The Blackmail » Photography

Australian Badlands

tristan — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 01:08:17 +0000

Text: Tristan Ceddia Images: © Warwick Baker

I decided I wanted to interview Warwick Baker after seeing his self portrait, ‘Mongolo River,’ in the 2009 National Youth Self Portrait Prize. I don’t know exactly what it was about this image, but I felt compelled to understand more about this character. I caught Warwick, quite a discerning individual, for a brief chat about his obsession with Belanglo State Forrest.

Tristan Ceddia: Where did you grow up?

Warwick Baker: I grew up in Canberra and went to public schools in the Belconnen area.

TC: Do you remember your first encounter with photography?

WB: I have always been surrounded with photography. My dad is a landscape photographer and I used to travel around with him, camping in a early ’70s Kombi Van. When I was a kid I really hated photography. I had a really short attention span so, for something as instantaneous as photography, I didn’t understand why it took so long to take a photo. My dad would often take hours setting up and then taking one photograph.

TC: What was the first photo you ever took?

WB: When I was maybe around 10, I got handed down from my two older sisters a Kodak Instamatic camera. One of the first photos I can remember taking was a photo of burning sugarcane in northern New South Wales or Queensland. I remember my dad cutting me some sugarcane and I chewed on it for a couple of days. I still really love the photo. I didn’t really enjoy or understand taking photos then, I just did it because I had a camera.

TC: You love photography now thought right? How long does it generally take you to take a photo?

WB: I really love taking photos now, I love exploring places to photograph. As part of my new work, the environment and place I photograph involves a lot of prior research so when I finally get to the places I have researched I have a background of its past history and how to confront that. I don’t explore and photograph the environment in a voyeuristic manner. I use medium and large format film cameras for my work. I like to be spontaneous with the medium format camera and mostly hand-hold. I like to show a sense of urgency and movement. The large 8×10″ film camera is very time consuming and cumbersome. It produces incredible detail and depth but it can take anywhere between a quarter of an hour to three hours to complete a photograph. The photographer Richard Misrach, one of my favourite photographers, is so amazing at making his photographs still look spontaneous and almost snap shot-like, and his pictures are made on a large format camera.

TC: As well as art photography, you also work commercially as a photographer shooting record covers and portraits. Does your process differ between commercial and self-motivated work?

WB: My commercial work differs a lot. There is a lot of work I do that I don’t put on my website. It’s shot and then edited the same day, then the files are sent off. I really like doing that as far as work goes, because it is so far removed from my own work and I don’t have to think. Since I got an Arts Victoria grant I can be selective with commercial work, like band photos, because the process is so drawn out and it is really draining constantly having to think of new concepts, sourcing props, getting the band or record label to choose the photos. It really takes a lot of time and energy away from my own work. With commercial work, at the end of the day, you are just making work to please someone else so there will always be an element of compromise.

Right now is the first time I have ever been able to solely dedicate a few months’ full time in developing my new work for my project Australian Badlands. I am really motivated and excited by the pressure to create something by the end of the year.

TC: You must feel much freer not having to rely as much on commercial work. Can you tell me a little bit about your photos of the Belanglo State Forrest?

WB: It’s great to have some temporary time off. My new work involves a lot of travel around Australia and Australia is a very big place. In the past I have only been able to take a week or two off max. Travelling by car in Australia for two weeks could get you from Melbourne to Perth and back with a couple of rest days and that’s about it. I need the time to stay in places for a long time, not just get out of the car, take a piss, take a photo and keep driving.

The Belanglo State Forest photos are a part of my projectAustralian Badlands. A couple of years ago, I wanted to photograph and explore places in Australia that had a tainted history and environments that still hold a dark presence.

I was at my mate from footy, Beno’s, birthday (your friend who was featured in the last issue) and I was speaking to his mate about the project. He recommend a book by Ross Gibson, Seven Versions of An Australian Badland and I bought a copy the next week and I was blown away. It was written about a stretch of the Bruce Highway in Queensland that has endured massacres, land grabs, environmental destruction, floods, cyclones, murders and numerous fatal car accidents. That book has become a big inspiration for the project.

Belanglo State Forest has been a good starting point for Badlands because I remember, when I was a kid, being in the car on the Hume [Highway] from Canberra to Sydney, driving past the exit to Belanglo and just feeling so scared yet having a morbid fascination. This year was the first time I actually visited the forest. I was by myself, late in the afternoon. Although it is used as a pine plantation, trail bike riding and four wheel drive clubs, I couldn’t erase from my mind the seven backpacker murders, the body found last year by trail bike riders and the kid who was axed to death by a relative of Ivan Milat’s. The forest has witnessed so much trauma.

TC: Does the forest set a mood? Is it an eerie place?

WB: When you enter the forest off the Hume, you hit a dirt road. Eucalyptus trees line the edges of the road next to sparse properties, then you hit the entrance to Belanglo State Forest where a sign reads ‘Welcome To Belanglo State Forest Please Be Careful’. The start of the forest was silent and still. The trees are very close to the road, which is very claustrophobic. It was like driving in the city but the buildings are dense tall pine trees. I only drove in a few kilometres. I parked my car in a clearing and walked around and took some photos. I only lasted there no more than an hour. The shadows were dark and cold – I felt a menace in the place.

I went back a second time with friends of mine from Canberra who now live in the Blue Mountains, and we met my friend’s brother and his family for a picnic and bush walk in Belanglo. I thought it was a strange idea but it was really nice. We got there around midday, had a picnic at the rest area and then did some bush walking along the fire trails and then by the end of the day visited the backpacker memorial. I went off and walked down some small tracks into the natural forest of Belanglo and photographed abandoned camp sites, charred trees and dense bush. The forest does have an eerie sadness to it.

I have become really drawn to Belanglo and I want to keep returning. It is such a big forest and I only feel like I have scratched the surface as far as immersing myself in the place, and photographically.

TC: What are your plans for this series?

WB: I will be using a couple of photos from Belanglo for the Australian Badlands exhibition that will be at Lindberg Galleries in Melbourne in February next year. I have been discussing with Dan Rule and Justine Ellis, of ERM books and Perimeter Books, the idea of developing the photos into a book. The photos will work well in a book format because, realistically, I will probably only have two or three photos in the exhibition of Belanglo and I think the place merits to be explained over 30 photos because of the vastness of the forest.

TC: You have a shows in Perth and Melbourne next month, as well as a solo show next February. Are the Belanglo photos for your solo show?

WB: I have a group show in Perth from the 4th of August to the 28th of August at the Perth Centre for Photography. The group show is ‘Charmwood’ and it was shown in Melbourne last year. I am in a group show later this month from the 31st of August to the 8th of September at c3 in Abbotsford, Melbourne – two photos that I think work really well individually, but not necessarily in a series. Australian Badlands will be my solo show at Lindberg Galleries in Melbourne from the 17th of February to the 2nd of March, 2012.

It is very daunting now to have a date locked in for a project that I have been working on for a couple of years. I have so much ground to cover between now and the end of the year. I think having photographic works with a country in the title involves a lot of responsibility. The series feels like a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle and it’s only now vaguely starting to look like something. I have a scrap book visual diary that I stick 6×4″ work prints in and contact sheets as a editing process and the Belanglo photos are probably the only pictures indicative of how I want to approach Australian Badlands, so I still have a long way to go.

TC: A long way in terms of other Badlands locations that you want to shoot?

WB: Australia has so many stains on its past that have not been properly addressed and confronted. It will be very difficult to find an end point to this body of work because it could be an endless pursuit. I am just going to keep researching and photographing places till I feel like the body of work is concise. Murder isn’t the only focus of the series. I also want to photograph places that have endured environmental destruction, that have displaced people and resulted in terminal illnesses from asbestos mining to nuclear weapon testing. I also want the series to have a mysterious Australian narrative running through the photos to evoke how harsh and unforgiving the Australian landscape can be.

TC: Have you seen Andrew Cowen’s photographic series Adelaide 1966 – 1999 He documented a number of suburban locations around Adelaide where murders took place. What do you think makes crime appealing in an artistic sense?

WB: I really like Andrew Cowen’s Adelaide 1966-1999 works. I first saw them a couple of years ago and then again recently in the new Hijacked photo book. I like how contained and concise the photos are to a localised area. There is a quietness to them and subtlety that is often lost in a lot of Australian contemporary photography. It is really important that we are reminded of these events and to re-spark our memory of past wrongs in our local surrounds. American photographers Joel Sternfeld’s On This Site and Taryn Simon’s American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar are a couple of great examples of a similar approach, and it great that there is photography being made in a similar direction in Australia.

TC: With recent Australian movies like Animal Kingdom and Snowtown in mind, what do you feel feeds Australia’s obsession with crime and murder?

WB: Since day one of colonisation in Australia, there has been crime and bloodshed – from convicts to massacres of Indigenous Australians. It’s embedded in the Australian psyche. So maybe that’s a contributing factor to Australian films exploring violence and the darker side.

TC: Where to, post-Australian Badlands?

WB: Post-Badlands I will no doubt be struggling financially, so I will go back to photographing commercial jobs to fund what I would rather be doing. I have a few loose project ideas in my head. I am always taking photos so whatever is sparked, I want it to progress slowly and naturally and hopefully more tame than this Badlands monster is turning out to be.

Warwick Baker is represented by Lindberg Galleries

Next story: The Revelation – Lover

The Freshness

tristan — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 01:23:47 +0000

Text: Mikey Gilles Images: Samoh Stephenson

Samoh a.k.a. Sam Stephenson points, shoots and skates. His friends do too. Mikey Gilles spoke with Samoh about skating, photographing and other things faresh.

Mikey Gilles: As far as I know, you invented the term faraesh, Samoh. Is this true? If not, who can you attribute it to?

Sam Stephenson: I caught onto ‘faraesh’ late. I think a few people we hung out with just said ‘fresh,’ which later became ‘faraesh,’ and then a girl one day was all like, “All the skaties say fresh”. It got said more after that and everyone was just saying, “all the skaties say faraesh.” There is also ‘falesh.’ I like ‘freshay’ ’cause it combines the sickest word ‘eshay’ – all the goods of life – with ‘fresh.’

MG: If “water is the essence of wetness,” (Zoolander, 2003) what would you describe as the essence of faraesh-ness?

SS: When Casper smells Telly’s fingers. “Butterscotch, yo!” (Kids, 1995)

MG: What does your average day consist of?

SS: A good day is skateboard and bullshit, if I burn through rolls of film as well, that’s a really good day. A bad day would be a morning after the night it was and then work as a sales assistant. To try to make it better, I would probably process some film and cook a meal or something. Every day ends at the moment with a seroquel and falling asleep to The Wire.

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MG: Why do you take photos?

SS: It’s usually very rewarding and it’s something, when I do it properly, that is only for my friends and myself. And it’s always been easier than drawing. People around me are too interesting for me not to.

MG: Who or what would you say is your favourite subject for your photos?

SS: Friends. Skateboarding. Observations. Drunks.

MG: Why do you only shoot in black and white?

SS: I don’t. But the reason I still choose to mainly shoot black and white film over digital is because it instantly has a look you can’t recreate, because it has a grain structure not fine pixels. I find it easy to compose when thinking in black and white. Colour, a lot of the time, is harder to control and distracting for subjects. Black and white strips it down and usually doesn’t over-glamourise things. I bulk load 30 metres of it at a time and it works out to be even cheaper than any 10 year old expired film per roll and I don’t have to pay for processing because I can do it easily at home. Only problem is it’s really hard to get good scans off it. It’s great to print from, but harder to make look good for the web. It’s good to be consistent but I burned through lots of colour film when I was overseas recently for a change.

MG: Do you ever shoot digital?

SS: I have a really good digital camera. It’s the most expensive camera I’ve bought and I use it the least. I’ve shot some good sequences on it and one paid job. I do plan on using it more to shoot colour.

MG: Favourite film and camera?

SS: 35mm black and white. I’ve only ever really shot Ilford HP5+ I can push it to 1600 and it still looks nice, everyone talks about T-Max but I’m yet to try. Fuji had my favourite colour film 800 Press but they discontinued it. Medium format, I like Kodak 160nc but it’s discontinued as well. Neither of them perfect but Nikon F100 and Ricoh GRLV.

MG: Do you find anyone particularly inspiring?

SS: Books and exhibitions. It’s never one image, it’s always a series. In the style and what I wanted to shoot I was inspired Jon Humphries in older skate mags, I liked Ari Marcopolous’ Out And About book, and was really inspired by Boogie’s It’s All Good book – it was the fareshest. I hopefully have my own style. but those three combined would have influenced it a lot. Nothing’s really inspired me in the past four years, other than my friends that are either doing their own shit better and growing or self destructive and burning themselves into the ground.

MG: When are you and Gibbo going to open your own camera shop, lad?

SS: Gibbo’s got of plenty of cameras to slang. He sold a broken GR for $500 to some gronk that he originally paid $5 for. I’m slanging film and processing film for customers at home for pocket money. We kinda already got it in the mix. Faresh.

MG: Where do you see yourself in five years?

SS: Hopefully still doing same ol’ shit having travelled more, still claiming I’m going to get my drivers licence and hopefully still drinking cans of coke for one dollar.

MG: If you could’ve grown up in any decade, which would it be?

SS: If I wasn’t a grimy and a bit older from 1992-2002, that would have been faresh.

MG: Niki Minaj or Lil Kim?

SS: Put Your Lighters Up.

Samoh Stephenson

Next story: Periphery Vision – Perimeter Books

Le Cercle

tristan — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:26:09 +0000

Text: Joseph Allen Shea Images: Benjamin Deberdt & Mark Gonzales

Le Cercle is the book I have always wanted to make but never knew it. It is the perfect conjoining of ideas and artistic practice, the works bridging time and space (the boards made in California, photographs taken in Paris and printed in Sydney then shipped to and from New York City for Mark to add his drawings. Finally the book was designed and printed in Sydney), marrying relationships young and old as well ideas that would not been conceived by one individual. It is the spin of a successful collaboration across several mediums. The unbroken ring that unites several ideas but only one conclusion.

I have been working with Mark Gonzales for four years but only last week shared coffee for the very first time. I met Benjamin Deberdt seven years ago and we became great friends but only last week realised our first art project together. After my return from Paris for the European launch of Le Cercle and the artworks inclusion in new Paris museum La Gaîté Lyrique, Benjamin and I spent some time over email trying to sum up what had happened.

Sydney – June 27, 2011/ 9.45PM Eastern Standard Time
Paris – June 27, 2011 / 1.45PM Central European Summer Time

Joseph Allen Shea: How and when did you first meet Mark Gonzales?

Benjamin Deberdt: I was thinking about it the other day… I first saw him skating the sundial spot in Paris, La Vague, with Ron Chatman, Stéphane Larance and Alex Wise. He was riding the first Blind board I had ever seen. And I’m guessing we actually met the first time I was in NYC, around 1995-6. I remember him setting up a one night exhibition at Aaron Rose’s apartment.

JAS: How did the collaboration come about?

BD: Very spontaniously, I’d say. Mark came to Paris to film the Circle Board performance for an exhibition he had in mind for Franklin Parrasch Gallery, NYC. I organised for Ludovic Azémar to film it, and I tagged along to witness it, and to document it also, ’cause that’d be something you would not want to miss. Then, months later, you and I agreed that it’d be nice to put those photos out there, in some way. And Mark must have liked the idea as he did a wonderful job at making my photographs more interesting! Nothing was planned, really, and it just happened quite naturally.

JAS: What is the circle board?

BD: It’s a very dangerous rolling device. Some people want you to believe it’s made of nine skateboards attached to form a wheel of sorts, but don’t believe them. There’s more to it!

JAS: When watching Mark ride the circle board, how much do you see as skateboarding and how much do you see as art? Is there any reason to differentiate?

BD: I don’t really think about it like that. I know that just riding that thing is more than difficult; then manipulating it with such grace is a whole other thing! As for artistic value, doesn’t it come with the 500 page book you are supposed to put out with every art piece, nowadays? In that case, no, it just appears in front of you…

JAS: Do you know much about the other skate performances Mark has done?

BD: I remember getting photos of the Mönchengladbach museum performance in an envelope sent by Cherryl Dunn. This is when I was running Sugar magazine. I did not quite get it until I saw the video a while later. Then, it all made sense, and it was so beautiful. To this day it may be one of the most inspiring documents of skateboarding. To me, at least!

JAS: The works that make up the book have just opened in an exhibit at La Gaîté Lyrique in Paris. Can you explain the other works that were displayed alongside your work?

BD: Some of them, yes, some others I would not dare it! Let’s say that the exhibition does quite a good job at making you excited about skateboarding, wether you are a “lifer”, or if you’re just taking your eight-year-old kid there.

JAS: How have the skate communities responded to the book? How have the art communities and/or general public responded?

BD: I dunno. What are the sales status!? My family really liked it!

JAS: Can you tell us a little bit about you photographic background? Including how you got started?

BD: I’m coming from a tightly run and selective photographic school: The Thomas Campbell Visual Institute. It was hard to get in, and I still haven’t found my way out.

JAS: How do you see the future of skateboarding publishing turning out?

BD: It could be grim, but as the major magazines seem very stale and absolutely sure of what “the kids” want and need, it feels more like local media is flourishing, adding excitement and relevance again. Perhaps this is the way forward. Do look up things like Grey in London, Dank in Oslo, Anzeige in Berlin or PWBC on the web. Paper doesn’t necessarily make you relevant!

JAS: What’s the next print run for Benjamin Deberdt?

BD: My mémoirs! Or zines.

JAS: Now that Mark has moved to France, how is he getting along as a Parisian?

BD: He has lived here before, a while back. I’m sure he’s doing just fine! What’s funny is that everybody you bump into, nowadays, mentions a Gonz sighting!

JAS: Mark has become a sort of enigma or skate royalty. It was interesting to see how people reacted to him being in Paris. Why do think he’s gained such a reverence?

BD: I’d say, no matter what marketing plans try to tell us, we do not have many legends, especially those that transcend generations. Mark is one of the only ones. He in his own league, he also has a natural stature that commands respect. Thinking about that exhibition way back, in NYC, I clearly remember him explaining to Steven Cales, nonetheless, that he could walk any neighborhood, and nothing would happen to him, claiming: “It’s in my eyes!” I’m not making that up…

JAS: Isn’t skateboarding just for kids?

BD: I’m sure kids would love us to leave them alone with our EMB fantasies and Brooklyn Banks stories!

Le Cercle, printed by Blood & Thunder, is available now in limited run through Izrock Pressings.

P.A.M Store, Izrock Pressings and The Blackmail invite you to the Sydney launch of Le Circle, with a display of prints and projected works from the book and refreshments provided by Grolsch.

Thursday July 14, 6-8pm
P.A.M Store
20 Burton St
Darlinghurst, Sydney

Next story: The Hong Song – Dan Hong

Berlin Calling

tristan — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 11:47:56 +0000

Text: Tristan Ceddia Images: Benjamin Lichtenstein

Benjamin has been-jammin’ out in Berlin for months now. These images, the first to surface of their kind, tell tales of his daily intake, moving in and out of time and snow.

Benjamin Lichtenstein

Next story: Le Cercle – Benjamin Deberdt

Watch Your Coat-Tails

tristan — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:02:26 +0000

Text: Amelia Stein Images: James Nelson

There is a pattern to life and a pattern to nature, but it takes a solid sense of humour to see the pattern in inanimate objects and frame it amongst these more robust concerns.

Looking at James Nelson’s work, it seems to me that repetitions and disruptions, the banal and the sublime, are of equal importance. Quite unimportant, or at least unspecified, are place and time. These are reduced to the supporting conditions that may have allowed stacks of tires to lean symmetrically against each other in the heat, or bras and knickers to be hung at complimentary angles, or flowers in a planter to cast a certain shadow.

These photographs speak of the way things are insistently never-quite-symmetrical and the happenstance beauty this can create. And if that’s not a profound observation, I don’t know what is.

James Nelson

Next story: Music Lessons – Bed Wetting Bad Boys

A Good Route

tristan — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:01:21 +0000

Text & Images: Yimmy Yayo

Two months ago I, along with three young ladies, set out across the western states of the United States. Adventure, enjoyment and SXSW our goals, respectively. I’d always wanted to drive across America. From the earliest I can remember, Route 66 was the one. The glorified path for any traveler wishing to see the ‘real’ United States of America. What I wasn’t prepared for was the ‘real’ USA.

Firstly, Route 66 is a road less travelled, so it would seem. Closer to a myth than a route one would take these days, its option is outweighed by six lane arterial highways that shotgun one from major city to another, literally bypassing the towns of curiosity one would hope to experience on such a trip. We were headed south-east in any case, the 10 our guide, not the 66.

So what’s between LA and Austin? If my experience was anything to go by – gas stations, La Quinta Inns, souvenir stops and roughly one million Carl Jr’s. The trip wasn’t without it’s share of highlights though. In Tucson, we met a toothless truck driver who had just been released from jail after cooking meth for eight years. Unfortunately resembling Sloth from the Goonies and supposedly clean, but still offering us cocaine and heroine should our hearts desire, proceeded to buy shots for us all night. Hiding fireworks under the drivers seat while crossing customs just outside of El Paso. I heard rumour that if you shot a Mexican jumping the border, you could actually be rewarded. I didn’t test this one out, but kept a weathered eye in any case. Once in Texas we hit smaller roads, charismatic towns and witnessed fully grown bulls being strung up and skinned on the side of the road. You know… the usual.

Yimmy Yayo

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Keep On Rollin’

tristan — Sun, 01 May 2011 12:06:32 +0000

Text: Millie Stein Images: Tobias Rowles

Here’s a useful thought from Salvador Dali: “I do not paint a portrait to look like the subject; rather does the person grow to look like his portrait”.

If this is to apply to portraiture of all forms, we might also like to consider what type of representation Tobias Rowles offers for his subjects.

Staring straight out from their monochromatic rectangle, the faces in Rowles’ images are more than direct; they’re positively intense. There are few smiles, but no real frowns either. The directive must have been ‘act natural,’ and it’s interesting to note how many disparate expressions this facilitates. But it’s pleasing to realize that, even when the actual expression looks tough or tired, openness filters through.

Maybe Rowles just knows how to pick his moments. But one gets the sense that his method is less cunning and more magical – closer to that skill, which great photographers have, of finding the tiny part in all of us that wants to be able to let their guard down with a stranger.

Rowles’ photographs invite us to imagine what he might have seen in each person, however fleeting, personal or small. His portraits invite examination – and self-examination for his subjects, no doubt – because they demonstrate to us that the everyday is a fascinating thing. As Rowles’ subjects may grow to identify with their black-and-white selves, so too is his audience afforded insight into what makes each of us distinct and, at the same time, profoundly normal.

Millie Stein: How did you get started in photography?

Tobias Rowles: I first got into photography in high school when I was given a Ricoh point-and-shoot camera. Back then I used it as a way to document my direct experiences. I started to take it seriously at art school. I was trying a few different things out at the time but still remember the day I processed and printed my own film. I remember being really happy with both the end result and the whole image-making process. Ever since then I’ve known that photography was the thing for me.

MS: You mainly seem to shoot portraiture. Can you tell me what appeals to you about this?

TB: Portraiture has always been my main focus. I’ve always been drawn to pictures that tell a story and give an insight into the way people live. As much of my photography is centered on telling a story, portraiture is my way of capturing this. I work to reveal honest portraits of people, some of their intimate relationships and some of the places they inhabit. I’m fascinated with capturing people’s quiet, in-between moments.

MS: Can you tell me a bit about this series of photos in particular?

TB: My current exhibition is a series of black and white portraits of a group of young people in inner city Sydney. It documents their personal style, some of their intimate relationships and the sub-cultures to which they belong. It began as a one-off shoot with my friend, stylist Jesse Hart. We decided to shoot a few people we both knew. Happy with this initial result, I was to keen to shoot a broader, more random group of young individuals and see what it might uncover. Some were people I knew but mostly they were people I had never met. My subjects included best friends, ballers, skateboarders, lovers, siblings. Over time I found out that this seemingly random group were actually connected though many different relationships. I shot everyone over a six-month period against a white wall in a back alley behind my house with a consistent, even light. I wanted to ensure the focus was on the individual/s and nothing else.

MS: Do you find there to be a difference between straight-up documentation and capturing some sort of intimate moment in your pictures?

TB: In past projects my work has been as much about documenting the environment or event as capturing an intimate moment with a subject. This project is a little different as all of my subjects are shot against a white wall and removed from their environment. The pictures are all about the individual and capturing a moment with them. The documentation is really just the final realization of the project as a whole.

MS: Is familiarity with your subject important? Do you find it just as easy to create a sense of intimacy in portraiture with a stranger?

TB: Familiarity with a subject is very important. For this project, the process was much more involved than just asking a stranger for a picture. As I shot the majority of my subjects behind my house, we first shared a coffee and some stories. I was able to give them a clear idea of what I was doing before I picked up the camera.

MS: What appeals to you about photographing those close to you, or those from around where you live?

TB: I’m always keen to photograph people around me whom I feel I have some connection with, or with whom I share common interests and experiences. Through shooting these people, I look to reveal something of my own perspective or interpretation on life in Sydney.

Small World, an exhibition of portraits by Tobias Rowles, runs from 4–30 May at Somedays Gallery.

Opening 4 May, 6-8pm
Somedays Gallery
72B Fitzroy St
Surry Hills
NSW 2010

Tobias Rowles

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Inner City Life

tristan — Sun, 01 May 2011 11:09:50 +0000

Images: Jo Duck with Pageant

Norse Projects – Black and white ‘Risor’ knit jumper
Sunglasses – stylists own

10 Deep – Navy ‘Big 10 Athletic’ t-shirt
Bassike – Navy and white ‘Stripe Crew’
PAM – Navy ‘Hung Out’
New Balance – Navy trainers

Huf – Yellow ‘Woodstock 5 Panel’ hat
Nike – Blue camo windbreaker
Huf – Blue and white ‘Dot Check’ shirt
Pageant – Blue and orange ‘Rock climbing’ necklace

Norse Projects – Black ‘Elka’ raincoat
Alife – White cotton shirt
For The Homies – Black calf skin shorts
Yuketen – Black ‘Skin Stretch Penny’ loafers
Pageant – Black ‘Survival’ necklace
Stylists own – White socks

For The Homies – Orange calf skin bomber jacket
Libertine-Libertine – Golden yellow ‘Hunter’ shirt
PAM – Grey marle ‘Hung Out’

Norse Projects – Black and white ‘Borderline’ knit jumper
Asuza – Black and grey ‘Blocked‘ shirt

Huf – Grey ‘New Era’ suede hat
For The Homies – Silver leather bomber jacket
Norse Projects – White and blue ‘Villads Block’ shirt
Stylists own – Customised black string tank
For The Homies – Black calf skin shorts

Nike Sportswear – Purple ‘AW77’ hoodie
The North Face – Denim blue ‘Stretch Wool ¼ Zip’ skin
Nike Sportswear – Green windbreaker
PAM – Navy ‘Hung Out’

The North Face – Yellow ‘Nuptise’ puffa jacket
ALL knitwear – Multi ‘Coney Box’ knit jumper
Pageant – Purple ‘Garbage Bag’ headpiece

Huf – Blue monogram embroidered shorts
Phuong & Seb’s Belt Co. – Black ‘The Special’ leather belt
H frame backpack customised by Pageant with:
The North Face – Orange ‘Base Camp‘ duffel,
The North Face – Red ‘Base Camp’ canister,
Nike – ‘ACG Airmax’ trainers,
ALL knitwear – Multi ‘Dash Dotter Box’, ‘Cheeto Matrix Box’ and ‘Coney Box’ knit jumpers (rolled up),
Pageant – Black ‘Survival’ necklace

Stylists own – Green knit jumper
Libertine-Libertine – Army ‘Rash’ jacket

Stylists own – Moschino print t-shirt
The North Face – Black ‘Eurus’ pant with elastic straps
Libertine-Libertine – Red ochre ‘Liar’ knit

Photography: Jo Duck
Styling: Kate Reynolds & Amanda Cumming (Pageant)
Stylist Assistant: Ally Wickens
Model: Alfonso @ Scene

Next story: Trans/Tender – Billy Maynard

Trans/Tender

gabe — Sun, 01 May 2011 11:09:21 +0000

Text: Gabriel Knowles Images: Billy Maynard

In the midst of the mud, rain, heat and sex of a Catholic community of transsexual prostitutes in East Timor, Billy Maynard found his greatest friend. The 19-year-old photographer’s depiction of some of the most marginalised people in the troubled city of Dili is a fine example of social realism for someone so young. Gabriel Knowles caught up with Maynard ahead of his debut solo show to find out what drew him to the streets of Timor.

Gabriel Knowles: For most Australians East Timor is generally synonymous with conflict, especially as depicted by our media. When did you decide to go and see things for yourself?

Billy Maynard: A short trip at 16 was when I first went to Timor. I was hungry for a feeling that high school and parties couldn’t give me and it was always in my thoughts. I knew there would be an underground Dili that would satisfy a feeling I couldn’t quite understand or develop further in Australia. Trans/Tender started one evening, in an unexpected way on my third trip to Timor. I was 18.

GK: How did you find your way into an East Timorese community of transsexual prostitutes? Was it a long process to gain enough of their trust that they felt comfortable with you shooting them all the time?

BM: I was very lost in Timor and blue for the first few weeks. I would spend time by myself at night in my car. Other times I’d wander around and it made me feel more alone. I didn’t take pictures for a few weeks. And then one night I saw a group of girls on the street. I approached and they split – except Emmy. She thought I was a client and over the next week she introduced me to Peppe, who became my greatest friend. She showed me how to access and express the feeling I was chasing. After a while they didn’t notice a camera. It was just me.

GK: What was the reasoning behind deciding to shoot strictly at night with black and white film?

BM: Although I had no idea what my subject would be, I knew it had to be shot in black and white. Working at night wasn’t a choice. Peppe lived at night. So I lived at night. I fell in love with a 40 watt bulb, candle light, car beams and lighter flames. It was very unfamiliar. This light gave rooms little pockets of darkness in which you could hide completely if you felt like it. It did make you feel secure.

GK: I understand that you’re very aware of the photographic community at large, both past and present. How has this depth of knowledge informed how you work?

BM: I know little about photographic history, but it’s great being shown new photographers. In photography my influences would be Koudelka and Eugene Smith. They mastered being human through art and image.

But really I’m more influenced by music than anything. I get played someone new and it excites me. The Stooges are a band that make me wanna go out and shoot. Especially listening to Dirt and Night. I just got introduced to Townes Van Zandt. It’s so nice to hear him sing about his troubles. Makes me want to do more.

GK: Are you planning to embed yourself somewhere else anytime soon?

BM: There are things that interest me and feed this feeling I have. Like God, guilt, sex, confession, fear and the borders of morality. I don’t have a location in mind although Latin America has been in my brain.

For me the beauty lies in young people. Really, I just want to keep finding this awkward love in unlikely places.

Trans/Tender opens Friday May 20, 2011 at Damien Minton Annex Gallery. 583 Elizabeth St, Redfern. 6pm-8pm. Show continues until May 28, 2011.

Next story: Cosmic Maestro – Danielle Baldelli

Shoot First

gabe — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 12:41:14 +0000

Text: Jill Greig Images: Mr Blanc

At an age when most kids were preoccupied with puberty and teenage angst, Cory White was shooting his peers in beautiful fibre-based prints, captured on a Yashica SLR (a gift from his Dad) and brought to life in his home darkroom.

“I first started taking reportage style photographs in high school. I was super young, probably twelve, just running around school events taking snaps. It soon turned into a passion and I was in our darkroom at home being taught by my dad how to roll film onto a 35mm spool in the dark.”

“I remember the day Mum and Dad bought me my first serious camera – a pre-loved Nikon FE2, 35mm SLR with a 50mm lens. That exact camera lives in my glove box to this day.”

It’s not the only thing that’s stayed with him. Fast forward several years and as a self-proclaimed ‘tradesman of the lens,’ White has clocked up an impressive folio of commercial work for a range of big name clients. But in spite of this mainstream success, White’s true passion lies in the spaces in-between – creating series of portraits for his Selby-esque profiling site, Mr Blanc.

“Fashion evades the truth, advertising distorts truth, so that really leaves portraits to tell the truth.”

“I realised I had an amazing network of friends doing great stuff and decided I’d document it.”

“The images are really personal. I kind of just shadow people while they do what they do. Some like it more than others.”

But reluctance doesn’t show in his subjects, which have, to date, included creative Melburnians like Johnny McKay (Children Collide), and Anneliese Tesselaar (Tesla).

In the future, White hopes to cast his net wider, taking his portraits interstate and even overseas to pursue subjects on his Mr Blanc ‘wish list’.

“I have goals to feature a whole bunch of people who I respect a lot. But the top subject I’d like to hit up now would have to be Sir David Attenborough or (South Australian culinary queen) Maggie Beer. Both are incredibly inspirational, heart-warming, passionate souls. I love them.”

Next story: Polo Opposites – Tom Polo