OznAsia

When I was much younger, I painted. Perhaps over the years I've become lazy and now I express myself with photography.

I wasn't the best artist around but I had certain principles that I worked by. At the time I was aware of artists who were very competent but they basically painted the same picture over and over with just a few minor changes; enough so that the person who bought it thought it was original. Perhaps they weren't particularly creative and they probably didn't improve much or learn much as artists but if you took a look at one of the many versions of their 'safe' painting you had to admit it was good.

I believe that art is about taking risks. My philosophy of art was that if I didn't learn something from each painting I created, I was wasting my time. My work wasn't conventional. I had to be pushing boundaries with each painting I created. This meant that probably none of my pictures looked perfect. I didn't care, that wasn't what I was aiming for. I never tried to sell my paintings. That wasn't my goal. I was doing them as a way of testing ideas I had about art. Was I any good? That's not for me to say but I did win some minor prizes in local art competitions and when I sat for the NSW Higher School Certificate my major work (shown here) helped to get me into the top 10% of art students for that year.

I believe that I can apply the same principles to photography. I feel I am more able to do this now that I have a camera that allows me to explore possibilities. Sure I take a lot of 'safe' shots too, especially when I want something quickly. But I enjoy myself most as a photographer when I take risks and push the boundaries. I often find when I admire another photographer's work and ask them how they achieved it that they have done so using mostly automatic settings. I'm trying to learn by using manual focus and other manual settings. It means that my pictures might not be as perfect as the photos of my friends but I'm learning just as I did with each of my paintings. I'm not aiming for 'safe' pictures. I'm aiming for something a little different. I don't want them all to look the same. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but if it fulfils my goal of learning something new each time, then I'm a happy photographer.

Donna at Barney Downs
John Shield, acrylic on canvas, 1980

My photos

Labels: art, camera, ego, photography, tolerance

If you take my advice and come to visit Cambodia and you ignore my advice and spend time in Phnom Penh then I would like to suggest an art gallery for you to visit. Most art galleries have hand produced copies of copies of copies of rural and Angkor scenes. What you see in one is almost the same as the next. Over the years I've spent a lot of time in Phnom Penh and so far I have only noticed one art gallery displaying original work. The work still draws on Khmer traditions but they are interpreted creatively. The gallery is situated diagonally across from the entrance to the National Museum (also worth a visit). It's called Asasax Art Gallery. I trust you will enjoy it.

Labels: art, Asia, Asian, Cambodia, Phnom Penh, travel

While I'm reminiscing about my early career as a typographer in the days long before personal computers, here's a story from those days.

At this particular time I worked in the Sydney office of a large American publishing company—a publisher of books and magazines. I won't mention the name but you would know them. I worked in the art department as a typographer. My assistant and I had the job of specifying the typography for all publications and promotional materials produced by the company.

The head of the art department was a man we'll call D—a nice man but he had a huge ego. I don't think he was particularly creative or knowledgeable. He was basically an administrator. Everything produced by the art department had to have his initials on it in a little rubber-stamped box in the corner. And before he would add his initials he always had to change something.

This drove me crazy. If I had a typographic layout I'd done I would take it to him and he would say something like, 'That looks good, John, but I think you should add just a little more space between these two lines here.'

And I would reply, 'Well, if we add more space there, then we need to take some space out of here and that upsets the balance of these elements here.'

He'd say, 'Yes, you're right John, then what you need to do is this...' and he'd make another suggestion that was worse than the first. I'd explain why that wouldn't work and he'd come up with another suggestion. At this point I realised that it was better to accept what he said because every suggestion got worse than the previous one and one way or another he was determined to have some input into my layout.

Among my colleagues in the art department were two illustrators, we'll call F1 and F2. They were both about the age I am now. F1 did very fine pen illustrations that resembled hand engravings. He got a lot of freelance work from publishers who wanted illustrations that looked like they were from a previous era.

F2's style was almost the opposite of F1's. Where F1's illustrations were fine and detailed and took hours, maybe days, to complete, F2's were very loose. He had the ability to pick up a pencil, put a few rough strokes on the paper and in no time you were looking at a very free representation of the subject. F1 greatly admired F2's ability. In fact, both of them were masters at their own particular form of illustration.

One day I returned to our section after having one of my layouts destroyed by D's ego. I had a chat with F1 (perhaps one of my first mentors). He pointed out that when F2 took a drawing down to D for approval, D would say something like 'That looks very good F but look at this guy's leg. It's a little too short.' F would return to his drawing board, throw the picture away, angrily grab the first pencil that came to hand and redo the picture, being very careful to get the leg right. Ten minutes later he'd take it down to D and D would say, 'Well, the leg looks great now F but unfortunately this guy's hat is a bit crooked.' So F would return, throw that one away and start again. Sometimes he would end up doing 20 versions of that one picture and eventually would end up with an F2 rendering of a D illustration.

F1 then showed me how he handled the situation. He would very carefully make an obvious mistake in his illustration, one that was easily fixed. He would take it down to D and D would say, 'Look at what you've done here, F. This guy's got six fingers!'

'How silly of me,' F would reply. He'd return to his drawing board and make the illustration the way he wanted it to be in the first place.

After that I started making obvious mistakes in my layouts and D and I got on fine.

BTW, there's a footnote to this story. There was a photographer in the art department about my age. He often worked back late. I discovered much later that after the others had gone home and before the cleaners had gone through, he would collect F2's reject drawings. I once saw one of F2's sketches framed in a gallery. It was selling for about the same as my weekly wages. Perhaps that photographer was smarter than all of us.

Labels: art, Australia, communication, ego

When I was preparing documents for my visa report I realised that I was getting low on ID photos. It's quite cheap to get someone to take them for you here in Thailand but I decided I could do better myself. I put my camera on a tripod, pointed it at my wardrobe, set the camera on delayed exposure, stood in front of the wardrobe and 'click'. I took several shots, experimenting with draping different types of cloth over the wardrobe to change the backdrop. Occasionally I pointed the camera a little carelessly and took one that was off centre.

This particular one with a silk-sheet background inspired me. On my computer I cropped it, fiddled with the exposure and sharpening, then put it through a watercolour filter, sharpened again and this is the result. Years ago I would spend many many hours with paints and canvas to produce a picture. This little effort took me about ten minutes all up.

I decided to link my flickr page more definitely with this blog by giving them the same icon and name. And at this point in time my ID pics are about as up-to-date as they can be.

Labels: art, camera, photography

Last week Thai language students at MSU gave performances of a play adapted from a traditional Thai folk tale called 'Khun Chang Khun Pan'. It was presented in Thai. I didn't expect my Thai listening skills to have progressed to the point of being able to follow it. But being a storyteller I was interested. I found an abbreviated version of the story online that gave me the plot. At Saturday night's performance I don't claim to have followed the details but I knew who the important characters were and had some idea of what was going on.

Khun Chang and Khun Pan are two men who love the same woman, Nang Wantong. She agrees to marry Khun Pan. They plant a tree as a symbol of their love. When Khun Pan goes off to war, Khun Chang pours hot water on the tree killing it. He tells Nang Wantong that this is proof that her husband is dead and offers to marry her. This goes well until Khun Pan returns and demands his wife back. However Khun Pan has not exactly been faithful to his wife. He has a few other wives who he married in his travels. Eventually he goes off again and Wantong takes up with Khun Chang once more. But she is pregnant to Khun Pan and bears his son who doesn't get on too well with his stepfather. There are many fights between them and the son wants the stepfather dead. After many years Khun Pan returns and declares his love for her. The king steps in and tells her she has to declare which husband she really loves. She can't make up her mind. I guess the moral of the story is that a woman should not have two husbands as the king has her executed.

The standard of the production was up to what I would expect from a better amateur production in Australia. The costumes were colourful and, to me, looked authentic. Musical backing was well integrated with some of the musicians also taking small parts in the play. I look forward to their next production.

More pictures of the play are on my current flickr page--see 'my latest photos' link on the sidebar.

Labels: art, Asia, drama, folklore, performance, play, thailand

When I lived in Mahasarakham, back six years ago, I remember I had to go to the dance department of the university to meet one of the dance teachers who also helped teach the English students drama. When I got there he had a class and I was invited to sit and chat with him while his students practised their dance movements. 

Students at Thai universities wear uniforms. Mostly they are plain black and white. Some departments have their own uniforms. These dance students were wearing theirs which included a sarong that somehow wrapped back between their legs and connected again at waist level at the back turning the sarong into a baggy pair of pants. That's what these students were wearing on the day I visited. I felt I was very lucky to be able to sit and watch them practise. It was like I was getting my own performance and it was very beautiful to see.

During that year I had many opportunities to see the dance students perform, not in the uniform but in beautiful traditional costumes. One night I was asked to be MC for a night of performances of traditional Thai dance and music that was presented for visiting palaeontologists. I've always enjoyed these performances. It's part of what makes it special for me to live in Mahasarakham.

On Friday night I was wandering around the night market when I noticed some students in the baggy sarong uniform. I knew they must be from the dance department. Later I could hear some announcements being broadcast from the amphitheatre which is right next to the night market. I went to look. In fact, there's been something happening there almost every night of the past week. It's getting close to the end of the semester and I guess the various departments have special presentations to make. This looked like it might be a performance of those dance students I'd just seen. I decided to wait and see and it was.

First there were some group performances like the one you see in the photo above. This was followed by solos from each of the students. Perhaps they were being assessed. I'm not sure but I got to sit in on some wonderful performances and had a delightful evening.

My only regret was that I only had my little camera with me. It's OK for day-to-day shots but doesn't handle the night-time action shots so well. Still I got one or two half-reasonable shots that show some of the intricate and often colourful costumes. You can see them by following the link to my photo page on the sidebar. To see the pictures larger click on them. If you are visiting this page some time after I post it you might find I've added many new photos. You can go straight to the dance photos by clicking this link and then clicking through the photostream by clicking the thumbnails of the photos both before and after the one that opens. Enjoy.

Labels: art, Asia, camera, dance, fx3, Mahasarakham, performance, thailand

A friend recently sent me a link to some photographs of Cambodia. They are exceptionally good pictures. I urge you to take a look. I recommend you give yourself half an hour to view them properly. There are many photos and well worth the time.

After you are check them out, follow some of the links on the site. This guy is a Chinese photographer, or should I say artist, who has captured beautiful pictures of many parts of Asia. Enjoy.

Labels: art, Asia, Cambodia, photography, travel

A few years back on one of my early visits to Thailand I was taken by a friend to visit Muang Boran, the Ancient City, in Samut Prakan province, south of Bangkok. It was such a good introduction to Thai culture that I was happy when Nee suggested I join her and a group of friends making a day visit for the Makha Bucha holiday yesterday.

Muang Boran consists of over 100 exhibits. Many are scaled (but still large) replicas of ancient monuments. If you have time to travel around Thailand you can see the real thing in full size. If you only have a day you can see these replicas at Muang Boran. In fact, it would be a challenge to see it all and do it justice in a day. MB covers an area of 320 acres. The shape of the property roughly represents a map of Thailand. You can follow a map and find the monuments roughly where they exist in Thailand.

Nee arranged to hire a van for the day which picked us up early in Bangkok. We arrived at MB at about 10 am and didn't leave until just before it closed at 5 pm. I filled my 1GB card on my camera. That's over 400 photos in a day. I've never done that before. Although I admit many were of my friends goofing off. There were two other photographers in the group. One was posing all his friends and clicking madly with his Canon DSLR. He seemed to have unlimited memory and battery power. I was content to capture them in the act of posing rather than posed. My third battery had almost run out when we left Samut Prakan just after 6 pm.

It takes time to process all these photos. Keep an eye on my flickr page and you'll see them appear gradually over the next few weeks. There's already a few on my grandchildren's blog.

If visitors to Thailand read this, I recommend you arrange some form of transport for getting around Muang Boran. There are several options available to visitors and you won't get far on foot.

Labels: art, Asia, camera, flickr, Muang Boran, Nee, photography, thailand, travel

My son, David, has been experimenting with digital art. I've never tried this myself so I don't know how difficult it is. I gather to some extent it is a random process but as with conventional art, one of the secrets is knowing when to stop. I decided to put just one of his pictures here for your enjoyment. It was hard for me to choose one that I like more than the others. So, if you like this perhaps you would also like his gallery. Enjoy

Labels: art, family