Fifties Fair 2008

I've been so excited waiting for the Fifties Fair to roll around again, and the crowds this year were bigger and better than ever.  I haven't seen it so busy, it was amost impossible getting to the market stalls to browse and look at the goodies.  I just hope that it hasn't outgrown it's venue of Rose Seidler House, I'm sure it was an almost capacity crowd on sunday!  The fashion, make-up, shoes, hair - the hair! All gorgeous and so meticulous.  And of course the music - what a stand out!  The highlight?  Well that would have to be seeing the beauty parlour and knowing they hold hair and make-up sessions that transport you back in time - and they're not too far from where I live!  Yippee!  Guess who'll be treating herself to some little make-over magic soon?!  If you'd like to see more images from the day, go to my website and click on Fifties Fair 2008.  I can make the images available for sale through RedBubble for anyone interested.  Enjoy!

 

Fifties Fair 2008 - my late Feature Monday

Yes, I know, it's wednesday and I'm late with my Feature Monday! I have a valid excuse for being late in showing you some fine images - that's because I was busy going through the images I took at sunday's Fifties Fair held at Rose Seidler House! Yeh! I went along and remembered my camera and took along spare batteries (phew!) and best of all plucked up the courage to take some shots of the gorgeous people having fun at the fair! I've uploaded my absolute favourites onto my website and can make copies available for sale through my profile at RedBubble for anyone interested.

I was inspired by the images at the recent Rockabilly exhibition by Steven Siewert, the Sydney Morning Herald photographer and held at the Museum of Sydney. Does he have a rockabilly book out? I so wanted to see more of those images. At least I have a little collection of my own now to view and share.

Along with the the beauty parlour offering 1950's make-overs, the other highlight would have to have been June Dally Watkins telling us all that good manners and good posutre is all you need to get by in this world - bless her little bobby sox!

Lines in Art & Nature

Many a conversation, a piece of art, begins with a humble spoken or drawn line.  Whether man made or found in nature, lines surround our everyday.  So when the challenge went out in "A Photographer's Craft" to submit images showing strong lines, it was always going to be interesting to view the results.  There are also many a quote pertaining to lines - we are said to read between the lines, we can draw the line, we don't want to be found behind enemy lines, we can live with silken lines and silver hooks, our faces are lined - it's endless - they are everywhere.  Strong lines in nature and those that are man-made are beautiful, they have symmetry, they appeal to our senses and make us feel comfortable, below are images from the latest challenge.

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="215" caption="Diagonal by Rose Atkinson"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="177" caption="Golden Reeds by PeterG"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="175" caption="New York City 8 by Adrian Rachele"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="166" caption="Wall by Karri Klawiter"][/caption]

Feature Monday - Fine Art Photography

The days fly by, the months fly by, our lives fly by if we're not careful. We need to remember to stop and enjoy the views around us and take in the sights and sounds that make up our every day. This week, there's a bit of a mix to my Feature Monday. The first image is by Dana DiPasquale, and maybe because I'm gripped with cold and can dream of nothing nicer than dipping my toes in that glorious golden water she has captured, it certainly holds an attraction to me - and it's surely warmer than where I am at the moment!





Another image that makes me dream of holidays spent in the sun, relaxing and catching up with family and friends - surely a most deliciously exotic location and captured beautifully by lallymac.

And while I'm daydreaming of warmer climes, why not daydream about other times - in this case, the '70's. With retro being all the rage at the moment, how fitting to capture the craze and shoot some simply '70's styled bowls, add some edgey cropping and you have a very hip-an-happening piece of wall art to impress your friends when next they visit! Very cleverly done by Nikki Trexel.

And finally, this image brings me crashing back to earth and what is reality in today's society. You can live in the most modern of societies, but that doesn't prevent parts of society from struggling to function in the way that society would like us to. This image by Rose Atkinson shows just where we as a society have succumbed, that we can simply walk by and carry on as though the crumpled lives sitting or lying propped against the city streets are simply ragged clothes and not fellow human beings.

Feature Monday - Fine Art Photography

Monday's a great day of the week - the start of all good intentions when we resolve to complete the week as we have begun it...ha ha ha...it doesn't always work that way, with commitments getting in the way, friends and family to catch up with, then there's sleep too! At least there'll always be a Monday where the good intentions can begin again.

It's my intention, as it is every Monday, to showcase some great photographs that bring a smile to my face, and here's some that do just that!

"The Path to the Beach" by Alf Caruana, a Melbourne based photographer, not only won a recent RedBubble Black & White photograph challenge with this image, but also won a Silver Award in the Canon Better Photography of the Year 2008. Beautifully shot and edited, and an image that can be looked at for hours!

"That's a Bad Ass Tee" by Natalie Perkins makes me glad that not everyone is as impatient in life as I am. If Natalie were as impatient, I don't think any of her beautiful hand drawn creations would see the light of day - they would all remain firmly within her head for only her imagination to see and enjoy. It exhausts me to think how long it must take to create a piece as intricate and detailed as a hand drawn paisley print - now that's patience!

"Ancient Mist" by Sue Wickham another Melbourne based photographer I've discovered on RedBubble. Her photo in the fog is so beautiful, and even though I'm sitting here freezing in the middle of a cold snap and can't imagine being outside in such weather, there's something really quite serene about the photograph; maybe it's the lushness, or the tiny flowers scattered all over the bush floor or maybe it's even the distant sun struggling to make itself felt through the fog - there's a magic to it that make me smile.

Which brings me to my final piece for Feature Monday - PROMOTE YOURSELF as Dave Pearson has done here with his winning poster on a Promote Yourself challenge - and as with all good intentions that start on a Monday, promoting youslef, whether that be in real life on online should be done each and everyday, and not just on a Monday when you're fresh and rested and full of vim and vigour - ha ha ha! I hope that by placing Dave's poster here, it will inspire me to do likewise with my work.

Enjoy!

A Symbol of Hope - Fine Art Photography examples

What does the term "Symbol of Hope" mean to you?  Wikipedia defines hope as being the belief of a positive outcome, especially in relation to an amount of depair or wanting or wishing or suffering.  We can hope for such basic, trivial and mundane things such as "I hope my washing dries before it gets dark", "I hope there's chocolate in the cupboard for me to snack on" to a deeper, more urgent need to hope - "I hope she'll be alright", "I hope I can make it to the hospital in time", " I hope a cure for cancer can soon be found".

It's always interesting when asking artists to depict an abstract emotion such as hope.  It can be more challenging than it first seems - how do you show hope in an image?  And what does hope sybolise to you?  As august is Cancer awareness month here in Australia, it was timely to ask artists from "A Photographer's Craft" to submit images to this challenge.   These artists have also donated works through "The Gift of Art" where all the artists' proceeds are being donating to the National Cancer Insitute. The disease that is cancer affects each and everyone of us.  I don't think I've come across a person for a long while, who hasn't in some way been affected by this disease.  I am hopeful of a cure, I am hopeful that as a society we are doing all we can to assist those researchers in finding a cure, and to help those who are living with the disease.

The following images were submitted by those artists who wanted to show their "Symbol of Hope".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whether it's the early morning rays of light, a dove in full flight, the fresh face of youth, a guardian angel watching over you, the strength that is nature or your faith in your God, it's important that we hold that sense of hope.  Thanks goes to Adrian Rachele, Mark German, Dana DiPasquale, Sue Wickham, lallymac, Redtempa, Tom Vaughan and Karri Klawiter for taking part in the challenge and allowing this images to be shown on this blog.