Something beautiful
My photography exhibition Upturned Discarded Televisions showed continually for 3 weeks as both a 7 minute video and printed 12 metre photographic panorama. The media release I sent out attracted very little interest, however Adelaide commentator Peter Goers invited me to discuss the exhibition on ABC radio which was fun. It felt good to have a little arty show again, and put closure on this earth shattering body of work.
Discussing my career and discarded televisions with Peter Goers on ABC Radio 891.
Upturned Discarded Televisions on display at Miss Gladys Sym Choon, Adelaide, Australia.
Over a couple of days two jobs came in that had me all excited again and packing my bags. Satellite Boy is the feature film debut of writer and director Catriona MacKenzie, the script was lovely. On short notice I flew up to Western Australia’s remote and incredibly beautiful Kimberley region for one week. A hard working Aussie film crew, with many old friends, was buckling in for what was expected to be an intense shoot; 6 weeks of extreme weather, a tight budget with the minimal comforts of home. We were all accommodated in tents at a caravan park in Wyndam, that also boasted a 2000 year old Boab tree down the back that was breathtaking.
Master cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson was capturing stunning pictures on the new Arri Alexa camera and it was a pleasure to breathe in the dust and smoke with this lovely man. I was in my element with a stunning landscape as my background, fantastic indigenous actors to photograph, and even a bunch of kids to play hacky sack with at lunch. Satellite Boy was a great project to be involved with and a fun adventure, for me this is the film making experience at its best.
It was straight from the extremes of Australia’s far north to the very comfortable Sydney Opera House for 2 days of physical theatre photography. I formed a connection with the DV8 troupe, and their director Lloyd Newson, during the 2008 Adelaide Festival. The London based company had me photograph their show To Be Straight with You. DV8′s latest work Can We Talk About This? was preparing for its world premiere in Sydney, and they invited me along. It was exciting to spend time with this amazing group of performers as they undertook the final rehearsals of another mesmerizing and confronting work ahead of its world tour.
My brothers film The Hunter has enjoyed a perfect run up to its release in Australia on October 6th. The world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival ignited a frenzy of sales to US and European distributers. Willem Defoe’s commitment and support of the film has always been more than generous, which he continued by returning to Australia to do a hectic media junket with my big brother that attracted enormous interest. Short featurettes using my behind the scenes footage have been appearing on-line, and an exhibition of my stills was displayed at the Australian premiere, which I was able to attended in Sydney. I am so excited for my big brother Dan on what should be an exciting and well deserved ride with this beautiful film that I loved.
My tax records confirmed that 2011/12 had been my worst financial year for a decade, my roller coaster photography career yet to settle into something consistent even after specialising and building it for over a decade. What keeps me plugging away at the film stills game, rather than specialising in dog photography for example, is there is always a possibility that you will become part of creating something beautiful that people will see and remember, that is well paid and shot on a tropical island.