Category: Uncategorized

I attended the opening of the National Portrait Prize, 2016 on Friday night (18 April).  I made the trip to Canberra to see my portrait of a group of performers outside the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, Sydney.

This is the 3rd time that I have been hung in the prize and it is always a buzz to rock up to the wonderful building that houses the NPG.  As I walked in I was given a lanyard with my name and “finalist” status written on it…obviously to identify me as one of the finalists in the crowd.  The finalist were given VIP access to the space before the public entered to view the works and to mingle and meet amongst themselves.

What a nice feeling to walk in and see your work on the walls…..always a great moment for an artist and worth every effort of getting the work and your body down to Canberra.

Congratulations to the winner, Elizabeth Looker who’s work you will see if you visit the website of the NPG….or better still, take a trip to Canberra and see the work in situ at the gallery.

 

Exhibition runs from 19 March, 2016 – 26 June, 2016 at the NPG, Canberra

 

Dont forget you can also vote for the “People’s Choice” at the following web address:

www.portrait.gov.au/peopleschoice/

GREAT NEWS!!!

 

One of my recent works has been chosen as a finalist in the National Portrait Prize.

The exhibition dates are:  19 March – 26 June, 2016 at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

Unfortunately I am obliged not to show the selected work until the opening of the exhibition which is a bit weird when you’re announcing the selection but do not show the selected work….but I’m sure you’ll understand.

 

I’m looking forward to the exhibition.  It’s one of the prizes that I like…always good portraits in the line up and well worth the trip to have a look at what other photographers are up to in the area of portraiture.

 

Hello Again!

 

Well this month has seen a return to Pomonal.  I took a trip down to Victoria for several reasons, one of which was to visit my sister in Pomonal, a village at the foot of the Grampain mountain range.

 

This time I drove.  What a boring drive it is!  Now that the highway by-passes all that is mildly interesting you are left with bitumen and Caltex Roadhouses.  Did I say already the drive was boring………

 

After hours and hours on the road I made it to Pomonal and to my sisters brilliant little house.  Here’s a shot……..

I found my sister, Helen and Denise on the porch, waiting for my arrival.  Denise is my sister’s best friend.  She is also a transexual, living in rural Victoria.  I love the dynamic between Helen and Denise and took every opportunity to get a few shots, as you will see in the following brief overview of my trip.

 

Of course there’s always something to do in the country, never a dull moment.  It was time to water the garden!  We can note here that the Wimmera Mallee area has been in drought for some time now.  It’s all you ever here spoken about in the public places such as the General Store, up the road from my sister.  Endless summerising and speculation about the elements, will we or will we not, get rain today.  It’s almost as good as the road trip from Sydney.

That evening Helen made a fabulous dinner for us.  I picked my brother Peter up in Melbourne so he spent the week in Pomonal as well.  Denise and her boyfriend of 3 years, Greg, also attended, along with a couple of neighbours.

 

We paid a visit to some neighbours, Nadia and Joel.  Joel has sheep and knows a lot about them.  Nadia runs the communications hub of Pomonal, the General Store.  At her General Store you can also pick up extra supplies, post letters, hire videos, get a sandwich, enjoy a great cup of coffee, buy fishing gear, get the daily newspaper, buy great “Grampians” olive oil, get some local craft items and the list goes on………  Every morning I would drive the 200m to the Nadia’s and get my daily dose of caffeine, sit and do my e-mails and have a chat to Nadia while all the locals, one by one, would file in

Next stop was a short visit to Denise and Greg’s new house in Stawell.  They had both recently moved from Pomonal where they were living right next door to the General Store.  I imagined that Helen may have been disappointed with the fact that Denise had moved away from the area however, that was not the case, Stawell is only a 20min car journey away….so they see each other almost as much as when Denise was living 200m down the road.

I took the opportunity to take a few shots of Denise and Greg in their backyard, next to a couple of cars they are in the process of doing up.  Denise was excited to tell me that both of them have joined the “Holden Car Club” in Stawell and that they intend to do up a number of old Holdens.  I tried to look interested.

 

Following…..Peter and I hopped in the car and continued onto Horsham.  Horsham is the town where I went to school, swam and played basketball.  I lived a bit out of the city on a defunct dairy farm…so I can’t really say I’m from Horsham.  Here’s a couple of shots of Horsham so you get the picture.

We made a visit to the cemetery where an ever growing number of the relatives reside then headed back to Pomonal for a swim in Lake Fyans.

We found an old chair not far from the shore of the lake which provided an unexpected but very comfortable seating arrangement for our numerous visits.  The lake is only a 10min drive from Pomonal and is a great way of cooling off when the temperatures sore.  Not that it was super hot at this time of year.

Speaking of the weather…….I mentioned that it was hot enough for a swim.  That was true for the first 2 days however, a chill hit on the 3rd day,  to the point that the thermometer dropped to nearly zero some evenings.  I wasn’t prepared for that!  Apparently this time of year can be a bit up and down and you have to remember….it is Victoria.  But seriously it is a great time to go to the Grampians….all the native flowers are out in bloom, the landscape is greener than usual (in spite of the ongoing drought, it still looked quite green) and the weather is nice and mild, not too cold and not too hot.  Of course, the other climatic scenario in this area is the annual bushfires during the summer months.  You are surrounded by the the charred remains of eucalyptus, evidence of the frequency of such events.

 

Helen thought that Peter and I would like a drive to an historic village, to meet a friend of hers and have lunch together in his rather large house.  Why not?  Off went went to near a place called “Willaura”.  I wouldn’t say it’s a bustling metropolis…..I didn’t see any people until I walked into the bakery and purchased a macadamia nut slice from the young man behind the counter.  I reckon they’d make good bread though….I just felt you’d get good bread at this place. Here are a few shots.

 

Lunch was delicious.  Peter and I enjoyed her cooking all week.  We ate with Rob the owner of a large bluestone homestead on a farm, 10 mins drive from Willaura.  He was a generous and welcoming host and we had a great time.

I suppose I should say I was fortunate to be in Pomonal during the week of the Stawell Show, the annual carnival of local produce and various activity.  I say this because it meant that Denise had decided to enter, once again, into some of the baking categories for the chance to take home the blue ribbon.  This also meant that Denise and Helen had organised a “baking evening”, the night before the entries had to be delivered.  Little did I know that Helen and Denise would be going, at it, until 2am in the morning, squeaking and giggling and basically preventing anyone with normal audio capabilities from sleeping.  Helen had the cook books, handed down through the generations and offered her tutelage during the long, noisy process.  She wasn’t allowed to touch any of the ingredients or have any kind of hands on involvement…..these were some of the rules that they both respected.

All in all it went fairly well.  There were 2 items (the date loaf and the nut loaf) that had to be re-made for various reasons.  The best bit is that Denise won every section she entered on the Saturday at the Show.  She was ecstatic!  All the hard work and late nights paid off.

 

See the little house in the background of the shot above.  That’s where she lived for sometime before moving in with Greg.  The house sits on my sisters property.  You can’t see it, but my sister’s house is just behind.  By a stoke of luck, Denise discovered the house on another property in the area.  The owners were going to demolish it and Denise took the opportunity to ask them how much they wanted for it.  She scored it for $100…not bad!  I imagine it cost more to organise for it to be transported from where she brought it to where it is now.

 

 

I left Pomonal with a warm feeling in my stomach, having spent a wonderful 5 days in rural bliss.  My sister was an amazing host.  She even gave me her bed.  Now Helen’s bed is the most comfortable bed I have ever experienced.  It’s like sleeping on a cloud with a silver lining….you float!

I stopped in on my friend Ned who lives in Melbourne to say hello and take a couple of shots.  Here’s one below.  Ned has a fantastic companion called, Merlin.  I made it home to Sydney, refreshed and happy.

GOOD NEWS!

 

My portrait of George Frazis has been selected, among 20 works, as a finalist in the annual “Shoot The Chef” competition.

 

 

Artist Statement:

George Frazis is one of those rare diamonds. George spent 15 years as a cook in the Greek Merchant Navy. In 1963, after jumping ship in Newcastle to be with his fiancee, Anthippe (pictured in the smoky background of the image), he found work as a chef in several of Sydney’s most glamorous and sometimes notorious restaurants, including Chelsea’s in Kings Cross, The Russian Coachman in Surry Hills and Dimitri’s, serving culinary delights to the wealthy, the not-so-wealthy, the famous and the infamous.  Fast forward 50 years and we find George still in the kitchen, now cooking in his son’s Rozelle coffee bar, Latticini, where we see the appreciation for his loyalty and hard work proudly displayed on the wall, ironically announcing his “Employee of the Month” status.

All 20 finalist works can be viewed on exhibition, as part of the Parramatta Lanes Festival from October 6 – 9, 2015  (http://www.parramattalanes.com.au)

People’s Choice Award:

Now I know all of you would want to cast your vote for the people’s choice award….well it’s very simple, click on the following link to take you to the SMH Clique page where you will find the winner and all finalist works displayed for you to vote on your favorite.  Make sure you vote!

http://www.smh.com.au/national/clique/for-the-love-of-photography-and-food-shoot-the-chef-2015-20150821-gj4ni7.html

I’m thinking that if I could get to do a regular post…may be once a month, that would be an appropriate interval.  By appropriate, I mean at a frequency that I could handle in terms of the time I have to sit down and pen such a thing.

 

So I here is my month in review for August.  Some, but surely not all, of the highlights during the month.

 

I loved the cover I did for SX this month.  Long time drag performer, Amelia Airhead posed for my lens.  I have been shooting drag performers for quite a while now but this is the first time I have come across Amelia.  I believe she is a contemporary of the like of the famous Mitzi Macintosh whom I have shot a number of times before she headed off to the Mother Land.

 

Amelia was promoting the “Broken Heel festival”….which as the name suggests is a drag festival which is taking place the weekend of the 5th and 6th of September in Broken Hill!  Yes, I said Broken Hill.  The whole thing sounds fabulous and if I wasn’t working this weekend I might consider going along to have a look….sounds like it could be quite wacky!  For more info go to: http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/readonline/archives/sx763/index.html

 

Amelia was delightful and it’s always a pleasure to work with Reg Domingo, the Editor of SX.

 

  

 

Amelia Airhead

 

Amelia being interviewed by Reg Domingo (Reg is the one behind the camera)

 

Also, this month Matthew Mitcham performed his cabaret show in both Alice Springs and in Sydney at “Slide” in Oxford Street.  I was fortunate enough to be at both performances.

 

Here are a few shots of the evening……

 

And you even get a signed autograph (and photo, if you like) at the end of the performance!

What else have I been up to….

Well I shot the team at “Fastvisa” this month.  That was fun.  A good bunch of people who are making the arduous process of obtaining and Australian visa a little more human and a little more hastle free.  So if you know of anyone planing to move across here from another country and they would like some help in obtaining a visa and setting up bank account, business enterprises etc, give these guys a call.

 

Pictured Alberto Fascetti, Stefano Solferini and Conor Harty (from left to right)

www.fastvisa.com.au

Brigitte came to Australia this month. 

Brigitte is the friend of an artist friend of mine.  They met while both holidaying in NYC last year and Brigitte decided to visit this month.  I took the opportunity to mark the ocaision by taking her portrait on a visit to my studio.  (See below)

 

 

A friend said to me, “Have you seen the new Bachelor Girl?”.   I had no idea what they were talking about.

Later, as they explained, I realised that the person they were talking about was none other than the beautiful Heather Maltman.

I had met Heather some years ago.  I remember thinking that her brand of beauty was engaging in an interesting way and that I would like to shoot her.  She is a good sport and agreed to work on some images together.

I am particularly happy that Heather has now found her way to being on the TV in “The Bachelor” series on channel 10 and wish her all the best.

When I first met Will he was a dancer and choreographer.  Over a period of a few years I had the good fortune to work on a number of shoots with Will and his team, at the time.  However, he disappeared for a while overseas.  Recently, he re-surfaced in my life and asked me to work on a new set of images for a forthcoming project, based in Brisbane.

 

Here are some images from the day.

 

   

The “Sydney Props Specialists” in Marrricville, where the shoot took place,  has a bit of an “Alice in Wonderland” feel with all these props and sets lying around throughout the building.  The facilities are great and the place is a lot of fun.

 

 

My trusty assistant, Erick, re-living his days as a Paris cat-walk model…..a while ago, I might add!

 

 

I love taking shots of make-up and hair….always a very concentrated effort.

 

Maxime was covering day “en video”.  Can’t wait to see the results.

 

Dan Murphey was directing the video component…..

 

Plenty of talented girls animated the styling…………..

 

Recently, I had the pleasure of shooting  an English based fashion label who’s primary material was latex.  The label is “Catalyst Latex”.  The theme was “hospital” and there was plenty on offer for the fashion conscious doctor, nurse and patient.

 

It was a fun shoot which mirrored the tongue in cheek nature of the brand as you can see from the pics below.  So if you feel like getting into a bit of “hospital grade latex”…look them up.  I’m sure they have an on-line service.

 

 

 

I had the pleasure of working with the team of the forthcoming “Hayes Theatre Co” production of “High Society” in the studio, recently.

It was a great team to work with…..Amy Lephamer is the beautiful actress playing the “Tracey Lord” character and the model for the main image. Ben Moir was the make-up and hair artist with the magic touch!  Artistic direction was gleaned from Richard Carroll and Helen Dalimore (director of High Society).

Ben performing his magic with Richard in the background……….

 

 

The look is progressing………..

 

Almost ready to go, last minute tweeking by Ben……………

 

Finally we come up with the image……………..

 

The production opens on September 4, 2015

At the Hayes Theatre in Potts Point

Don’t miss it!

I’m down in Victoria currently.  I’m shooting for a band called “Kritta” and  spending some time with my sister in the little village called, Pomonal.  It’s nestled nicely at the foot of the Grampian mountain range.  

I had a fab day yesterday with a guided trip to Stawell’s historic sites of importance by, none other than, Denise herself.  Denise is my sister’s best girlfriend.  She rocked up with the Ugandan flag proudly displayed at the front of the car and the day proceeded beautifully from there…..Here are a few visual references of our day……

Denise was very stylish in her “black and white” outfit.  Unfortunately the flag blew off half way to Stawell.  Fortunately, Denise stopped the car immediately and I managed to salvage the flag as a momento of the occasion.

I love this shot…….

Denise is restoring this vintage car….she is so proud!

A few odds and ends needed to be loaded in the trailer before we took off……you see Denise and her “tree lopping” boyfriend, Greg,  are moving to Stawell into a new abode

We hit Stawell and I thought Denise wanted to say a little prayer at the Salvation Army Citadel before starting our tour….but in actual fact she was going to the local bakery to buy a loaf of bread for her well known cucumber sandwiches.

Denise walking to the “Stawell Gift Memorial Museum”.  We wanted to get a couple of brochures on the historically important sites of Stawell before we went  for lunch.

We had lunch at the Stawell Hotel……….here’s Denise about to choose a dish from the delicious menu provided by the establishment.  The kitchen was run by a Sikh punjabi Indian lady who served us.  She had moved from the punjab about 8 years ago with her husband and they had settled quite comfortable into the rural setting.  She said she found the locals very friendly.

Denise had fish and I had a nachos!

Afterwards…..Denise re-applied her nail polish…..before we had one last drink on the terrace.

Denise looking relaxed and happy on the footpath in front of the Hotel.

This is where Denise used to stay when she first started coming to the area….unit number 4 to be exact.  She noted that this “Truckie Road Stop” used to be a brothel and that she was initially confused by all the attention she was getting from the road house clientele.

Denise standing on the biggest hill in Stawell…..there’s a monument to the 1st World War just to the right of Denise.  In the distance you can see Pomonal as one looks towards the Grampians.

This was a highlight…….it’s a gigantic mound of tyres.  Apparantly some person used to stock pile them here before cutting them up into little pieces and sending them to a buyer in China….well the story goes that the Chinese client pulled out and the guy went broke…..now the township is left with a “tyre” problem…..no one seems to know what to do with this ecologically unfriendly mountain of tyres.  Denis has a few ides though…..

More tyres……..

This is Denise pictured at the famous “Diamond House”.  A local hangout for Jazz musicians from all around the world.  It was built very early in the 1860’s…by Mr Diamond.  All the granite and quartz has been cut to form the wondrous diamond shapes you can see in the background.

Denise and I went looking for a “no longer” operating convent.  We didn’t find it…..as it had been closed down many years before our arrival.  Denise felt it had closed down under suspicious circumstances.  However we found the Catholic church.  It was closed but I managed to capture a couple of shots of Denise looking rather religious outside this rather beautiful building.

The wind played havoc with Denise’s dress at times.  I had to be careful not to shoot too many shots of her panties.  Here she understood and attempted to hold it down for the shot.

Well folks that’s about it…..I may post some more at a later stage.

It was a lovely day and enjoyed by all.

Stawell is well worth a visit, if you have no where else to go.

.

9TH ANNUAL (NOT AT CLEVELAND ST) TABLE TENNIS COMPETITION

 

Well, last weekend saw the annual table tennis competition (as above) take place in the studios here in downtown Lilyfield.

You may well ask what is this all about?  Well, I’ll tell you….it’s the continuation of a 9 or may be 10 year tradition of staging a friendly, amicable and totally absurd afternoon of table tennis.  It started at the home of a good friend of mine, Ann Maree (aka Pat McGroyn) however, due to extenuating circumstances (nothing to do with any illegal practises) the event had to be moved to a new location.  I put my hand up for an alternative venue and at the same time, managed to score a 2nd hand table from the antique dealer next door (who closed down shortly after the sale of the table).  God was on our side.  The event was not in danger of folding in fact it was about to take on even greater momentum and notoriety.

For example here’s the poster we formulated to promote this years competition.  It features Pat (the Hostesse with the Mostesse and official adjudicator – her word is final) in her competition outfit as the face of TTTT (Table Tennis Today Tonight Tomorrow).  It is customary that a general theme is devised for each year.  This years theme was “Stuff Peace – Give War a Chance”.  The theme is accompanied by a dress code which was…..”Dress for Conflict”!

 

Basically the afternoon is designed as “friends coming together for a bit of fun and a chance to be silly together”.  The table tennis competition acts as an engaging focal point for this main activity.  Some even have a serious competitive approach to their game (can you believe it?), others are happy just to be part of the fun and don’t mind at all if they are knocked out in the early rounds.

 

Once the games have been won or lost, the winners emerge.  A medal ceremony takes place, including awards for “the worst dressed”, “The most disliked”, “the most incorrect” and so on……..  My friend Jonathan Turner (Rome based art curator), each year at the end of the proceedings, formulates an hysterical “Court Report”.  The Court Report is an paradocial, inside view of what happened during the afternoon with some deep insights into the motivations of some of the players.  A must read!

 

Here are a few further shots from the day…..all in all, a lot of fun!

 

In an attempt to keep this blog posting going on a regular basis, I am writing a week in review entry (with pics).

This week saw Benefit at it again with a huge launch of a new charity concept that the company is implementing for the month of May.  Benefit are donating a sizeable portion of the profit from each customer at their “Brow Bars” across the country.  This money is going to a selected group of charities involved with women’s affairs namely, “Look Good Feel Better”, “Sister2Sister” and “Fitted for Work”.  Benefit is hoping to raise at least $200,000.

Benefit is, as you may know, is an exciting cosmetic company started in San Francisco by 2 ex-model twins, Jean and Jane Ford.  They both continue in the business which has now become part of the LVMH group of companies.  What is particular about Benefit, apart from the fact that they are one of the leading cosmetic companies in this country, is that they rely solely on social media for all their promotion and advertising, choosing not to enlist the more traditional promotional approaches in the cosmetic industry such as print media.

 

I covered the event and here are a couple of images.  I particularly enjoyed snapping the reactions of the girls at the “Kissing Booth”.  You can rely on Benefit to inject a bit of fun into every activity and the 2 boys dishing out “pecs on the cheek” to anyone who was willing to donate a small amount into the jar beforehand, was no exception.

(I assume the boys got paid for doing that….not a bad job really, hey?)

---

“ALWAYS BOB DOWNE”

 

It was great to see Bob (aka Mark Trevorrow) out and about again this week.  He dropped in for a quick photoshoot for his next appearance which will be in Melbourne in a couple of weeks at the famous “Spiegeltent”.  Bob will be “taking charge” as Master of Ceremonies with an obvious “Big Top” approach.  Bob is a consummate professional and has no trouble in adopting the “most natural” of poses our “candid” portraits, as you can see from some of the examples below…………always a hoot!

 

---

 

 

My dear friend Jonathan Turner dropped me an e-mail following the recent Mardi Gras event in Sydney.

I just had to publish his synopsis of events, as follows:

 

10 Mardi Gras Highlights from Jonathan Turner

Sadly, the 37th Mardi Gras is over, and all the recovery parties have now been mopped-up and vacuumed. Each year, there are numerous festive signifiers, demonstrating how all of Sydney really does become Mardi Gras in early March. Here are some events we witnessed in 2015.

1. Bunnings warehouse in Alexandria jam-packed with power-tool poofs and handyman dykes buying hardware for expert float construction.

2. Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” played at high-volume over the loudspeakers of Woolworth’s in Double Bay on Friday afternoon.

3. Mimi the “mermaid” having an aquatic-themed birthday party at Sea Breeze fish’n’chip shop in Darling Street, Rozelle, complete with bubble machines, deejay Garry Tee playing deep oceanic music, and various guests dressed as lobsters, pirates, flotsam, “jelly-fish bitches” (the obligatory Maltese Joseph, Nigel, Ivan plus Paolo), Bondi life-savers, Helen as the Bermuda Triangle, Cameron as the Muff Diver, and some idiot as a blue-ringed octopus.

4.  Policemen in couples cruising/patrolling the dance-floor at the Harbour Party, then a huge police RBT line-up breath-testing outbound motorists on post-Mardi Gras Monday morning at 10 o’clock on Victoria Road just after the Anzac Bridge (10 a.m. on Monday! – who says the police aren’t targeting the “gays”?).

5. The Olympic trampolinist Ji Wallace “surfing” his chauffeur-driven convertible up Oxford Street ahead of all the out-and-proud sports royalty, footballers, Australian star athletes and their allies, who participated in the Parade.

6. The hedonistic parade-goers including futuristic gladiators, the legendary Ron Muncaster, a Kim Jong-Un impersonator on a jizzing golden tank battling against an army of zombies, a lone, perfect  hibiscus flower, plus the hilarious and mega-munted group of equestrian girls on their hobbie-horses, frequently galloping in the totally wrong direction.

7. Kylie standing on her tip-toes at the side of the dance-floor, taking snaps of her little sister Dannii performing on stage at the RHI.

8. Mardi Gras saving the best for last: the closing sets at the Mardi Gras Party by deejay Mike Kelly from Cologne at the Hordern Pavilion, the impeccably pink-haired Kate Monroe playing at the outdoor arena at dawn and the slick, tight and fluoro-glow finale performance at the RHI by Betty Who.

9. All the bears at North Bondi, cordoning off a special nursery-rhyme area on the sand with white picket fences and pink flamingos, then kissing like Goldilocks much to the amazement of the families from Lakemba and Linfield.

10. Overheard at Woof Recovery at Arq: “Those guys are so old that they dance the YMCA in lower-case.”

Photos:

How to turn adorable David’s fish and chip shop in Rozelle into an instant Mardi Gras venue.

1. Install bubble machines, Mimi the mermaid, lifesavers and a blue-ringed octopus as catch of the day.

2. Dueling Mardi Gras deejays Garry Tee (Kuala Lumpur) and Mike Kelly (Cologne) on the decks.

Mimi celebrating her 40th at David’s Fish & Chip Shop (SeaBreeze, Darling St, Rozelle) with Life Savers and Jonathan Turner as “The Octopussy”

Gary T (Malaysia) and Mike Kelly (Cologne, Germany) on the tables at Mimi’s 40th

I just happened to be in front of the Seymour Centre on the weekend.  Matthew Mitcham was in the vicinity and couldn’t help get up to a few antics in front of his rather large poster promoting his season of Sydney Shows (See below)

 

By the way…..go and see one of the shows this week!  It’s a very entertaining evening and Matt is brilliant.  Who better to play Matthew Mitcham in a cabaret show than Matthew Mitcham!

 

Twists and Turns

Seymour Centre, Cleveland St

Thursday 26, Friday 27 and Saturday 28 February, 2015

Book Now ph 02 9351 7940

 

“It’s a cover up!”

Who says Matt doesn’t love himself…LOL

 

Yeah…almost!