Category: architecture

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scanning the workload

My days of late have been taken up with scanning some of the old 35mm + medium format negatives, plus some of the medium format film that I took earlier this year. Scanning sure is a time consuming business. In terms of workflow it is probably better to shoot a couple of rolls of film, have it processed, then scan it; rather than allow the rolls of film to build up to 30 or so.

I’m not persuaded that the combination of 35m film plus a flat bed scanner, such as the Epson V700, is better than its digital equivalent. People do use a dedicated film scanner–eg., a Nikon 5000— for 35mm film to improve the quality of the scan. However, if 35mm is the format of choice, then it would probably be better to invest in a top end, full frame, DSLR and some really good glass.

Angas St , Adelaide

Maybe 35mm film would be the equivalent of a high end DSLR if I used a really top line desktop scanner (such as the Imacon Flextight 949 Film Scanner or the Flextight X1); that is, the ones the pro labs use. However, these are a big dollar investment for just 35mm, and it is hardly worth the investment for that format. Those photographers who don’t have high volume requirements will not be able to justify the cost of these pro scanners. They are designed for Photo Labs, Printing Bureaus and professionals that need to scan hundreds of negatives each week or day.

If 35mm is the format of choice, then clearly, it is more worthwhile to shift to, and work with, the new technology. It would be easy to work within, and around its limitations with good image editing software.

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Port Augusta

I spent a great part of yesterday afternoon scanning some old negatives from the archive from photos taken from a trip to the Eyre Peninsula via Port Augusta. This one of the Payford Power Station was taken on the Linhof Technika 70

Playford Power Station, Port Augusta

I cannot recall much of the time at Port Augusta other than remembering that my photographic focus was the power station. I do recall driving around looking for the best spot to take photos but it didn’t occur to me to go on the tour to get some photos inside the plant.

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Melbourne’s skyline

As I suspected most of the photography done whilst I was in Melbourne and Ballarat over the weekend were snaps taken whilst travelling to and from Ballarat. Unfortunately I had no time for a photographic walk in either city.

on Kings Way, Melbourne

This snap was taken from a car whilst travelling on Kings Way to the Nepean Highway.

Though I’ve always been seduced by Melbourne’s skyline, I’ve rarely had the time to explore it in any systematic fashion. It is difficult to do from the street level with a handheld digital camera.

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urban documentary

I keep plugging away at the large format series or study of Adelaide. I’m slowly ticking off the locations and finding new ones:

French St

I am not sure what the content is, how the series will be constructed, or how it will unfold. It will be something about documentary, empty streets and history with an eye to a DIY photo book. I want book making to be a central part of my practice.

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topographics

It has been raining all day in Adelaide and I haven’t been outside to do photography. Apart from visiting skin specialists and walking the dogs late this afternoon I have been inside the Sturt St office blogging on the US debt crisis and going through my Andamooka archives for light relief.

Andamooka

I am beginning to think that the photos in the archive are good enough could become a modest project in themselves. A project in Australian topographics. An aesthetic of the banal or the mundane for the philosophically minded.

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from a car park roof

I continued my search for suitable high locations to use the 5×7 Cambo in the Adelaide CBD today. This was mostly spent checking out the highest floor of the car parks in my neighbourhood for their perspective on the city.

I also wanted to see whether I could get a lens through the grilled barriers around the car parks that have been erected to prevent people from jumping off the roof.

King William Street

Most of the perspectives that I came across were far too scenic—the snaps looked like picture post cards. I have no interest in pretty or pleasant representations of this provincial city as I am not doing a portrait of Adelaide; a tourist image; or a celebration of Adelaide as a liveable place.

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from a tram

I got tired of the rigors of urban large format photography after a fruitless day hunting for new locations. So I jumped a tram, found myself a window seat, then snapped away through the window as the tram moved through the city.

Monday afternoon

It was liberating. Many of the pictures were no good in terms of composition but others indicated the possibilities of this way of taking photography. I had tried this approach in Canberra on a bus, and in Melbourne on a bus and train but they never really worked. It was hit and miss.

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strolling the city

I’ve started walking around the urban neighbourhood that I live in–the south east corner of Adelaide–with a photo eye. It is a digging behind the surface of the functional drudgery of inner city life–what the situationists called dérive: a stroll through the city that includes and interpretive reading of the city, an architectural understanding

units, Vinrace St, Adelaide

Another way to look at the city is in terms of repressed desires–eg., the poverty and alienation of the conditions of everyday life despite the plenty of commodities and the glossy consumer lifestyle on the billboards.

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28A Sturt St

This is our home in Adelaide–it’s the townhouse on the corner. The picture was snapped when I was returning from a walk with the dogs in the parklands. The sun was going down. My office is the top left window in the reddish wall.

28A Sturt St

The creamy orange brick building on the left (going west) is a hockey shop, and then further west an accountants office, then a council carpark that is marked for residential redevelopment. The neighbourhood is in rapid transition as the old warehouses are given up and the lawyers and residents move in.

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