Welcome to the Image Science 2005 Winter update.  And isn't it chilly?! (Well, here in Melbourne anyway).  Perfect time of the year to re-visit some of our older shots, those masterpiece-in-a-shoebox shots we all have.  As image makers, whether we're professional or just lovers of the art, one mistake we all make is not making the best of those images we've already got.  Professionals almost always have stockpiles of images that could fairly easily be re-purposed as stock images for extra income, or perhaps as a special folio to use to find new work in a different area.  Amateurs almost always have unfinished projects on the boil - collections of images that when brought together make a really expressive body of work.  Why not get together a bunch of your old shots and have them scanned on our amazing brand new Imacon Flextight 949 film scanner (see above), and turn them into something more than a shoebox full of never seen memories?  

I often think we get too hung up on 'hero-shots' and don't spend enough time on projects and smaller pleasures.  I've been (slowly) working on a series of environmental portraits of quirky local business owners and when I look back over the last few years I think this project has given me more pleasure than any other facet of my work.  I'm not doing it with any grand plan (maybe a little vanity-published book one day?  Or just an exhibition at the local cafe?), I'm just doing it because I get to meet interesting people, I get to practise my art, and I get to be more experimental with it than on, say, another corporate portrait job.  But I've also found that these images attract more commercial attention than traditional commercial images!  I'm willing to bet I get more work from them than my standard folio of, say, corporate portraits.  This is because what they need is a standard corporate photograph, but what they want is Photography with a capital P. They're looking for vision, not just for competence.  Because, whatever the truth of the matter, all this digital technology makes people feel like they can take a near-professional shot themselves. 

So as professionals, or serious amateurs who want to be professionals, or just lovers of image making, we have to add something more than just good focussing, exposure, and basic composition.  We have to add meaning - emotional resonance - by developing our eye and really looking at light.  And we have to add quality.   Remind people that good photography is something more than what they get back from the chemist.    Quality is all about good craft - using the right tools for a job, and using them well.  This means biting the bullet and getting a screen calibrator.  Using and understanding good colour management from beginning to end in all your image making.  Getting quality scans, or using good raw converters on good digital files.  Really understanding Photoshop and what it's doing to your images.  Printing on fine art papers - papers that can really hold an image well, and hold it that way for hundreds of years.  Not compromising at any stage of the journey from scene to print - because if you sacrifice quality at any stage in the process, you can never get it back further down the stream.

The New CCP (and here follows a thoroughly opinionated rant...)

I visited the new Centre for Contemporary Photography the other day - actually by accident since we were shopping for furniture around the corner.  I found myself pretty under-whelmed by it.  I'm sure I'm not being fair but I expected something much more impressive - not just another cold, white walled, steel and glass building filled with work that should have been much more exciting.  Work - most of it wantonly big for seemingly no reason - drawing pinned to the wall (!).  It's not quite the 'world class exhibition space' I expected, and I can't help but think if we want other Australians to take photography seriously, and to develop world class exhibition spaces full of world class work, we need to work, and present our work at a much higher level.  It's not like the work isn't out there - Australia has an abundance of talent, but where we seem to fall down is making that talent visible. 

I've been lucky enough to travel pretty extensively, and the exhibitions I've seen in places like Barcelona, London, even smaller local shows in towns like Bath, have all been much more impressive than the CCP currently is.   Never have I seen photographs in a gallery drawing pinned to the walls, anyway.  But generally, exhibitions I've seen have tried to be much more inviting, to make the experience of seeing Art Photography comfortable and enjoyable - basic things like heating, benches to sit down on and consider the work, and some decent ambient music.  The work itself mounted at the least, although usually framed.  It's not rocket science - if you think your work is worth a piece of wall then it's worth a frame! 

What I felt really lacking was a cohesive curation of the work.  Some sort of quality control, and thematic consistency to tie the work together.  Some sort of real discussion about the works, and their context.  The problem with Art Photography (apart from the typically sloppy levels of craft and presentation), is that it simply doesn't stand up to considered viewing without some sort of context, some sort of meaning.  Art abhors a vacuum, or at the very least my brain does, and while the artist might have a clear vision about their work, too often the viewer is left to simply guess - and if the sheer visual quality of the work, and its presentation, is not up to snuff, it's hard to stay interested.  Asking people for their time, as you are if you're an Art Photographer looking for an audience, is a privilege and one not to be taken lightly in the modern world.  

Don't misunderstand me - the CCP obviously has great promise, it just needs a bit of polishing around the edges and to be a little more discerning perhaps in what it chooses to show.  That it exists at all is a blessing, and I wish it all the best and I'll be heading back regularly. 

Well, that's enough of a rant for this edition.  Hopefully you like the new format  - let me know if you do or don't!!  We look forward to working with you again soon, and as always if you know of anyone that needs scanning, fine art papers, colour management etc - spread the word!  Image Science exisits largely through word of mouth and we're very grateful!

Cheers, and wishing you health and happiness

Jeremy Daalder

Director

Image Science