Shutter.Stutter

I admire Nicholas Nixon’s project for the sheer length of time it covers, and his tenacity. Since 1975, for 25 years, he has photographed his wife and her sisters annually. They always stand in the same configuration, but their body language speaks volumes on their relationship with eachother. The independence and defiance of youth is slowly replaced by a sense of closeness as they grow older.

I first saw this series at SFMOMA. 25 photos arranged along a white wall, so if one steeped back one could see a lifetime in one glance. Though no one image stands out as a particularily artful piece of portraiture, the power of the whole is undeniable.

For more photos, go here. Also, here is a great critical essay on the project.

A very happy birthday to my daddy. We surprised him with a cake and flowers when he came home from work, though we did have to make-do with a candle from last year
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For the Labour Day public holiday, family and friends went for a drive to Fitzroy Falls and surrounding areas.

The view was beautiful from the Illawarra Tree Top Walk.

I got to try out my new B+W circular polariser, which help take this photo…

…unfortunately, I took a slip into the stream shortly after and dented said filter ouch. It still works, thank goodness.

The day was pretty tiring for the oldies, but gran seems to have had fun.

Kids will be kids - they can have fun anywhere.

The rain seemed to be constantly on our tail, but we got lucky - thankfully it only poured when we were snug in our cars.

There was much in the bush on which to test my macro skills.

Did you know we had peas in the bush? I didn’t.

And this is the travelling party! We love group shots.

I’ve been meaning to post these up for a while now, but just keep, well, forgetting.

This is a series that I did for the final assessment task of my Photography 3 class. The brief was very loose - take photos with a person or people in them.

I was interested in using fast shutter speeds to create photographs of motion suspended. I wanted a sense of surrealism, of capturing a seemingly banal moment - but with a quirk. I was aiming for photographs that revealed something new on second glance. I feel I’ve achieved this with a few in the series, but not all. I’ll let you decide.

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Inspiration came in the form of Rosemary Laing (recommended by my tutor Karen Mork) and Philippe Halsman.

Laing’s photograph of a bride jumping over the blue mountains is breathtaking. This is part of her Flight Research series.

Flight Research #5

Halsman was a photographer for Life in the 40s and 50s, and is the father of ‘jumpology‘. He believed that in a jump, the subject cannot control their facial muscles, hence revealing a ‘truer’ expression. He’s surreal photo of Salvador Dali leaping is a work of genius, I have never seen (and doubt I will ever see) anything quite like it.

Dali Atomicus

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This is Float.

Float #46

Float #23

Float #106

Float #72

Float #124

Float #151

My family and I went on a short family trip to Ulladulla this May. Ulladulla is one of those idyllic coastal towns south of Sydney, full of sunshine and not much else.

As holidays go this one wasn’t so much relaxing as invigorating. We had three cars and quite a few people, add to that mix the usual bickering amongst the kiddies (myself included haha), and you get a pretty full-on trip.

This trip was particularily significant to me because it was my first time shooting in medium format ever, and the first time using my mamiya ever.

Here are some scans from the third and fourth rolls (the first I loaded incorrectly, and the second I underexposed badly :/ ), the rest are here.

Sis, conveniently wearing white and posing for me.

Dave and my sister, wilting under the heat.

The extended family.