Perth Street Art

The street art scene in Perth has increased quite a bit. The local government has commissioned international artists to work all over the city. I usually dont like taking photos of other people’s work, so I try to take it in my own point of view. Sadly I do not know who the artists are and thus cannot give them credit. If you recognize any of the artist work please let me know. The films I used are Agfa Precisa CT, Kodak Ultramax 400 and Agfa Vista 400 & 200. All taken with the little Canonet QL17 GIII.

Fade

I have began exploring film as a creative medium rather than just something to capture a moment while out and about. Seeing Rebecca Norris Webb and Ralph Eugene Meatyard work has opened up a whole other realm of photographic possibilities.

All the shots are from the same roll of Kodak Ultramax 400. The last shot is the first time I have tried using film for long exposure work. I used an app as a lightmeter which thankfully worked out. I love how film creates  such unpredictable colours and effects.

 

 

Shadow Study

A bit of my photographic study. Shooting street can get abit dry so I try to do some compositional study when I can.

A shadow cast on the public toilets at King’s Park observed during lunch break. Taken at different angles.

Inclusion of post as foreground, diagonal lines and subject on the corner frame. Dark top corners.

Shadow selfie. Front shot. Subjects at corner frame.

Omission of post. Subject in the corner frame.

I think I will revisit this place to try lower/highler angles. Hopefully further exercises will help me “unsee” the obvious everyday familiar frame.

Humour

Funny things recently encountered on the street. Giant

Dog lover

 

Happy Weekend 🙂

 

 

Homely

Beginning of a long term project based around the idea of the home.

Who knows I may even shoot yours if you let me 😉

 

 

 

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Canonet Ql17 GIII
Ilford HP4 Plus

Philippines, 2013

Amazing how many dogs run around the streets in the Philippines. Alot more than I remember when I was growing up there.

Saturated

I now have a number of rolls that have been developed and not seeing them for such a long time makes it easier to be objective about the image. The result is that I like very little of them from the roll.

I have been thinking for awhile about culling the amount of photos I have shared on the web, and perhaps posting one or two in a month from then on. Image sharing feels like a race for me these days.  Shooting something, then posting. The value of the image lost in a sea of photographs. Bombarded by so much quantity, quality gets affected.

Printing is something I have also been thinking about doing lately. Selecting a few images that I consider to be acceptable and physically interacting with it. A way to slow down the pace. Halting it together. Time use to stop when I shot. Now it races.  I have lost control and need to regain sanity and start enjoying photography once again. To start shooting for me, to say something from the inside rather than from those I idolize or creating an image for others. I would like to thank my dear friend Vasillis for the clarity and dialogue on these issues.

 

 

Roll 14: Lucky Super 200

Large Mother Mary Statue.. Bad toilet facility

Whilst in Tagaytay we visited a large mother mary statue. It was 4-5 storeys high, a pretty awesome sight. Inside there is a small shrine where people can pray and offer donations. Just stay away from the toilet. They ask for 10pesos for maintenance, which I find ironic as it is a blatant lie. The toilet’s condition is horrendous, there is no light, terribly dirty and smells like you know what.

The development academy of the Philippines is just opposite the large statue.  Just a bit of striding street photography  🙂

Bee Farm

We also visited a beautiful bee farm. They sold lots of bee products, from shampoos to vinegar. It was quite a bumpy ride to get there but what was most interesting  was that it was  two way, one lane road! Luckily we did not encounter anyone half way otherwise it would have been a funny game of chicken.

Bee Houses amongst the greenery.

Bee Homes with chickens 🙂

Employees sorting out the bee products. They spoke a different dialect which I am not familiar with.

Roll 14: Lucky Super 200

People’s Park in the Sky

One of the most interesting places I have visited it while staying in the Philippines. Travel time was more than 5 hours courtesy of the insane traffic in Manila and bad road conditions from the strong typhoon that hit the country 2 weeks earlier. The park is located in Tagaytay, a place that looks cleaner than most places in the Philippines, has considerably less people and noticeably cleaner air, the park is a gold mine for photography. There are lots of texture and urban decay, a great location for a photoshoot.

Light Leakage

A once spiral staircase

Textures

Textured and green corridor

The only photoshoot I took of my cousin

More textures

Text… ures

Did I mention Textures

Chapel

Overlooking Tagaytay. The letters are now incomplete

Ruins

Daliesque

Closer

Even Closer

Tree like

Built under the Marcos regime, the park is massive and is located on the highest point of the City, visitors are able to view Taal Volcano in the distance. It is eccentric to say the least, with Greek style columns, an amphitheater, a statue of David, and a large statue of Jesus. I can only imagine how beautiful and grand it must have been when it was in its prime. I wish it was looked after more. As corrupt as Marcos was during his reign, I must say he contributed a lot in the vision and architecture of the country. But he will always be overshadowed by shoes.

Roll 11: Lucky Super 200

I got my test roll developed at the only place processing film out of the whole region. Sadly film enthusiast are reducing here too. It was no surprise that most of the exposures were damaged, probably from the non use of the machine. Luckily this was my test roll. The images were about over exposed even with the meter. I am not sure if the camera was the reason for this or the processing itself. As always lightroom saves the day 🙂 Brought out the contrast and decreased the highlights.

The Philippines has so much texture in their materials and life so I thought I’d shoot them for this test.

Character in textures and materials.

Peeling paints are always a winner.

Old school filipino slide with an interesting curve.

A street image of course. The black rip and dots are on most of the exposures.  Wont be getting my film processed there anytime soon.

White Steel door and some circular marks on the concrete wall.