Archive for the ‘Place-Projects’ Category
LAUNCH: WOTWEDO.COM – the Cooper+Spowart workshops
For over 30 years Doug Spowart and 20 years for Victoria Cooper, have participated in training for creatives including artists and photographers. The pair has lectured in art and photography at TAFE colleges, universities, workshops, conferences and seminars for students, amateurs and professionals alike. Now, during April, May and June, through WOTWEDO.COM @ Brisbane’s Foto Frenzy, they offer a range of specialised & bespoke training and consultation services.
Both Doug and Victoria are Masters of Photography and Honourary Fellows of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP). Throughout most of the 1990s Doug was the Chairperson of the AIPP Professional Photography Awards. In the mid 2000s both Vicky and Doug were involved as AIPP representatives in writing national photography TAFE level curriculum for Certificate and Diploma of Photography programs. In the last 10 years Victoria and Doug have engaged in part-time university study in photography and the world of artists books and art.
in 2013 Doug and Victoria are taking a sabbatical from TAFE teaching to pursue post-doctoral research and to re-engage with their arts practice. These workshops are part of their ‘Leap of Faith’ initiative that was introduced in their earlier blog post.
Do review their WOTWEDO workshop program and see WOT-THEY-CAN-DO for YOU!
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THE WORKSHOPS
SERIES 1: TINKERING WITH PHOTOGRAPHY
Is your photography becoming formulaic (predictable) and more about digital technology and post-production than about the hands-on experience of taking photographs? Do you want to investigate possibilities of making a personal style beyond Instagram, Lomography and Hipstamatic filters?
This series is crammed full of projects and ideas that will present you with challenges, weird stuff, things you’ve heard about but never had the chance to try, and things that require a rush of the creative thought juices. Use this workshop to reconnect with your love of photography.
Dates (Tentative) 6 Sessions: Monday, April 15, 22, 29 and May 6, 13 & 20, 2013.
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SERIES 2: LOOKING GOOD IN PRINT–PHOTOBOOKS
By now everyone has made a photobook and in many ways current technology makes it easy to make one. But a photobook can be so much more – it can be a hand-made artwork or a super-slick prestige trade styled publication.
The Looking Good in Print: Photobook introductory session and workshop series will connect participants with concepts and techniques on how to personalize and create photo-stories in the form of the bespoke self-published photobook.
The range of options for making photobooks will be discussed and samples of hand-made, inkjet printed and hand-bound artists’ books, print-on-demand books will be available for viewing.
Dates (Tentative) 5 Sessions: Wednesday, April 10, 24, and May 1, 8 & 15, 2013.
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SERIES 3: INTEGRATED SOCIAL MEDIA
When you Google yourself, or your business, what kind of response do you get? Is your online presence a bit thin or based on content from Facebook, a website maybe, and a few social mentions?
This introductory session and workshop series is designed to help you to start developing an integrated online presence. It will illustrate how an integrated approach to using platforms like Linkedin, WordPress Blogs, YouTube and Behance Folios can create a ‘wall’ of search engine locatable, quality references and social media mentions as to who you are and what you do.
Dates (Tentative) 5 Sessions: Tuesday, May 21, 28, and June 4, 11 & 25, 2013.
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MORE INFORMATION & BOOKINGS
VISIT <www.wotwedo.com> for further details and bookings or contact Doug and Victoria by email info@cooperandspowart.com.au
Bookings through:
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
GIRRAWEEN National Park in the rain
Or: When the Bureau of Meteorology says it ‘might’ rain it probably will!!
Girraween in the rain – Rear view from the Tarago
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Bald Rock Creek in minor flood the next morning
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Camping in the rain at Girraween
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We shouldn’t have – but – we did . . .
We were celebrating our sabbatical
Girraween our place for such rituals
So we put the tent up, set up the camp and fire
And settled in for a quiet night in the bush.
A couple of raindrops signaled what was to come.
As it gradually increased to a steady drizzle
We retreated to the car.
Our Tarago has sheltered and transported us for over 550,000kms
Through droughted landscapes of searing heat and bull dust
In driving rain and along flooded roadsides
Across vast and lonely country roads
The car is our inspiration, our ‘think-tank’ even our camera.
It has dodged kangaroos by travelling at snails pace
Avoided destination fixated drivers and their death defying maneuvers
Now again we are avoiding the soaking rain in the warm and comfort of this legendary vehicle
From the car we planned and prepared our evening meal
Doug tends the fire in the rain in preparation for the cooking of a roast chicken dinner in a Bedourie Oven
Vicky prepares the spuds and leeks at the rear of the Tarago
Adding the spuds and leeks to the chicken in the Bedourie Oven – Yep! It’s raining…
Doug started the fire in the rain
A job he has done more than once
And we put our chicken in the Bedourie oven to slowly roast
Added leeks and potatoes a little later
We watched the fire cook from the car
The rain still steadily increasing
Watching the cooking from the driest space – the Tarago
A camper’s roast dinner prepared and eaten in the Tarago
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Finally our dinner was ready
A bottle of celebratory Brown Brothers Patricia
In our dry and warm car
Life is pretty good …
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We’re excited, a toast (Brown Brothers Bubbly) to the roast dinner – cooked in the rain ….
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Words: Victoria Cooper ….≥≥………Images: Doug Spowart
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WEIRD SILENCE in Toowoomba: TC Oswald aftermath
MONDAY JANUARY 28 2013, an eerie silence has fallen over Toowoomba. The howling wind, driving rain and the bumping of things on the roof and around the place has gone after being ever present for three days. I strain to hear something—ah! There’s a birdcall or two (have not heard them for days), a car drives down the street … and then there’s nothing again.
The s-s-plash emptying the rain gauge is a very benign sound, and then I realise what the difference is … there is none of the constant noise of the B-Double trucks, the 8,000 of them that grind through Toowoomba every day. Every highway in-or-out of town is closed.
I hear more birds and sun is coming out—there is something of a Toowoomba experience of the past, a kind of déjà vu, perhaps even nostalgia for a time before trucks took over this town.
From Doug
UPDATE: January 29 – the ‘noise’ has started again…
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Truck noise PHOTO: Victoria Cooper
OSWALD AFTERMATH: TOOWOOMBA – January 2013
Emptying the rain gauge for the third time since Friday – Another 120mm – I didn’t empty it on Sunday as the outside weather conditions were too nasty.
Tipping out the rain guage again PHOTO: Doug Spowart
We went out just now after being cooped up by the weather. Lots of bits of trees, occasional branches, eroded footpaths and water running everywhere. East Creek at the bottom of our street is fairly tame and seems to have contained itself throughout the deluge—nothing like January 10, 2011. (SEE the image below)
2011 FLOOD – Burns St Toowoomba PHOTO: Doug Spowart
Our thoughts are with friends, acquaintances and people who we don’t know at this time who are experiencing significant hardship as a result of ex-cyclone Oswald.
Drains East Creek near Margaret St, Toowoomba Photo: Doug Spowart
East Creek Toowoomba near Queens Park Photo: Doug Spowart
East Creek whirlpool near Herries St Toowoomba Photo: Doug Spowart
East Creek along Kitchener St Toowoomba Photo: Doug Spowart
Fallen tree Margaret Street residence PHOTO: Doug Spowart
Tethered pot plants in the garage to stop them blowing away PHOTO: Doug Spowart
More stories Toowoomba Chronicle – Click HERE
Stay Safe ….
Doug + Vicky
FAST FOODS LEAVE BAD TASTE IN TOOWOOMBA
When a community challenges its elected representatives
On January 11th we attended a public meeting to join the protest against a Toowoomba Range development that would change the nature of a highly visible part of our town and diminish liveability values of an area close to where we live—the background of the protest and personal reflections on the meeting follow…
St Lukes Church – Toowoomba Range Public Meeting ………Photo: Doug Spowart
At a special meeting of the Toowoomba Regional Council on December 21st approval was given to a major commercial development at the ‘Top of the Range’—the main road transport entry to Toowoomba. The development, it is claimed, is required to service the needs of the local community with a McDonalds, a KFC and a convenience store that will operate 24 hours per day. The development is conditional on the installation of traffic lights, by the developer, at the intersection of the Warrego Highway (Cohoe Street) and Herries Streets.
It is claimed that responses provided by the community against the development in the pre-approval stage were not adequately considered in the Council’s decision.
Concerned residents called the protest meeting at St Luke’s Church because the development was given the go ahead despite their objections and those from other stakeholders. As the area is currently mainly residential with adjoining motels and a service station their objections included the 24 hour presence of:
- safety issues of the proximity of the traffic lights at the crest of the Range creating mayhem for trucks and busses—gearboxes, clutches, mechanical and loading problems that may require breakdown vehicles and Range holdup and delays;
- traffic/car park noise;
- overnight carpark lighting; and
- cooking odours permeating the local environment.
‘I have a question’ … .. Photo: Doug Spowart
The meeting was chaired by East Toowoomba resident Kate Powell and those addressing the meeting included State Government members Trevor Watts & John McVeigh, TWU state secretary Peter Biagini and councillor Mike Williams. Questions and comments from the floor were clapped, hissed and booed depending on the feelings of those in attendance. Councillor Mike Williams was indeed a brave man to attend such a meeting however his answers provided understanding of council process and procedures—he refrained from answering questions relating to the specific council decision to approve the development. He did comment that he had voted against the development in the December Council meeting.
The Second Toowoomba Range crossing was a side issue, but one which stirred the crowd. They were advised that authorities felt that the current crossing would be satisfactory for traffic densities of up to 23,000 vehicles daily and that was expected to be by the year 2020—BUT that number of vehicles is using the crossing every day NOW! And … 25% of those vehicles are heavy transport.
Traffic jam after truck breakdown, 10-01-2013 – Toowoomba Range ………Photo: Victoria Cooper
Members of the audience voiced their emotional outcries as well:
- ‘What an ugly entry this will provide to the our Garden City’;
- ‘What have you done to my beautiful city’; and
- ‘How can you approve another ‘fast food’ outlet in this town … there are already 7 in Toowoomba?’
It was agreed that the Council’s decision would be challenged by the appeal process and to achieve that a committee of nine members were selected from the floor. One attendee quipped that: ‘For council to fight a legal battle derived from this meeting they will use the money of those ratepayers here tonight protesting!’ And a legal battle is where this protest is leading…
What we felt important is the recognition that government, council or administrative bodies need to consider that commercial ‘development’ should go hand-in-hand with community values.
Dr Doug Spowart
The protest group has established a website called FRIENDS OF THE TOOWOOMBA RANGE – To visit click HERE
For more information see the links to some Chronicle Newspaper reports:
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/eighth-maccas-planned-for-city-east-toowoomba/1545915/
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/fast-food-development-approval-sparks-anger/1694378/
XMAS STREET NOCTURNE: A new site project
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On the road and in the street
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In past years after a day’s travelling doing fieldwork we usually aim for an overnight stay in a country town to rest for the night before attacking the road again. On arrival in the town we drive down the main street to inspect the available/affordable accommodation options. By nightfall we are usually ensconced in the motel room: organising our day’s imaging, catching up with emails, dinner and so on. The next day we move on . . .
This year during our summer field trip, motivated by the results of our recent Wooli Nocturne Project, we decided to document at twilight an aspect of each town where we stayed. This meant arriving early so that we could walk down the main street before sunset. Our objective was to survey the site-specific arrangement of town’s Xmas display, (whether present or absent), and identify features that at dusk would also be artificially illuminated. Returning later we would shoot under the deep blue/magenta skies of the early evening and the night lights.
In this work we are not alone, as photographers across the history of the art have used this montage of artificial and natural light effects to document urban environments. The development of this work has been influenced over time by a sustained interest in artists like Edward Hopper and Jeffrey Smart, and the photographers Eugène Atget, Brassaï, William Eggleston, Joel Meyerowitz, Gregory Crewdson and Brian Brake. More recently in Australia, artists and photographers notably Bill Henson and Mark Kimber have also explored aspects of this genre.
Recognising that the inherent nature of this transient light evokes the uncanny, an unseen presence or the interstitial filmic moment captured as a still is fundamental to our project. In this work the documentary photograph is not just a record of the idiosyncratic nature of each town’s main street and its Xmas light show as in these lighting conditions everyday objects are transformed from their daytime function. The prosaic nature of these towns, when photographed in the dusk light, becomes part of a found aesthetic: a site-specific monument to nocturnal light; a visual narrative of light, colour and form.
Xmas Street Nocturne: A site-specific project by Victoria Cooper + Doug Spowart
5 January 2013
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Towns and cities imaged:
- Albury
- Bright
- Coonabarabran
- Cowra
- Narrabri
- Narrandera
- Toowoomba
2013 SABBATICAL for Doug+Victoria: A ‘Leap of Faith’
A NEW YEARS MESSAGE FROM COOPER+SPOWART
Dr Doug consulting Casper David Friedrichs re 2013 sabbatical, The Cathedral, Mt Buffalo.
In the year 2000 we began our involvement in higher academic study at Monash University in Post Graduate Diploma study. Since then, except for a small break in 2003, we continued our university research and art practice. Throughout this period we maintained both our arts practice and working at TAFE where Doug was full-time employed as a teacher and Victoria worked as a sessional teacher. All holidays and long service leave was consumed by the demands of study, research and at times a busy exhibition and private lecture programme. The hard work and study culminated last year (2012) with Doug being awarded Doctor of Philosophy at James Cook University in May, and Victoria submitting her PhD for final examination in late November.
Now, as we head into 2013, we are taking time out to pursue our post-doctorial research interests, opportunities to present and share our specialist knowledge and skills and to re-connect with our professional practice as artists and commentators on contemporary issues. It is a ‘self-funded sabbatical’. To finance this venture we intend to generate opportunities that may include ‘cloud funded projects’, artists in residencies, specialist workshops, seminars and consultancies, and sessional teaching or lecturing. We are also open to projects that may become available through our connections.
To up date you on our current interests and professional activities we include the following:
Doug: Social media and its applications within creative practice and personal communication; assembling and writing a critical commentary about Australian photobooks from 1900-2000; the narrative form of the hybrid photobook and the elevation of the print-on-demand photobook into a higher order of visual communication.
Victoria: Maintain a review of contemporary science/art interdisciplinary research as an accepted practice in academic institutions. Special interest in: the scientist, the artist and intuition; the historical use of visual art practice as information within scientific publications; Montage Thinking, as a mode for visual thinking and intellectual discourse through visual and non-visual information.
This adventure is somewhat a ‘leap of faith’ and as such we have created a blog onto which we will post sabbatical related content – we will invite to view this site when it comes online. This WOTWEDID blog will continue as our broader commentary platform – on occasion dual postings may occur. Other special research interest blogs will also emerge and you will be advised of opportunities to connect with their content.
Please contact us if you see any opportunities to support our ‘leap of faith’ sabbatical.
We wish you all an exciting 2013 New Year and look forward to perhaps connecting with you, and also connecting you with, commentaries about the issues of our shared interests.
Cheerio
Victoria and Doug
A 2013 lunch planning meeting at The Horn @ Mt Buffalo on 12.12.12
FROGS HOLLOW NEW YEAR FIREWORKS—Toowoomba 2012-13
The crowd @ Toowoomba’s Frogs Hollow New Years Eve fireworks display Photo: Doug Spowart
It seemed like 10,000 people attended the Toowoomba “Frogs Hollow” 2012-13 fireworks display last night creating traffic jams, pedestrian crossing dramas and footpath parking mayhem. The crowd ‘ooooo—d’ and ‘aaaaaah—d’ and dotted throughout the audience were the lights from hundreds of digital camera, iPhone and iPad view screens recording the event. Starting at 7.40pm EST the show was over in ten or so minutes and much of the crowd dispersed.
I’ve photographed my share of fireworks—the tripod, remote release, being in a position with a clear view (up wind), careful focus and exposure correct. This year I just worked with my point-and-shoot Olympus Pen hand held—3200 ISO, auto (out-o) focus, auto exposure-around a ¼ second, and intuitively firing the shutter.
Toowoomba New Years Eve fireworks display Photo: Doug Spowart
Toowoomba New Years Eve fireworks display Photo: Doug Spowart
Toowoomba New Years Eve fireworks display Photo: Doug Spowart
Toowoomba New Years Eve fireworks display Photo: Doug Spowart
Being IN the moment for me has created a different kind of view, and maybe one that closer represents the feeling of being there—“BOOM” “BOOM” “CRACKLE” and “POP”. Oh! I forgot the sound missing from stills. You will need to imagine that until I get the video function going—next year . . .
Traffic-cars and people @ Toowoomba New Years Eve fireworks display
SEE the Toowoomba Chronicle report for more information
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/new-years-eve-a-blast/1702476/
SIMON GLEESON’s ‘PERU EMBRACED’ Exhibition
Simon Gleeson: ‘Peru Embraced’ Poster
Simon Gleeson studied photography with me a few years ago in Toowoomba. His world travels have taken him to some remarkable places but his current love affair is with Peru. An exhibition fund-raiser recently opened at the Metro Gallery in Toowoomba. Simon presented a selection of large colour and black & white images presented on canvas mounts.
Simon Gleeson portrait by Doug Spowart
Plaza De Armas by Simon Gleeson
Condor by Simon Gleeson
At the opening the works were auctioned generating around $4,000 for an amazing lady Lyndal Maxwell who cares for and adopts Peruvian children. Simon’s message is presented here …
A story in the Toowoomba Chronicle newspaper is available HERE
Congratulations Simon…
Doug
THE PhD PENULTIMATE DRAFT and 5 Food Antidotes
Are you undertaking a PhD? Does the stress of it all affect your health and well being?
Here are 5 Antidotes in the form of food snacks that may help.
Victoria Cooper @ the Wooli Study Centre working on her PhD
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ANTIDOTE #1: A LUNCH of ANTIPASTO DOWN THE BEACH
Two slices of prosciutto, mixed unsalted nuts, a slug each of double brie and blue cheese, black olives, pickled onion, seeded biscuits and packham pear. We drove there so Bundaberg Ginger Beer was the accompanying beverage.
An antipasta-styled lunch on the beach
The view from the luncheon table…
SEE OUR ‘ALONG THE TRACK BLOG’ POST on the location Diggers Beach near Grafton
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ANTIDOTE #2: An AFTERNOON TEA of home-made LEMON CAKES and EXPRESSO COFFEE
Afternoon tea of lemon cakes and coffee
Afternoon tea verandah view
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ANTIDOTE #3: A LUNCH of OYSTERS – Kilpatrick, with capers and mayo and au naturel with sourdough bread and fried prosciutto accompanied by a small glass of Verdelho white wine.
Oysters – a serving for three
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ANTIDOTE #4: A SEAGULL’S BREAKFAST the coastal version of the ‘Dingoes Breakfast’ – A poop and a look around…
A seagull’s breakfast
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ANTIDOTE #5: DINNER – FISH ‘n’ CHIPS out of the paper with lemon slices, mayo, flaked salt from the Murray River and a New Zealand Chardonay from Marlborough Sound.
Fish ‘n’ Chips and Mayo
NOTE: Don’t forget to have a great view to look out over when dining…
The view: Wooli River and Yuragir National Park beyond
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We trust these antidotes may work for you … They did for us
Cheers Dr Victoria and Dr Doug
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wotwedid 