedly dog-legged and impure after it is revealed (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-05/people-smuggler-discovery-a-catastrophic-failure/4052174)that people smugglers operating out of Canberra were admitted as refugees and spent 3 months in detention (fellow passengers spent 2 years) and when the prime suspect escapes the country after being publicly revealed AFP said they couldn’t arrest as they had not enough evidence “…. because of lack of resources”.
Wheat Board execs in Iraq bribery?  Case closed due to “…lack of resources”… smelly? You bet! 
Should Howard, Reith, Costello and Downer feel relieved? You Bet!

Prostitute “found” by Ch.Nine alleged to have bonked Thomson (Labor) 5 years ago escapes to Ch Seven and says she got it wrong and apologises to Thomson and family. Shows more ethics than either Nine or Seven and the Liarbrils with their grubby tabloid boganisms.

Ex Senator Mark Abib (nominally Labor) now works for James Packer. Always was a numbers man!
Beware the “kingmaker”, James, he’s got form.

Cheers Echidnas,
Shane