[Exhibition] Offline Online, Breadbox Gallery, Northbridge: 12-27 August

In "Offline Online", 11 Australian photographers explore rural, urban, social and degraded spaces in their photography.

Breadbox Gallery
233 James Street, Northbridge
12-27 August
Wed - Fri: 12-6pm
Sat: 2-5pm
Sun: 2-5pm

Details: www.breadbox.com.au

[Exhibition] Erwin Olaf: Elegance and perversity - John Curtin Gallery, 21 July - 15 September

'Elegance and Perversity' brings together a selection of works from Dutch photographer, Erwin Olaf. In this exhibition, Olaf entertains and confronts through a series of staged photographs where "the body becomes a site of transgression that throws into question the current codes of morality, freedom and beauty." (Paco Barragan, exhibition curator). Hence, viewers are treated to glamourised portraits of a bleeding Poppaea Sabina, whose husband, the Emperor Nero, kicked her to death while she was pregnant. Similarly, we see Lady Diana Spencer, who died when her Mercedes crashed whilst avoiding paparazzi in Paris, posing with a Mercedes hood ornament embedded in her bleeding arm.



The exhibition is open at the John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Western Australia (Kent Street, Bentley)
Monday-Friday: 12-5pm
Sunday 30th July, Sunday 13th August, Sunday 27th August: 1-4pm (parking is free on Sundays)

More information:

• http://www.johncurtingallery.org/exhibitions/


• http://www.erwinolaf.com/

[Exhibition] Liquid Images, Heathcote Museum and Gallery, 14 July - 13 Aug

Liquid Image is a exhibition of water photography by local photographer Christoph Hoppen. The exhibition is at:

Heathcote Museum and Gallery
Point Heathcote in Applecross
(Heathcote Cultural Centre, Duncraig Road, Applecross)

14th July to 13th August.

A keen sailor for more than 15 years, Christoph took these photographs over the last five years on trips around Australia and Thailand. His photographs present visions of water, light and landscape.

For more information, visit: www.liquid-images.com.

[Exhibition] Photographies de France: Murmurs

In Murmurs, 16 Australian photographers reflect on their enduring relationship with France and the French tradition of photograpy. Largely in black and white, this exhibition of photographs reveal intersections between Australian and French identities - all photographers in the exhibition possess an Australian or French connection of some sort.

The exhibition is located in the upstairs gallery of the Fremantle Arts Centre and is on view until July 16 (Sunday). The Arts Centre is open from 10am to 5pm daily.

[Exhibition] Backpacker Essentials - Travel Photography Exhibition

For those of you with the travel bug, or for those who love travel photography, the winners of this year's Backpacker Essentials YHA Photography competition will be exhibited in Perth at the
Perth City YHA, 300 Wellington St, Perth: 6 - 26 November.

More information about the competition, photographs and exhibitions can be found at the Backpacker Essentials website.

[Musings] Re-envisioning landscapes

I've only very recently (in the last three months or thereabouts) begun taking landscape photographs. I've always been more inclined to be a people and events photographer - one who interacts, reacts and snaps in the hopes of recording, with some artistic and journalistic merit, the moment characterised by the person (or persons) and their engagement with the world. Then, influenced by a few photographer friends, I decided to take up landscape photography.

I started taking photographs that look like these:



Long-exposure shots of the coastal landscape at sunset, with the aperture stopped down to f16 or more, and the camera secured to a tripod, ND grad filters used to allow both correct exposure of the foreground and sky. You set up the tripod, frame the scene, expose, then wait for that "magic moment" - with a 2 second delay to account for the timer (with mirror lockup) - before hitting the shutter button.

Wallah.

I loved it. There was a sense of achievement in catching that right moment - that combination of light, setting and movement. And in achieving landsapes that seem so unearthly and which glowed.

So I did it again.

And again.

And again.

And it started feeling rather mechanical for me. Like writing a novel according to a formula. Like writing a Mills and Boon romance novel.

Just as quickly as I gained it, I lost the love for landscape photography.

I told myself that I should take a break from it. To begin re-thinking the way I photograph landscape.

Now, I make landscapes like these: