FOCUS - BACK ON TRACK IN 2009
After nearly a year of neglect, you'll start to see more regular blog updates starting this month.
2008 was a year of bouncing from one pillar to the next post, so over the next couple of weeks I'll bring the last year into Focus.
PALM ISLAND WORKSHOP FEATURES IN AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Grab a copy of the March '08 edition of Australian Photography magazine, and you'll find an article featuring
last year's FujiFilm/Red Cross photo workshop that I was involved in
on Palm Island. The article includes interviews with Fuji's Kevin Cooper, photographer Toni Fuller and myself, along with some of the participant's photographs.
HUGE TURTLE FOUND ON BUSY ROAD
Well, huge picture of turtle found next to busy road to be precise.
Around this time in 2007 I was busy shooting turtle season on the Great Barrier Reef, and the resulting images have been used extensively in magazine and press ads, brochures etc by my client, Tourism Queensland.
One such recent use was this "super site" billboard on Sandgate Road at Albion, an inner-Brisbane suburb. The site's promoting the Southern Barrier Reef and the tagline reads "Where you're greeted with outstretched arms".
PALM ISLAND PERSPECTIVES
In early November I was involved in an Australian Red Cross photo workshop project on Palm Island,
an indigenous community off Townsville in North Queensland.
Kevin Cooper and Amanda Suefong from FujiFilm Australia, Master Photographer
Toni Fuller and myself ran the week-long workshop for a group of 12
enthusiastic youths.
Being invited into the community and asked to mentor these young people was a real honour. We saw some great images produced over the week, and the final day's presentation at the local PCYC was a real hit with participants' families and the other community members who attended.
I'd like to thank Kevin from Fuji for inviting me to be part of the event; Walbira Murray from the Australian Red Cross for making it possible; the participants for their enthusiasm and respect; and to the Palm Island community and its leaders for welcoming us so warmly.
The pics down the right hand side of the composite below were taken by the group and you can see more of the images they captured during the workshop at Fuji's ProGalleries.
Listen-in this Wednesday 28th November 07 at 7.30pm when Kevin speaks to Murray Wilton on Radio 2GB about the Palm Island workshop.
PICTURES AND SENSITIVITIES
If you've been here before, you might have noticed I'm a big Missy Higgins fan,
which reveals me as a sucker for a good lyric (hey Missy, congrats on this year's ARIA).
Well, talking about girls that can write and sing a great lyric, my American favourite Natalie Merchant has recently posted an interesting series of photographs on her site. They were shot on September 10th 2001 and were to be used as cover art on her then-upcoming album Motherland. In the post Natalie describes the circumstances of the shoot and why the pics and cover design were shelved by her record company. Check out the story here.
If you enjoy looking at the pics and listening to the song, you can see and hear another great version of it, this one performed by Irishman Christy Moore, here on youtube. You might also like to visit the unofficial Natalie fan site.
MEETING MISSY
A real treat during my recent travels, a chance encounter with my favourite Aussie songstress Missy Higgins at a fabulous
organic smoothie bar. She was as refreshing in person as she always seems in interviews. Her new album
On a Clear Night is
charting well, and she has
just announced that emerging Brisbane artist
Kate Miller-Heidke will be joining her on three of her current tour dates in regional Victoria.
