Paul Ferman Photography Exhibition – SHELTER

9 February 2010 – 6 March 2010 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Paul Ferman, born in Germany of English parents, migrated to Australia in the 1950’s and has been a regular exhibitor in Australia and Europe since 1994.

Ferman won both the Ulrick – Schubert Photographic Award and the Pat Corrigan Acquisitive Award CCP Melbourne, 2007.

Paul Fermans’ new exhibition at King Street Gallery on William, titled “Shelter”, is a series of photographic work taken in Japan and positioned under major capital city freeways and bridges.

For more info on this exhibition and more check out the King Street Gallery website.

carriageARTworks is a FREE annual event, celebrating artwork and art culture from Sydney’s city fringe. The exhibition will feature work on canvas, sculpture, photography, mixed media, video art, performance art and textiles.

25 March 2010 – 24 April 2010 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

CarriageWorks, 245 Wilson Street Eveleigh

For more info see the carriageARTworks webpage

Gazing at the Contemporary World: Japanese Photography from the 1970s

Featuring 76 photographs by 23 internationally renowned Japanese photographers, this exhibition is a panoramic view of Japan’s changing landscape since the 1970s. Curated by Rei Masuda, Chief Curator of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, this exhibition is currently on an international tour.

22 February 2010 – 4 March 2010 Monday – Friday & Saturday 27 Feb 11am – 4pm

Venue – Japan Foundation Gallery

Level 1, Chifley Plaza,
2 Chifley Square
Sydney 2000
Phone: 02 8239 0055

Last week in London you may have heard about a rally at Trafalgar Square, attended by 2000+ photographers in opposition of Section 44 of the Terrorist Act. It was basically a mass gathering in defense of street photography, not only by photographers but anyone who values visual imagery.

There was one brief, it was to

At 3pm on the dot everyone will take their cameras out and start photographing something interesting, this might be:
• The hundreds of other photographers
• A puzzled security guard trying to work out what’s going on
• Security Guards trying to stop someone from taking photographs
• Interesting architectural features

Many of you probably have been made aware of what has been going on here, but since the act was passed, photographers have been subjected to ridiculous scrutiny and harassment and misinterpretation of the laws by police.

Check out The official website for all the latest news and pics from the protest.

I think as photographers at any level we should be kept up to date and informed of what our rights are, we have pretty tough laws over here in Australia at the moment but will they start to go over the top!

For more info on your rights in NSW have a look here

Please feel free to share your stories on this subject, have you been ordered to delete your images, or walked out of the area by police or security guards?

Spanish photographer, José Luis Rodríguez, impressed judges with his image, The Storybook Wolf, and was awarded the prestigious title of 2009 Wildlife Photographer of the Year from a record 43,135 entries from 94 countries.

The best of these will be showcased in a visually stunning exhibition of 95 images on show at the Australian Museum from 24 December to 26 April 2010.

My Photo Studio

In an exciting new twist to this year’s exhibition, the cost of entry also includes access to the family-friendly ‘My Photo Studio’ where you can get focused and get a new perspective down the lens of your own camera.

Visitors of all ages are encouraged to bring their camera for the chance to zoom in on some unique museum specimens while getting the chance to:

• Photograph live spiders, snails and insects
• Get up close with micro and macro shots
• Practise your still-life photography
• Learn tips and tricks from inhouse experts

So once you have perfected your new skills, budding nature photographers are encouraged to enter next year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Entries open in January 2010 (until March 2010). For details, visit www.nhm.ac.uk/wildphoto.

So don’t forget to bring your own camera for this special opportunity!

Debbie Harry, London 1981 - Janette Beckman

Stylin’ and Profilin’ by Janette Beckman

For the first time in Australia, a collection of iconic images which span music, street culture, hip hop, rock & roll and punk icons will be on show throughout the month of October in Sydney.

On Saturday October 10th 2009, Blender Gallery will be hosting a book signing with Janette Beckman.
Her two books ‘Made in the U.K.: The Music and Attitude, 1977-1982’ and ‘The Breaks: Stylin’ and Profilin’ 1982–1990′ are available for purchase at the gallery. Come and meet the photographer behind these classic images!

London native Janette Beckman has made her fame photographing not only a wide array of performers in several musical genres but also the youth subcultures that have cropped up around their music. Whether it’s capturing images of young punks and mods in ’70s London or the b-boys and -girls of New York’s hip-hop scene of the ’80s, her documentarian’s eye has captured the culture and the style of these groups.

Among her best-known photographs are the iconic front covers for the first two albums by the Police, along with portraits of artists from the Sex Pistols to Run-DMC and from Blondie to Lily Allen, among others.

Janette Beckman began her career at the dawn of Punk Rock working for The Face and Melody Maker, when British music pushed every boundary. She soon had extraordinary access to the musicians topping the U.K. charts– icons of an era when music had an agenda with such acts including The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Undertones, The Specials, The Beat, The Ramones, The Rockats, Raincoats, Billy Idol and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Radically, this generation thought that the punks on the street were just as important as the bands, which fitted Beckman’s aesthetic. Her sharp eye for street style and pop culture led her to document two decades of youthful tribes: Punks, Mods, Skinheads, Rockabillies, B-boys and girls.
Beckman’s powerful portraits celebrating this music and the attitude are collected for the first time in ‘Made in the U.K.: The Music and Attitude, 1977-1982’ PowerHouse Books 2005.

© Janette Beckman

Moving to New York in 1982, she was instantly drawn to the underground Hip Hop scene. Her photographs of pioneers Africa Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Salt’n'Pepa, Run-DMC, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys and countless others, as well as the DJs, MCs, b-boys and fly girls are collected in ‘The Breaks: Stylin’ and Profilin’ 1982–1990′, PowerHouse Books 2007.Since moving to New York she has shot everyone from Kevin Bacon to Lily Allen – Clients include: Hello, People, Interview, Mojo, Glamour, Esquire, Rolling Stone,   London Sunday Times Magazine. Warner Brothers Music, Universal Music, Sony, Doc Marten, Converse etc.

Run DMC, Queens NYC 1984 - Janette Beckman

Her photographs have recently been exhibited galleries and museums around the world including Paul Smith London, Isetan Tokyo, Collette Paris, Flair Los Angeles, Morrison Hotel NYC, Kong Gallery Shanghai, Rockarchive London and now Blender Gallery in Sydney.
Her work is collected by patrons including: Kate Moss, Paul Smith, Susan Sarandon, Adrian Brody, Carson Daly, Craig McDean, Lyor Cohen (CEO Warner Music Group).
Beckman’s work has appeared in Esquire, Rolling Stone, the Observer and Glamour, to name a few.
She lives and works in New York.

Reproduced courtesy of Tali Udovich, Director of Blender Gallery

Exhibition Launch with Janette Beckman: Thursday 8th October 2009 6pm-8pm

Book Signing: Saturday 10th October 2009

Exhibition runs from Friday 9th October until Tuesday 3rd November 2009

Blender Gallery, 16 Elizabeth Street Paddington

Gallery hours: Tuesday–Saturday: 10am – 6pm.

Gallery Invite

By the way, Blender Gallery is also home to The Just Shoot Lomography Shop for all your Lomo and Holga needs. So put an afternoon aside and pop on over to Blender for a nice hit of photography.

My recent trip to Canberra unfortunately didn’t allow much extra time for gallery hopping but generally there’s always a show or two worth checking out. With very little time to spare, my first port of call is The National Portrait Gallery

On 11 September to 15 November 2009, Portraits + Architecture seems like a cool concept for a show. Here’s what the curator had to say about it.

“The National Portrait Gallery exhibition Portraits + Architecture is an experiment. The participants have been asked to think about their creative practice in a new way. The exhibition explores the relationship between creative thinking and identity and incorporates new photographic portraits of creative individuals and groups.

The exhibition presents the work of seven leading Australian architect teams with commissioned photographic portraits by seven Australian photographers. The architect teams are known for their contemporary and highly distinctive work. They have made significant contributions to Australian architecture and design culture. The photographers work across a spectrum of fine art, commercial, and design practice and have produced bold and original photographic portraits for the exhibition.” – curator Christopher Chapman

Also hosted by the NPG is the forthcoming National Photographic Portrait Prize, which this year is offering an amazing $25,000 prize for the winner. This contest is fast becoming the Archibald Prize of photography.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2010 Call for Entries

The National Portrait Gallery invites all Australian residents to enter the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2010. The exhibition will be displayed in the National Portrait Gallery building from 19 February to 26 April 2010 and will subsequently tour to a select number of Australian capital cities and regional centres. The Prize is an annual event intended to promote the very best in contemporary photographic portraiture by both professional and aspiring Australian photographers. Entries close 1 November 2009.

With the generous support of Visa, the National Portrait Gallery is offering a prize of $25,000 for the most outstanding photographic portrait.

Start planning your portraits and remember. “You’ll never never know, if you never never go!”

Entry fee is $25 p/entry

by Daniel Linnet

If you’re a fan of Contemporary Australian Photography and happen to be living or visiting Melbourne in September then make sure you pop over to The Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) for a great fix of inspiration.

All exhibitions run 7 august – 27 september 2009

Gallery 1 – TRACEY MOFFATT ‘FIRST JOBS’

Gallery 2 -CLARE RAE/COLOUR FACTORY AWARD ‘CLIMBING THE WALLS AND OTHER ACTIONS’

Gallery 3 – CCP DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD

Gallery 4 – ANNE FERRAN ‘CANAL’

‘The Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) is one of Australia’s premier venues for the exhibition of contemporary photo-based arts, providing a context for the enjoyment, education, understanding and appraisal of contemporary practice. Established in 1986 by the photographic community as a not-for-profit exhibition and resource centre, CCP has played a pivotal role in the support of photo-based arts and public engagement with photography.’ - from CCP website

visit CCP

Naomi - Scott McGale

‘Editorially in the UK, Scott has shot for Vogue, Arena, Marie Claire, Elle, GQ, the Sunday Times Magazine among others. While in Australia he has shot for for Marie Claire, Instyle and Noise. His beauty and fashion work has been published in over 20 countries around the globe, including over a dozen Sunday Times Magazine covers.’

Scott will be our guest speaker at the forthcoming Shots @ The Arthouse – flash session on Sep 8, 2009 , where he will discuss some of his location lighting techniques as well as being available to answer any questions.

See more of Scott’s Work

Book a ‘Shots’ Session

Street Journal

If you’ve never played with a Leica than you probably won’t know what all the fuss is about but I remember the day I brought home my first Leica M6. For me it was the beginning of a new chapter.

The endless hours of pounding the pavement clutching my new toy in anticipation of a Cartier-Bresson like scene presenting itself, did pay off in the long run. Although that scene never quiet presented itself, I did manage to build an extensive ‘Street Journal’ of my photographic travels, along with priceless photographic experience and knowledge of my craft. For this I thank the manual simplicity of the M6 which forced me to think about the images I was creating.

Just the other day I received my press pass for the ‘Leica Premiere Event – New landmarks in photography’, and I have to say I’m almost ready for another new chapter. Stand by for the 10th of October, 2009 when all shall be revealed. Meanwhile, here are a few links to get familiar with the Leica and it’s heritage.

Leica Cameras

Leica History

TIME Magazine from it’s humble beginnings has featured some of the most iconic images of our time. This forthcoming Sydney exhibition would definitely be one NOT to miss.

Follow the link below to hear Michael Elliott, the editor of TIME magazine international, speak about the power of the magazine’s iconic cover portraiture as an exhibition marking 50 years of the magazine’s publication in Australia and New Zealand opens in Sydney’s Customs House.

LISTEN HERE