“it’s not very difficult, for many people, to witness the destruction of household objects such as crockery. But to see the destruction of personal mementoes, letters, photographs, works of art – that is deeply disturbing.”

RAMBLINGS

I been handed the baton of my own personal history. My whole life has been documented (mostly by my dad) — who am I to give up now, not everyone is given this gift. I have the resources, skills, knowledge, support and inclination to preserve life (preferably on paper) — my efforts are always appreciated, even by family and friends who are not driven to the same extremes...

For me, and for most of its existence, photography has been about preserving something fleeting — light as it is at a moment in time... Would we find William Henry Fox Talbot turning in his grave if he knew the abandons with which we now scatter our captured rays?

I admit, I too am careless with the shots I take, one hit wonders designed to service my immediate purpose, be it communication (with those distant in being but brought close by technology) or notation (despite the numerous writing instruments I carry with me at all times). I am trying to be more conservative and mindful (pardon the self-help buzzword) of the photographs I make. At one time every frame was made at great expense, today the cost for most people is negligible — we don’t need to wait until relatives die so they can sit still enough for t...

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"Such is the fact, that we may receive on paper the fleeting shadow, arrest it there, and in the space of a single minute fix it there so firmly as to be no more capable of change, even if thrown back into the sunbeam from which it derived its origin."

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."

"Of all these things they wanted a permanent record; they wanted to stop the fleeing events of the moment, and treasure them as long as they lived, and hand them down for the advantage and pleasure of those who came after them."

“Photography could reach eternity though the moment.”

"You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again."

"But in the domain of photography the amount of 'horse-power running to waste' is appalling – and all for lack of a little system and co-ordination. Shall this be allowed to continue? Shall the product of countless cameras be in the future, as in the past (and in large measure today), a mass of comparative lumber, losing its interest even for its owners, and of no public usefulness whatever? This is a question of urgency. Every year of inaction means an increase of this wastage."

"The most transitory of things, a shadow, the proverbial emblem of all that is fleeting and momentary, may be fettered by the spells of our 'natural magic,' and may be fixed for ever in the position which it seemed only destined for a single instant to occupy..."

THE ART OF PHOTOGENIC DRAWING

Read Henry Fox Talbot's 1839 account of The Art of Photogenic Drawing.

SNAPSHOT – 8.4.2018

Barrier – an obstacle or circumstance that prevents or threatens future access to photographs.

Alleviation – a process or action that reduces a barrier to keeping photographs for posterity.

SNAPSHOT – 21.3.2018

Barriers

Volume Excess Surfeit Abundance

Fragility

Alleviations

Curation

Durability Antrifragility Permanence Fixity

“I see a lot of beauty in the broken.”

“A photograph is flat, it has edges, and it is static; it doesn’t move. While it is flat, it is not a true plane. The print has a physical dimension.”

"Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn’t show up invited, eventually she just shows up."

THE DICTIONARY OF LIGHT & SHADE

Context: Most publications I've made have been bound by someone, or something, else. Sewn binding is something I would like to incorporate in future publications – fancier than staples, more natural than glue.

Aim: To test an unfamiliar, hand sewn bookbinding technique.

Method: Deciding to use a list of words I had already compiled, I consulted a 1978 edition of The Thames and Hudson Manual of Bookbinding, looking for a section sewn method — I settled on French sewing, also known as “sewing without tapes, the sections are linked together by passing thread under the loop of the preceding section.”

I used a bone folder to fold eight pieces of card in half, which would yield thirty-two pages to work with. The page count could easily be increased if each piece of card was substituted for four pieces of paper, or more than eight sections added.

After folding, I clamped the pages, folded edges together, and marked with a pencil (my current favourite tool) where the holes should be. While I could have used a four hole configuration (on such a small book), I thought six holes would be more aestheti...

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“For over one hundred years artists have made books of a handmade bespoke nature. An awareness of the depth of creativity, innovation and expression that these artists’ bookmakers have accomplished offers the photographer an opportunity to break free of the pervading paradigm and transform their self-published products. Through an understanding of these freedoms and their application the photographer can exceed the basic creative form that pervades the discipline today.”

SNAPSHOT – 20.3.2018

Background: As a photography student in the first decade of the 21st century, I was taught to revere both the qualities of the printed photograph and the ephemeral nature of digital files.

Context: Until recently, the goal of photography has been to fix shadows upon a surface for future viewing. Today, photographs often remain in a state of flux, and we are overwhelmed by their abundance, without really understanding their nature. Whilst institutions employ experts to take responsibility for collecting and preserving collective photographic history, individuals are frequently adopting new photographic practices, even before considering the implications for future generations. If photographs are to be available in the future, then individuals must take responsibility for maintaining their own photographic archives.

Question: How could we alleviate barriers to keeping photographs for posterity?

Objectives: To identify barriers we currently face in keeping photographs for posterity, to propose approaches for alleviating these barriers, and to produce a collection of photo-media based artworks, suitable for exhibition, that creatively respond to the research question.

Methodology: There is no longer a clear...

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MELBOURNE ART BOOK FAIR

Under a stained glass roof, creative booklovers unite for the annual Melbourne Art Book Fair, hosted by the National Gallery of Victoria.

At an art book fair, anything goes. There are no rules about what is or isn't an art book — it's an inclusive community, with a niche for everyone (even me). I shared a table with my friend and fellow photographer, Sarah Abad (we share an affinity for tangible photographic vessels).

5 Press (always one of my favourite tables) is a collective of Melbourne-based print makers, including August Carpenter whose monochrome monoprints and hand-bound books posess the gravitas of unique and fragile objects echoing the landscapes they represent (watch this space for a possible collaboration).

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“Photography does not create eternity... it embalms time, rescuing it simply from its proper corruption.”

THE PRINT

When thinking of a tangible photographic vessel, first and foremost the print comes to mind. On most occasions, a print is made up of paper, plus ink or chemicals, which divulge the tones of the image.

The photographic print exists in many forms. The print can be classified as a fine art object, read and commoditised along paintings, sculptures, and more, in an art gallery. The print is innately an historical and cultural artefact, preserving a moment in time on its surface, sometimes created by someone with forethought and sense of archival preservation. The print is taken as authority in the identification of someone on documents such as passports and drivers licences. The physical print is always a tactile, sensory object, it can be owned, given, bought or sold, it can be lost, damaged, or deteriorate over time, and it can also be wholly destroyed. The print is a photograph, a finished image, beyond a negative or digital file, affixed to a surface for future viewing, to reach this process it has often survived rounds of curation and elimination, before being deemed worthy of printing. Printed photographs have traditional...

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“there is simply no equivalent of the permanently archived, physically unique photographic negative. Image files are ephemeral, can be copied and transmitted virtually instantly and cannot be examined (as photographic negatives can) for physical evidence of tampering. The only difference between an original file and a copy is the tag recording time and date of creation – and that can easily be changed. Image files therefore leave no trail, and it is often impossible to establish with certainty the provenance of a digital image.”

TANGIBLE/INTANGIBLE

Some photographs are tangible – you can touch them, perhaps even hear or smell them, taste them if you really want to, visible with nothing more than a naked eye.

Others are intangible – you can't hold them, and they are only visible whilst being viewed on a screen, decoded by software, reliant on hardware, powered by electricity.

“The material things that accompany us on our journeys through the decades will often outlive us, and they are where we keep the stories we will pass down... a lot of the paper photographs will endure both in museums and in private hands. Indeed they may become more valued as they are recognised to be old, fragile, and rare, but we may forget how to look at them as they were once looked at.”

THIS IS PHOTOGRAPHY

The distinction between analogue and digital photography has faded. While the processes remain distinctly different, we live in a hybrid world. Film is scanned and Instagrammed. Pixels are printed – I can even use my phone to expose instant (Polaroid) photographs.

As I look holistically at photographic practices, the words analogue and digital have become somewhat redundant distinctions. It doesn't matter how a photograph was made, just that it was made.

"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

PHOTOBOOK NZ

I recently flew across the sea, with a suitcase full of books, to Photobook NZ, a festival that connects New Zealand's photobook community with the world. Held in Wellington at the Museum of New Zealand: Te Papa Tongarewa and the College of Creative Arts at Massey University, the second biennial festival welcomed high calibre international guests from around the world.

Throughout the lectures I was fortunate enough to attend, the act of returning again and again to a place, and the weaving of poetic words with photographs reverberated. I sadly missed Carolle Bénitah’s talk, who’s work literally strings together photographs, using “beads, coloured threads and scissors to alter her family photographs and albums to explore the memories of her childhood, and as a way to help her underst...

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“How could you communicate with the future? It was of its nature impossible.”

SNAPSHOT – 8.3.2018

What barriers exist to keeping photographs for posterity?

How can these barriers be alleviated?

THE FAMILY TREE

Do you have photographs of your parents? Of your grandparents? What about your great-grandparents, or great-great-grandparents? How many of your ancestors left photographs of themselves behind for you to see?

Mother? Yes.

Father? Yes.

Maternal Grandmother? Yes.

Maternal Grandfather? Yes.

Paternal Grandmother? Yes.

Paternal Grandfather? Yes.

Maternal Grandmother's Parents? Yes, both.

Maternal Grandfather's Parents? Mother only, aka Grandma Bessie.

Paternal Grandmother's Parents? Yes, I think.

Paternal Grandfather's Parents? Probably.

Great-great-grandparents? Let me have a Google and get back to you!