Exhibitions

  • On January 21, 2016 ·
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“There’s Something about Alice”

Exhibition at Yubu Napa Gallery Alice Springs,

March 2015

It’s often said by those who live in Alice Springs or those who are serial returners,

that there’s something about Alice that keeps bringing them back.’

I titled this exhibition ‘There’s Something about Alice’ as I believe there is an indefinable quality about this town and country that I wanted to capture in images and writing. The ‘something’ that Alice Springs people talk about that draws them back to the red dirt and the Ranges.

Alice Springs is still a frontier town and its residents all know that the first thing you ask someone new when they come here is “What brings you to Alice?” and “How long are you staying?” A person’s past slowly filters through into the conversation, sometimes taking weeks and months. Being here, at this time, in Alice, is all that matters.

The spirit of Alice Springs captured my heart when I first came on a photography adventure with my colleague Barry Feldman.

However, the first day I landed, I ended up in Alice Springs hospital and spent the rest of the time recuperating after an appendix operation. That’s where I met Nancy Hall, one of the leading lights in the art and craft scene in Alice. This was to change the course of my life.

Meanwhile, Barry, as planned, went on the road, coming back with photographs that blew me away. I couldn’t let him get away with that! I had to return post haste and produce my own images.

Five weeks later I was back to run photography workshops and to take photographs. Within the next two months, I resigned from my position and moved here permanently.

If you live with a photographer, you know that waiting around, kicking the dust, whilst the shutterbug is in ‘shoot mode,’ is only for the long-suffering!

So I am indebted to my many newfound friends for their help and support.

Friends took me in and around Alice, listened, whilst I talked excitedly about the light, lenses, aperture settings, depth of field and composition, and provided me with so many wonderful opportunities: all with the local knowledge of places to go.

I have attempted to display an eclectic range of photographs to show the larrikinism, drama of country, changes in season, landscape and of course the colours of Central Australia.

The photographs were taken with a Canon 5D Mk2 and Nikon D200, 12 to 24 mm and 24 to 105 mm lenses and Canon S100.

Photographing out from Alice is an ongoing project. Maybe it is because of the geographic isolation or it’s the spontaneous attention given to injecting energy into Alice Springs.  Whatever it is, Alice makes life happen!  People who come here from all over the world are so willing to share there talents and their culture in this surprising, sometimes unforgiving country.

This is my first exhibition in Alice Springs and I am delighted to be invited to Yubu Napa Art Studio and Gallery as the photographer alongside such talented artists.