Archive for the ‘Wot happened on this day’ Category
2018 FIELD STUDIES: CAMERA OBSCURA FERRY PORTHOLE – Bass Straight waves over the Spirit of Tasmania
Our 2018 Field Studies submission of 100 artworks
As an important end of year ritual, we have once again prepared our submission to the ‘FIELD STUDIES INTERNATIONAL’ collaborative mail art project organised by David Dellafiora. Artists from around the world contribute to this project by mailing to David 100 artworks of any process and printed media made to A5 size. He then works with a team to collate all the submissions and assemble 100 copies of the collaborative book. After each participant receives one of these books, a number are then sold to private and institutional collectors to fund the project. We have contributed to the Field Studies for the last 10 years. Some links to the previous submissions are provided at the end of this post.
Here’s the story of our 2018 Field Studies report…
In 2000, we began a series of site-specific camera obscura projects that is a continuing body of work… This year we made two attempts to construct a cabin camera obscura. The second attempt proved more successful and so in this blog we present this recent work – Through a porthole in 3-5metre seas on the The Spirit of Tasmania.
The Spirit of Tasmania
On the morning of the 3rd of November we boarded the Spirit of Tasmania and checked in to our cabin for the nine-hour day crossing. We had booked months earlier and had requested a porthole cabin with the idea of making a camera obscura.
Earlier in 2018 we had tried unsuccessfully to make camera obscura images on an overnight crossing figuring that by the time we boarded the ship we would have a brief period of sunlight – alas, that would not be the case it was dark by the time we had boarded and checked into our cabin. This second time we worked it differently with a day crossing and a porthole cabin… we then prepared for a full day of camera obscura work.
You can imagine our excitement to find that our cabin was in the middle at the front of the boat with a view over the flagpole on the prow of the ferry to the sea beyond. So we set to work with a mini camera obscura tool kit had been prepared for the preparation of the darkroom:
- A quantity of heavy-duty black garbage bags
- Gaffa tape
- Scissors
A camera obscura tool kit
Vicky documented Doug as he negotiated the space beyond the bunks to tape the black bags over the window. Progressively the room got darker and glimpses of the features outside our little cabin imaged themselves on the walls of the cabin. One problem was the darkening down of the central image area caused by depth of the room and a mirror on the reverse of the door. We decided that to create an observable image we needed re-purposed two white doona covers as a screen by taping them to the ceiling and walls with the gaffa tape. To recreate the theatrical space of the cabin camera obscura, we combined a series of images of the cabin walls and the screen at different stages of the journey. We also found our humble Olympus Pen camera set at ISO25,000 the best option as it fitted the small space and enabled hand-held exposures.
The Spirit of Tasmania left Devonport port and headed out into Bass Straight. For us this was a challenging crossing as there were strong westerly winds and huge 3-5 metre waves for most of the day. It wasn’t long before we began to experience the ‘bang’ and ‘splash’ of waves over our porthole… we were on one of the upper decks – deck 8!!! Kwells (anti-seasickness pills) were taken and to take our minds off the thump and roll we got active documenting the CO crossing.
Two composite images were constructed from our work that day that we entitled Through a porthole in 3-5 metre seas on the The Spirit of Tasmania. The first is a panorama that shows Vicky on her bunk looking at the projected camera obscura image. On the right-hand side the shadow of the camera held aloft is imaged. The final panorama is made of 4 images.
Vicky observing the panorama camera obscura image
The second image is a triptych of the projected image on the screen showing a series of three photographs made by Vicky as the boat rocked with the centre image documenting a whiteout as a wave crashes on the window.
Camera obscura: a 3-5 metre wave crashes against our porthole (inverted)
Camera obscura: a 3-5 metre wave crashes against our porthole
We left the camera obscura setup until we docked. Midway across Bass Straight the images described above we assembled and optimised as the ‘bang’ and ‘whoosh’ of the waves on the boat continued incessantly. At one stage we ventured out to see how those brave souls in the public areas of the ferry were managing… they all looked pretty green–some not well at all, and many finding any horizontal space they could to find some comfort.
When the Spirit docked we dismantled the CO and disembarked, glad to be on terra firma again.
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To see a post about the FIELD STUDIES INTERNATIONAL and other of our Field Studies submissions
About David Dellafiora and Field Studies International
https://wotwedid.com/2013/01/05/field-study-international-our-contribution/
Our 2016 Field Studies International submission
https://wotwedid.com/2017/01/17/field-studies-international-2016-our-contribution/
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4 PHOTOBOOK EVENTS – Brisbane August 3, 4 &5 2018
Australian + New Zealand Photobook of the Year Finalists
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PLEASE NOTE THESE EVENTS HAVE NOW COMPLETED
FRIDAY August 3, 2018 evening
Event 1 – VIEW THE BEST PHOTOBOOKS from Australia & New Zealand
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SATURDAY August 4, 2018 ALL DAY
Event 2 – HEAR CONTEMPORARY PHOTOBOOK people talking about the medium
Both events are FREE though registration/booking is essential
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SUNDAY August 5 – Two NEW Sessions
(See Eventbrite links for session details, fees and booking details)
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Event 3 – HAVE A PHOTOBOOK REVIEW with the Doctors – Doug+Vicky
Event 4 – DESIGNING & MAKING CONCERTINA FOLD BOOKS – with Doug+Vicky
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EVENT 1: FRIDAY – August 3
An evening presentation the very best of contemporary photobooks from Australia and New Zealand from the recent Photobook of the Year Awards.
- Meet Libby Jeffery from the Award’s Patron MOMENTO PRO.
- Come in and look at the books from 5.30–8.00pm and Saturday 10.30–3.30pm.
- Location: MAUD GALLERY – 6 Maud Street, Newstead, Brisbane.
TO BOOK this event do so on this Facebook page: PHOTOBOOK FRIDAY FACEBOOK EVENT
ANZ Photobook Awards at Maud Gallery
Event 2: TALKING BOOKS SYMPOSIUM (free)
- SATURDAY August 4 – 10.30am – 4.00pm
- 6 speakers on the contemporary photobook
- Location: MAUD GALLERY – 6 Maud Street, Newstead, Brisbane.
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Eventbrite Logo
AS SEATING IS LIMITED – ….“CLICK” THE EVENTBRITE LINK BELOW.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/talking-books-photobook-club-brisbane-event-tickets-37573180394
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Libby Jeffery – MomentoPro
At 11.00am
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Libby Jeffery from MomentoPro
Libby will talk about the Antipodean experience of self publishing a photo book – from purpose through to publicity
including:
- Purpose
- Budget/Funding
- Self/Publish
- Edit/Design
- Format/Print
- Sell/Distribute
- Launch/Publicise
From 1.00-4.00pm
MEET SOME LOCAL PHOTOBOOK MAKERS & THEIR BOOKS
Tammy Law and her book Permission to Belong being developed in conjunction with Yumi Goto and the Reminders Photography Stronghold workshop
TAMMY LAW documents stories that are reflective of her experiences of being a child of Chinese migrants, and the bubble of Asian/Australianness within which she lives. Her travels through Asia—mostly in Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma—and the differences between Asia and the West propel her to focus on concepts of migration, home and belonging.
Tammy’s book ‘Permission to Belong’, explores themes of migration, home and belonging through the everyday lives of refugee families from Myanmar. Living against the backdrop of decades of repressive rule and civil war, countless families live between a place of home and homelessness, belonging and unbelonging. The negotiation and renegotiation of identities is as complex as the history and future of Myanmar.
Ana Paula Estrada and 2 spreads from her book Memorandum
ANA PAULA ESTRADA: I am a Mexican–Australian artist based in Brisbane. For the last seven years my art practice has focused mainly on the documentation of life stories of older Australians by combining photography, oral history, and the artist book. I am currently undertaking my Master of Visual Arts by research degree at the Queensland College of Art.
In 2016, I self-published an artist book called Memorandum in an edition of 200, which was recognized and exhibited broadly nationally and internationally. My current project consists of publishing a two-volume artist book that tells the life stories of Kevin and Esta, two participants aged over eighty, with whom I have been collaborating. Merging the fields of documentary practice, oral history and fine arts, and influenced by visual poetry, my books explore the combination of text, image and the blank space of the page.
Jan Ramsay and her book Toaster, and another book showing her fine binding skills
JAN RAMSAY: Being inspired by creative parents and grandparents, After a few career changes including dental nurse/radiographer, fashion design and working with special needs people using braille & sign language Jan started a professional photography business, Eye on Photography in 1996. In photography Jan found expression for her creative spirit.
Jan’s books are mix of creative play and exploration of ideas where the form of the book becomes an important opportunity to push boundaries, making mistakes and having fun. Her books are hand bound featuring artists’ book techniques and are usually published in singular editions.
Raphaela Rosella and her book We met a little early, but I get to love you longer
Raphaela Rosella is an Australian based artist working in the tradition of long-form documentary storytelling. She has spent the past decade highlighting the lived experience of women in her life as they grapple with the complexities and cyclical nature of social disadvantage in Australia. Her artistic practice draws heavily on relational exchanges and a collaborative ethos to challenge tropes of victimhood and poverty.
When my teenage twin sister told me she was pregnant, I was angry. I called her a ‘slut’ and told her to get an abortion. I thought she could have a ‘better life’. But what is a better life? It was a path we were all expected to take. For many of my friends, becoming a parent young was not a ‘failure of planning’, but a tacit response to the choices and opportunities available to us. My book ‘We met a little early, but I get to love you longer‘ documents women in my life; my twin, my-step sister, and new and old friends as they grapple with the complexities of motherhood and the turbulent and uncertain environments around them.
HEAR ABOUT RECENT PHOTOBOOK EVENTS ACTIVITIES IN New Zealand & Bangkok
Tammy Law will talk about her experiences at the PHOTO BANGKOK event.
Libby Jeffery will talk about her experiences as an observer of the PBNZ Masterclass in Wellington last August..
Doug Spowart’s A Compendium of AuNz Photobooks
Doug Spowart will talk about his latest edition of A Compendium of Australian and New Zealand Photobooks.
The Symposium will conclude at 4.00pm
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Maud Gallery sign
Thank You Maud Gallery for supporting this Photobook Club Brisbane event.
These events are coordinated by Doug Spowart and Victoria Cooper
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GRACIA+LOUISE: A whisker of light @ Maitland Regional Art Gallery
A Whisker of Light ………PHOTO: a hold-up of a cut-out from the exhibition’s activity table
A Whisker of Light
An exhibition by Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison @ Maitland Regional Art Gallery March-April 2018
Along with the recent work of artists book shown in the vitrines, there was a few wall installations of Haby’s collages and Jennison’s pencil drawn birds.
The books are based on the layering of image fragments into a visual form of poetry and shown under glass much like museum specimens. These books when time is taken to ‘read’ can stir the imagination beyond the space of words.
The wall works, All breathing, all right, are a breathtaking 446 collages constructed on to antique postcards by Haby from 2006 to 2015. Overwhelming to take in on one visit these transformed postcards are regimented into columns that disrupt a formal ‘reading’ by left to right or of the entire work at once. Instead one discovers them individually, up close and at random bringing a kind of child play or ‘I spy’ to the engagement of this work.
Across the room in a free flowing formation is a flock of birds and one butterfly in flight, All flying, all right, drawn by the sensitive hand of Louise Jennison. Serendipitously, in the gallery space at certain times of the day, a streak of sunlight falls across the wall and seems to guide the birds as a reference to the exhibition title. In this gallery space these works form a kind of habit for the reimagining of the fragile relationship between humans and animals.
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All breathing, all right by Gracia Haby
Gracia Haby
All breathing, all right
2006–2015
Postcard collages
All breathing, all right (detail) by Gracia Haby
Gracia Haby
All breathing, all right (detail of 2 components)
2006–2015
Postcard collages
All flying, all right, by Louise Jennison
Louise Jennison
All flying, all right
2011–2014
Pencil on paper
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3 books by Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
Disrupted and rumpled
Dim wood, spark bright
A warmed pebble in my hand
For further information about Gracia & Louise’s exhibitions see:
http://gracialouise.com/a-whisker-of-light
http://gracialouise.com/all-breathing-in-heaven
http://gracialouise.com/unwinking-night
Maitland Regional Art Gallery
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National Works on Paper submission – not shortlisted
NWOP-banner
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As an artist there is a need for affirmation and justification for one’s life in the activity and practice of artmaking. Artists prepare and curate their work in gallery exhibitions to present work – and then there are awards and competitions. Each year, as the call for entries comes around, we like many artists around the country, look at recent work and consider its appropriateness for specific awards.
There are of course thoughts of winning an award but perhaps more importantly is the opportunity to be shortlisted for exhibition and considered for purchase or collection. Equally important for us is the opportunity to connect with fellow artists in the curated exhibition that represent the judge’s opinion of what constitutes the most relevant works based on the competition’s criteria.
This year I submitted to the National Works on Paper Award an artists’ book that I had made during our Skopelos Works on Paper workshop in Greece last year. The book is an exploration of the idea of a montage of light capturing the performance of reading a book. Simultaneously the reader, the location where the reading took place and the page-turning action of reading is imaged in light sensitive cyanotype on the watercolour pages of the book.
Doug Spowart opens SKOP PHOTO after its creation in Greece PHOTO: Victoria Cooper
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Here’s an image of the book:
SKOP PHOTO artists’ book by Doug Spowart
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Other images of SKOP PHOTO folder, cover and details
ARTIST’S STATEMENT: SKOP PHOTO an artists’ book by Doug Spowart
This book is created using the cyanotype (sun print) process as part of the author’s ongoing investigation on the ontology of reading.
The book was folded into a concertina form to eventually allow for a variety of potential readings; either extended or page after page. The author then coated the light sensitive cyanotype emulsion onto the pages of the book.
The pages were slowly turned and extended over several minutes allowing the sunlight of the Greek island of Skopelos to strike the emulsion as author performed reading.
After washing in a bath of water, an image of the Aegean light was formed in Prussian blue on the pages of the book. Alternatively, where the light had not fallen on the page – there seemed to be no image formed. But this apparent absence was a “shadow” – a kind portrait of the artist reading the book in its moment of creation.
Today I received an email advising that my submission was not shortlisted..
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Not a big problem for me as only 1 in 16 artworks were accepted for the 2018 awards and those names on the list are a fine group of artists.
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If you are interested the 2018 National Works on Paper finalists were:
Raymond Arnold, Peter Atkins, Alec Baker, Martin Bell, Ray Besserdin, Solomon Booth, David Bosun, Godwin Bradbeer, Kate Briscoe, Jane Brown, Jon Campbell, Susanna Castleden, Danica Chappell, Hua Cun Chen, Sam Cranstoun, Lesley Duxbury, Robert Fielding, David Frazer, Ian Friend, Dana Harris, Katherine Hattam, Pei Pei He, Kendal Heyes, Mark Hislop, Deanna Hitti, Anna Hoyle, Natalya Hughes, Alana Hunt, Locust Jones, Jennifer Joseph, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili, Brian Martin, Georgie Mattingley, Mish Meijers, Viv Miller, Helen Mueller, John Nixon, Open Spatial Workshop, Elena Papanikolakis, Louise Paramor, Hubert Pareroultja, Jemima Parker, Riley Payne, Dan Price, Lisa Reid, Louise Rippert, Cameron Robbins, Brian Robinson, Elissa Sampson, Emily Sandrussi, Geoff Sargeant, Jo Scicluna, Liz Shreeve, William Smeets, Kylie Stillman, TextaQueen, James Tylor and Laura Wills, Trent Walter, Rosie Weiss, Mumu Mike Williams, Puna Yanima, Yvonne Zago, Tianli Zu.
Exhibition details at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Art Gallery:
The opening event and award presentations will take place on Saturday 21 July from 4-6pm. An electronic invitation will be sent to you closer to the date.
Now I’m looking forward to 2020
In the meantime I’ll be pursuing some more cyanotype documentations of the act of reading – maybe during our upcoming Bundanon Artists Residency in June…
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2018 WORLDWIDE PINHOLE DAY 29 April – Our images
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Round the [w]hole world on Sunday the 29th of April 2018 pinholers were out having fun – Making their images for the 2018 WPD. Far away from the darkroom (again) we’ve once again fitted a pin-prick in a piece of aluminium fitted to a body cap of our Olympus Pen EP-5 camera and we went on a cruise around the New South Wales town of Muswellbrook pinholing…
This is the 13th year we have supported the WPD project!
Bird bath by Victoria Cooper
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ABOUT VICKY’S PINHOLE IMAGE:
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Each day birds of all sizes come to drink from this and it is shared with the two cats who live here too… It is the driest April on record in this region of Australia.
The photo was taken with the intention of capturing the sun flare. Digital capture with hand-made hole on an Olympus EP5 on manual setting.
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Lest we forget – April 25th by Doug Spowart
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ABOUT DOUG’S PINHOLE IMAGE:
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Each year on April 25 Australian and New Zealand peoples commemorate ANZAC Day in recognition of the sacrifice made by soldiers from our country in the First World War. Floral tributes are laid at memorials all over the country. The message on most wreaths is the phrase ‘Lest we forget’.
The photomontage is made up of 5 images – each photo was taken on an Olympus EP5 digitally with a hand-made pinhole.
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Olympus Pen with hand pierced aluminum foil hole, Aperture exposure mode, ISO 800.
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Visit the WPD Site for details of other posted: http://pinholeday.org/
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Our Past WPD images:
2016 Doug: http://www.pinholeday.org/index.php?id=1235
2016 Vicky: http://www.pinholeday.org/index.php?id=1540
2015 https://wotwedid.com/2015/05/04/april-26-worldwide-pinhole-day-our-contributions-for-2015/
2014 Vicky’s http://pinholeday.org/gallery/2014/index.php?id=1810&City=Toowoomba
2014 Doug’s http://pinholeday.org/gallery/2014/index.php?id=1811&City=Toowoomba
2013 https://wotwedid.com/2013/04/29/world-pinhole-photography-day-our-contribution/
2012 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2012/index.php?id=1937&searchStr=spowart
2011 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2011/index.php?id=924
HERE IS THE LINK to the 2011 pinhole video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk4vnbzTqOU
2010 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2010/index.php?id=2464&Country=Australia&searchStr=spowart
2006 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2006/index.php?id=1636&Country=Australia&searchStr=cooper
2004 Vicky http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2004/index.php?id=1553&Country=Australia&searchStr=cooper
2004 Doug http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2004/index.php?id=1552&Country=Australia&searchStr=spowart
2003 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2003/index.php?id=615&Country=Australia&searchStr=spowart
2002 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2002/index.php?id=826&Country=Australia&searchStr=spowart
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IAN POOLE photographer: eulogy
Poole by Poole 2006
IAN POOLE photographer: eulogy by Doug Spowart
I was over in Wellington New Zealand attending the Photobook NZ conference when our mutual friend Simon Woolf came to tell me that Ian had passed away. Vicky and I had visited Ian and Louise at the Mater Hospital a couple of weeks ago and while Ian was in a difficult place we shared some past experiences. We spoke excitedly about how Ian came out of hospital recently to open ‘Floating’ at Woolloongabba Art Gallery. It was an important occasion as the exhibition featured work by his long-term friends Glen O’Malley and Yoshiteru Asai as well as artworks by Yayu, Ken Yamane’s grand-daughter.
Ian Poole, Glen, Ruby, Asai, Joe and Doug at the opening of Floating
Ian Poole and I shared quite a chunk of history – On hearing the news whatever I was to do that day in Wellington, and my flight home to Brisbane, my thoughts were with Ian, Louise, Nicola and Denise. What follows is a fragment of our connections and things that I remember about the guy…
Pinhole portrait of Ian Poole 1993 by Doug Spowart
My earliest memory of Ian was in the mid 1970s when I met him as an employee of Kodak in Brisbane. Ian had formed a commercial photography partnership with Greg Minns and I served him in my early sales position behind a wholesale warehouse counter in the Fortitude Valley head office. Over time I was to learn of Ian’s pre-commercial work as a part-time wedding photographer for some of Brisbane’s significant studios.
Ian Poole went out on his own in 1976 with the business name ‘Ian Poole does Photography’. He shared a studio in an old church in Warren Street, Fortitude Valley with commercial photographer and AIPP devotee and then Federal President David McCarthy. From there good wine, cigars and Fiats were funded through a diverse range of commercial commissions.
Ian and Denise were married and soon after Nicola was born. A long-term relationship with documentary/art photographer Glen O’Malley strengthened along with his interest in photography beyond the ‘job’ – for him photography was more than just what you did to earn a living.
Ian Poole and the IAP and the AIPP
Ian joined the Institute of Australian Photography (now AIPP) in 1975. An interesting bit of information about Ian is that he entered the very first Merit Awards (APPA) in 1977, and was awarded a Merit for a high contrast photo of a fuzzy hairstyled, seated, saxophone player. I remember that photo well.
In reflection, I always remember Poole being involved with the AIPP in some capacity either at state division level and in the late 1980s on the National Board. During the 1980s I served with Ian on the Queensland Divisional Council and remember many council meetings at Imagery Gallery that finished with us discussing the meaning of life and photography. Together, we also contributed to the development of education and training for photography in Queensland and served on many Arts Industry Advisory Council and Curriculum development committees.
Anonymous Torsos exhibition at Imagery Gallery 1990
Early exhibitions of his work
His interest in personal photography, and in particular the female nude, led to his work being presented in exhibitions. In 1984 I curated an exhibition entitled ‘5 One man shows’ in Stephens Gallery in the Brisbane City Hall, which included a selection of Ian’s nudes. Later in 1990 his first solo exhibition ‘Anonymous Torsos’, was held in Imagery Gallery (a gallery run by myself and my mother Ruby). He also participated in many group shows in galleries in Australia and Japan.
Doug Spowart and Ian Poole with the poster for Shot from down under PHOTO: Victoria Cooper
The Japanese connection
Ian made connections with Japanese photographers through his co-ordination of AIPP events in the early 1980s. This led to an exhibition of 13 photographers organised by Ian and hosted by artist Rick Everingham in his Brisbane studio during Expo 88. Poole followed up this exhibit with an exchange show, ‘A shot from down under’ at Design Expo in Nagoya, Diacolo Gallery in Osaka and amazingly in the Kodak Salon, the Ginza, Tokyo. Ian coordinated a tour for the participating Queensland photographers who spent about 3 weeks in Japan travelling with the exhibition, attending the openings, staying with the Japanese photographer’s families and experiencing Japanese life and landscape.
Poole+Spowart at QCP: Photo Adam Finch
Working for the Queensland Government
By the early 90s photography was changing and the Queensland Government reviewed all their departments that had employed staff photographers. They decided that only 3 photographer positions would be funded into the future. The 3 positions were advertised in the public domain and Ian, not only applied, but also won a position. It should be noted that Ian around that time completed by part-time study a Graduate Diploma of Visual Art at the Queensland College of Art. The topic of his research was portraits of artists.
Australia Council Residency and sessional teaching
Poole’s interest in the art of photography needed to be pursued alongside the day-to-day grind of professional work. After completing the Graduate Diploma he sought and was awarded and Australia Council Artist in Residency in Tokyo where he immersed himself in his passion for portraiture and Japanese culture.
Ian Poole and photobook made in a workshop with Simon Woolf with Vicky and I in 2005
Ian’s assistants, peers and mentorees
Ian always had assistants, mentored those seeking advancement of their skills, as well as sessional teaching at the Queensland College of Art and the Queensland University of Technology. His endorsement of professional practice meant that through his patronage and support many of the Institute’s significant photographers came into the AIPP fold.
Poole and the Australian Professional Photography Awards
Soon after I became Chairperson of the APPA’s in the 1990 I championed the development of judge training and the need for judges to have extended their understanding and appreciation of the art as well as professional practice.
Into this space I brought Ian Poole – he had the ideas, debating skills, knowledge and understanding of art to help with this aesthetic transformation of APPA. His dedication to ensuring that the entrant who made special works, in Ian’s opinion, got a fair hearing. I’ve spoken to many awards entrants, at all levels, and they have a story about Ian ‘going into bat’ for one of their works.
Ian skills as a judge and inspirational speaker were recognised by New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography and he became an Australian judging ambassador for the NZIPP Awards.
Ian Poole and others at Toowoomba TAFE doing final year assessments
Support for TAFE Toowoomba and Nicola’s study
As a teacher in the photography programs at the TAFE college in Toowoomba I was always privileged to have Ian and many other professional photographers and artists carry out the final holistic assessment of student work as well as endorse and support my institution.
Nicola Poole and Doug Spowart
When Ian’s daughter Nicola wanted to pursue photography Ian arranged to bring her to Toowoomba suggesting this is where she needed to be. She enrolled and over the next two years she completed her diploma studies in 2003 with the Graduating Student of the Year Award.
Team Foto Frenzy – an Impossible Project 10×8 Polaroid by Doug Spowart – RHS Ian photographs Doug
Foto Frenzy
When Ian formed Foto Frenzy with a small group of photography identities including Darren Jew, Tony Holden, Cam Attree and Susan Gravina from Brisbane Camera Hire I was honoured to open the enterprise. Later, Vicky and I were invited as Artists in Residence for a month in 2013. While we where at Foto Frenzy we participated in workshops, re-configured the premises into a camera obscura, made 10×8 Polaroid Impossible Project images and held an exhibition of our photobook and image work.
Ian Poole, Diane Byrne and Eric Victor at the State Library of Qld looking at prints by Richard Stringer
John Oxley Library donation
One of many things undertaken by Ian that many may not be aware of is his donation of his professional photography archive to the John Oxley Library at the State Library of Queensland. For quite a few years he has been going into the Library to unpack and catalogue the work so that it can be successfully searched and retrieved into the future. Now much of Brisbane’s cultural history from buildings to fashion, ballet and theatre, portraits of the rich and famous and those curious dated art-directed advertisements of the 1970s and 80s, are there as a document of our times.
I’ve been around professional photography for nearly 50 years and I’ve seen the disappearance of numerous professional photographers and their businesses – but what of their photographs? Lost? – Not Ian’s work, which he has given in an altruistic act for Queenslanders and their history.
In conclusion
I was always fascinated by Ian’s business name – ‘Ian Poole does photography’, we now know he did much more…
At this time I, and many others, will reflect on and remember Ian Poole
– his legacy will continue on in all of us.
Doug Spowart
NOTE: I hope that all this is correct – should their be any errors I am happy to make the corrections
What follows are some published works relating to Ian, some links and some other images…
Ian Poole’s website: https://poolefoto.wordpress.com/
Photo.Graphy Journal: Ian Poole Guest Editor
PHOTO.Graphy Journal – Ian Poole Guest Editor
QCP ALT Catalogue — Curated by Ian Poole
Ian Poole curated show at Qld Centre for Photography
f11 Magazine Ian Poole Folio
f11 Online magazine: Ian Poole folio
Ian Poole – On the lounge
https://wotwedid.com/2012/05/17/ian-poole-aipp-on-the-lounge/
Some images by or about Ian…
Ian Poole and Kev Hudson judging the 1982 Brisbane National Exhibition of Photography at Imagery Gallery
Doug Spowart in Imagery Gallery Darkroom by Ian Poole
Ian Poole moving out of Berry Street
Toula, Ian and Louise at the Photobook Club meeting at the Cobb & Co Museum Toowoomba
Ian and Doug at a Foto Frenzy opening
Ian Poole photographed by Wayne Radford at the exhibition End of the roid curated by Doug Spowart
Ian Poole at the opening of ICONS at the Cobb&Co Museum in Toowoomba
A Foto Frenzy opening
The opening of Foto Frenzy
An animated Ian Poole at an AIPP ‘On the lounge’
Foto Frenzy Polaroid group setup PHOTO: Victoria Cooper
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Ian Poole, Glen, Asai at the opening of Floating
Farewell Ian….
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NGV ART BOOK FAIR: See my books on the MomentoPro table
NGV Art Book Fair webpage
SEE MY PHOTOBOOKS Channeling Harvey Benge and A Compendium of New Zealand and Australian Photobooks on the MOMENTOPRO table at the NGV Art Book Fair in Melbourne over March 16, 17 & 18, 2018.
MomentoPro printed my latest two books and they have them on their table as examples of the work that they do.
Libby Jeffery’s invitation to visit her table – just love the T-Shirts
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Book 1. Channeling Harvey Benge
Channeling Harvey Benge book cover
The text from the colophon:
In 2015 I was invited to make a
presentation on photobooks at the
Auckland Art Gallery as part of the
Auckland Festival of Photography.
One of my photobook heroes is
Harvey Benge who was overseas
at the time and was unable to
attend the symposium.
I documented my attendance at
the Festival and created this
personal narrative relating to my
few days in New Zealand.
This little book also doubles as
homage to Benge’s book ‘A short
history of photography’.
A MomentoPro Preview of the book can be seen here: SPOWART-Channelling Harvey Benge-book
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Book 2. A Compendium of New Zealand and Australian Photobooks
The dual covers of the Photobook Compendium
A-D part of the Australian listing in the Compendium
Preface page of the COMPENDIUM
An events page in the COMPENDIUM
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Hope you can visit the ART BOOK FAIR and see my books …
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