You know how it is.

You go out and buy yourself a new car, say for example, a red Mitsubishi Lancer. For the next week or two, as you drive around town, you never cease to be amazed at how many other drivers have exhibited the same good taste as yourself. Everywhere you look, it seems the roads are packed with other drivers, all driving red Mitsubishi Lancers. Then they slip into your blind spot, and you stop noticing them. About the same time as your obsession with your new car fades …

I’ve been having a similar experience with film. It may be because I been shooting a bit of it lately; it may be because I have finally got my hands on a good-quality film scanner and am having to relearn all that scanning stuff again; it may be because I’ve been hanging around Doc far too much lately and taking what he says seriously, or (heaven forbid) it may be because the medium is starting to grow up.

I can remember the early days of digital and the myths perpetuated by people who should have known better. I can remember going to a Kodak-sponsored seminar around 1992, where the suits from Kodak promised us all there wouldn’t be any film left on the market by 1996. On the other hand, I can remember being told that digital photography would never replace film (usually the people who said this had a distinctly plaintive tone in their voice). I can remember being told that  real (read: film) photography would remain mainstream forever. But I had my doubts. (more…)

As many of you know, I snuck back into New Zealand the Saturday before last, not long after sunrise, curiously about the same time of day as when I left. If I appear to have lain low since then, that’s may well have something to do with getting back in the teaching saddle last Monday. I’ve taught more or less continuously since then. Now, with a small hiatus before we leave for Wedderburn on Friday morning, I’ve had a little time to think about the pictures I made in Africa.

When I went, it was with no particular concept in mind, an unusual state of being for me, given that I have tended to work in blocks or in bodies of work for the last 20 years or so. Those of you close to me will know that I didn’t actually go for the photography, but for more personal reasons. I went to find out other things, and to sum up, I got those things in  spades! This however, is not the place to talk about those things. Perhaps another time, perhaps another place …

I did take my cameras with me, although I trimmed the outfit down to 2 camera bodies and three lenses. I didn’t go to photograph the wild animals; I’ve tried that before, with very average success. While this may appear heretical, I don’t really think I’m that interested myself in making a masterly photograph of one of the big five. Frankly, I would much rather watch a giraffe loping across the veld then ruin the experience by indulging my ego and attempting to make-the a great photograph of it. I would much rather stand in the predawn darkness of the Tankwa Karoo, listening to the nervous shuffle of Springbok around the house, and the sound of black-backed jackals chatting away somewhere out in the night. Anyway, as a wise man once said: the trick is not knowing when to make the photograph, the trick is knowing when not to make the photograph. When it comes to wild animals, I suspect not is a better place for me to be. I have the same feeling about photographing fungi. (more…)

Kia ora tatou:

1. This will be my last post from Africa. I leave tomorrow afternoon and begin the journey back home via Perth. I should be back next Saturday (NZST).I am looking forward to catching up with fiends, then beginning a whirlwind round of workshops through to September. The WinterLight workshop is full, with only one place left. i am informed the hoar frost is looking good….
2. Check out this link, which explains the 78 Rules of Photography for Complete Idiots. I particularly like Rule 7. I knew I had something right…PvdW, you should check it out…
3. Luminous Landscape has an interesting article on Helicon Focus, software for focus stitching. Focus what? Read the article…
4. Still one of my favourite sites for any photographer who thinks about the direction of their photography. Zone Zero has thoughtful articles  and amazing work.be warned: this site can suck Time…

Ka kite ano.

Imagine, if you will, a place so vast , so wide open, that the stars stretch down to the horizon.

Imagine, if you will, a place where the silence is so deep, so profound, where absolutely nothing disturbs the stillness, that you can eat your heart beating, and every intake of breath rubs harsh and sibilant against the velvet smoothness of the night.

Imagine, if you will, a place where the peace is so profound that you can hear the background hum of the universe.

Such is the Tankwa Karoo.

I had heard about the vastness of the Tankwa Karoo, an area five hours drive north of Cape Town, an area around 200 km long x 100 km wide. I had heard that this was a place where there was almost nothing, where the hills protruded from the land almost like afterthoughts. I had heard this was a place where you can see out to the horizon, where you can see forever. Living in New Zealand, where the landscape changes every few kilometres, with a climate varies so greatly and so frequently, I found that difficult to imagine, but I was keen to find out.

And so it transpired. (more…)