Recently in new finds Category

Reminiscent of the Russian Constructivists this mage plays with perception and depth quite nicley

I know very little about the work of Gordon Lundy, other than his association with the Point Light Gallery in Sydney. Form there I gather that his interest is black and white interpretations of the intimate Australian landscape, and that his photographic background is studying landscape photography with Paul Caponigro and fine printing with George Tice who also introduced him to the craft of platinum/palladium in 1994.

Gordon Undy, Burdekin Dam, Queensland, circa 1994-1996

Robert McFarlane says that Undy's images from Intimations, his second book, reveal a photographer moving away from the orthodoxies of classic landscape photography, as pioneered by artists such as Caponigro, Weston and Adams:

Undy's pictures have become quieter, meditative and somehow more intensely Australian. Until recently, landscape photographers in this country, with notable exceptions such as Jon Lewis and Peter Elliston, have been deterred by the "untidiness" and "density" of the Australian bush. Undy's recent photographs, such as Midday, Mungana, Queensland 2003 embrace the compressed, inconvenient nature of the Australian landscape.

I am attracted to Undy's industrial shots made whilst documenting Queensland's mining country in the mid-1990's.

Though photographic art historians consider that William Eggleston's legendary colour show at the MOMA in 1979 was groundbreaking for the acceptance of colour photography, Saul Leiter is one of the true pioneers of colour and abstract photography. He started shooting in colour in 1948.




Saul Leiter treated the use of color in his photographs of the street and his surroundings as a painter of his time (1940s) would have done,  and  he helped lay the foundations for the development of the abstract notions of a photograph in the US.

I thought that I might start a series about Australian photographers as my knowledge of Australian photography is rather limited. I've mentioned Mark Kimber here and Wolfgang Sievers here.

I am formally starting with David Helsham who runs a successful graphic design agency in The Rocks, Sydney. He is known as wattle gardner on Flickr:

Most of Helsham's work is concerned with Australia's beach culture, Sydney style and a lot of the photography is taken in and around a rock pool bay in northern Sydney called Bongin Bongin. The obvious reference in Australian photography is the beach work of Max Dupain

This image, by Bisy Backson operates for me on so many levels. The shapes, recurring and individually. The implication of the screen and it's holes, the fences and fencing. A wonderful image indeed.

I thought that I'd introduce an interesting New Zealand photographer --Theo Schoon. He is interesting because he set himself the task of developing a regional modernism based on the amalgam of Maori art and European modernism.


Theo Schoon, dry mud 2, circa 1968, silver gelatin print

In Picturing Space: Theo Schoon, Ross Crothall and Visual Art in the Pacific in Double Dialogue Anthea Gunn says that European modernism shaped the philosophy behind Schoon's art practice, and especially, the possibilities he saw for the use of Maori visual art.

I'm curious about Australian photographers who step beyond  posting their work on Flickr in either weblogs, photoblogs, galleries or other media. I stumbled upon Vinnie Piatek's Museum of Dirt  website and  his  photoblog.

From there I came across Chris Were's Memetic Drift  photoblog and   Velco Dojcinovski's The Andante Bar ---both Melbourne -based photographers.  Were is Memetic on Flickr,  whilst  Velco is Velco  on Flickr.

How many others I wonder? heiko on Flickr has a fotoblog.

Do people know of others?

nd As a result of being in New Zealand on holiday I have began to dig into New Zealand  photography to see what has been going on in the last couple of decades. Is it any different to Australian photography? What are the differences?

Mark Adams, Cook's Sites After William Hodges' 'Cascade Cove, Dusky Bay, 1995

Mark Adams is one example of difference. In 'Cook's Sites', Mark Adams and Nicholas Thomas travel to the places where Cook landed in the South Pacific. Adams photographically commemorates the instant of encounter between European and Maori people, defining it as a moment of discovery, violence and mutual reciprocity.

For this series Mark also focuses on key historic sites illustrated by painters William Hodges and John Webber who accompanied Cook on his voyages. His portrayal allows us to look out from these paintings and reassess the history of these culturally loaded locations.

Having recently been in New Zealand on a holiday and photographic exploration I want to draw attention to New Zealand photography and PhotoForum.

I have selected Murray Hedwig, a Christchurch-based photographer:

Murray Hedwig, Supermarket, Atawhai, Nelson, 1983

Hedwig is part of the new wave photography that emerged in the late 1970s with the emergence of the photographer based co-operative galleries. Around 2005 he published Public Spaces, Personal Views.

Photoforum emerged  out of  this photographic new wave and it  is:

a non-profit society dedicated to the promotion of photography as a means of communication and expression.[It's] website showcases New Zealand photographic work and work of overseas photographers with some connection to New Zealand or PhotoForum.

There is a lot on material online to explore.  It has online exhibitions, the most recent of which is Photoforum 33.

The phrase is Heidegger's. It is taken from a late poem by Holderin and it is evoked in terms of the dangers of technology as a mode of being in modernity and the saving power of poesis in opposition to the will to technological power and its dominion over the earth. Dwelling is a kind of building. What then does it mean to dwell poetically on this earth? Surely it doesn't mean shutting one's eyes to actuality and living in a dream or one's imagination? Nor does it mean raising buildings or occupation of a building. It is concerned with our being-in-the-world and experiencing the world poetically renders the ordianry extraordinary.

This is the companion blog for altfotonet.org.