A lo fi visual diary
After much indecision I’ve decided to do a little project in the Wirranendi section of the Adelaide parklands. What tipped the scales in favour was the wetlands as this could become the focus of the project rather than the public sculpture.
The urban forest just wasn’t enough on its own, even though some of the work is fascinating. But it requires the use of a large format camera to get the subtle detail.
I haven’t done night photography up to now. Judging from Flickr nocturnal photography is very popular and I admire the work of those who photograph at night.
Objects and scenes look very different at night and in the early morning before dawn. What often looks drab and grey during the day in winter frequently comes alive at night. They are much more atmospheric.And more interesting.
I keep plugging away at the large format series or study of Adelaide. I’m slowly ticking off the locations and finding new ones:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I had a successful day with the Cambo 5×7 monorail view camera in the city today. The architectural shoot was planned for yesterday but the rains came in.I was able to take 3 pictures before the light faded because of the heavy cloud cover.
I wasn’t able to do one picture from the rooftop of an old car park in Franklin St that I had planned. 3 out of 4 is pretty good for me, with large format urban photography.
One of the themes that I unconsciously explore in my local neighbourhood is urban nature. Not so much the cultivated nature that is the result of gardening by city councils (shade tree plantings, revegetation projects etc) or individual’s gardens but wild nature.
Wild nature in the sense of weeds growing up through the concrete, or brick walls, creeper reclaiming walls–the urban nature that no one really notices. Or they want to eradicate it when they do notice.
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
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.
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.
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.
I’ve been going through my Flickr archives looking at my urban photos to see what kind of project lies buried within them. Would there be anything, or are they just a series of casual snaps? My feeling was that they are just a series of casual snaps as I walk through the city.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, Adelaide CBD resting, 2008
This is a good example. It was taken in January 2008–high summer. It was hot that afternoon and it looked to be a good image. So I took a snap with a digital camera. I then just moved on to take another snap as I wandered around the streets camera in hand.