Photo Review September - November 2015

In the summer of 1861, a 32-year-old Carlton Watkins set up his 18x22-inch format glass plate camera in California’s Yosemite Valley. The series of 30 massive and intricately detailed images he created subsequently found their way to Washington DC, where they are said to have influenced not only the members of Congress, but President Abraham Lincoln to declare in 1864 that Yosemite Valley was ‘inviolable’. Not long after that, thanks in no small part to the work of landscape photographers like Watkins, the American national park system itself was established. Of course photography has played a similar role in Australia too. The late Peter Dombrovskis image ‘Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend, Franklin River’ is among the most significant and powerful conservation photographs captured in this country. To this day when…

We challenged photographers to come up with images that conveyed coziness – and we discovered that for many, the companionship of a pet, particularly a dog, is the very essence of that warm and fuzzy concept. Our winner John Tarlinton’s picture melted the hearts of the judging panel and the story behind the image, made it all the more compelling. Andy Parkee, like John, is a frequent contributor and this time around he came very close to the win with his warm and snuggly picture of son Liam and Rocco the dog. Royce Holliday went to considerable effort to evoke the soothing warmth of a hot drink on a cold day. Also making the honourable mention rollcall were Susan Shanta for her feline composition and Miradija McNicol for a high…

A spot of colour Your challenge is to find a composition in which a small spot of colour stands out from the overall scene. And the smaller your eye-catching colourful element is relative to the overall image, the better. Don’t be afraid to explore your sense of the abstract either. It isn’t essential that the spot of colour be an identifiable object, it could just be a splash of paint on your garage floor or a single luminous window glowing in an otherwise darkened building. As always, we have a particular fondness for leaps of photographic imagination; so by all means, take that obvious shot of a single flower in a grassy paddock, and then, turn around and look for something that most people wouldn’t even notice… Please review the…

The Age of the Interweb has thrown down a new set of challenges for photographers. Even the most amateur of amateur photographers who posts images online can reel off a story about how one of their photos found a way to some strange and exotic corner of the world, without permission, all thanks to the ease with which the internet enables theft. The most recent incident to grab the attention of mainstream media around the world wasn’t a clear-cut case of copyright infringement. In fact, no one had their copyright infringed – just micro-managed. It began after British freelance event photographer, Jason Seldon, called out pop star Taylor Swift and her management for issuing a ‘rights-grabbing’ contract – apparently the norm for big touring acts. Swift to criticise Ironically, Swift…

In 1981, while studying zoology at Monash University, Doug Gimesy bought his first serious camera, an Olympus OM-1. He’d long nurtured hopes of one day becoming a National Geographic photographer, so when friend and ethnomusicologist Manolete Mora invited him to come along on a research trip as the zoologist, he leapt at the chance. ‘Manolete was going to the Philippines to study the music of the T’Boli tribespeople in the hills of Mindanao and he wanted a zoologist there to classify the animals, because a lot of their music was based on the sounds and the rhythms the animals made. I said, “well look, I’ll come and do that, but I’ll also do the photos for you”.’ Although several of the pictures he took did end up being used by…

At 1841 metres, Busselton Jetty, in southern Western Australia, is the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere. Construction began in 1865 and it was extended many times due to drifting sands, and to allow larger ships to moor. The jetty is now solely a tourist attraction, but what’s above the water is only part of the story. Underwater, around its thousands of pylons, nature has claimed it as a reef. The reef’s flora and fauna is well known to divers. Now, with Broome-based photographer and filmmaker Peter Strain’s exhibition In An Octopuses Garden, appreciation of its extravagant, barely macroscopic beauty has been taken to another level. By working at extreme technical limits, Strain has been able to give us glimpses of what sea creatures see in their watery world…