Please help make ‘The Korea Project” happen…

I have begun a new body of work called ‘The Korea Project’ exploring the cultural relationship between Korea and Australia and the ways in which Korean migrants establish a sense of belonging in a new country.

My intentions are two-fold in that it tells a personal story but also a common one. I was raised in Australia but my mother is Korean having migrated here with my Australian father in the early 1970s. As a Korean-Australian, I have straddled two worlds, yet in many ways, belonged to neither. I am fascinated by this tension in identity and how the merging of two cultures can shape one’s experiences and perspectives of the world.

As a photographer, I am interested in the way migrant communities adapt to new environments, particularly in western cultures and much of my work explores themes of identity, belonging and community set mostly in the context of the Australian suburbs. I strongly believe that photography can be used as a social tool to inform, educate and inspire audiences about the lives of others. With this in mind, I’m looking forward to getting out of suburbia (at least for a little while!) to travel to Korea and begin this new project. Longer term outcomes will be a full-scale travelling exhibition and a book publication.

However, with a changing editorial market, raising funds to pursue such projects is now more difficult than ever so I have decided to raise the required funds myself and supplement this with personal savings in order to ensure my objectives are achieved. To this end, I have just launched two fundraising campaigns. One via the crowd-sourcing site Indiegogo and the other via the Australia Business Arts Foundation’s (ABAF) Cultural Council. Both campaigns are aimed at raising funds to help offset associated costs such as film, processing, scanning, printing as well as the logistics involved with both photography and travel.

For more information please visit the project website: www.thekoreaproject.com.au where I will post regular updates as the project progresses. A Korean translation will soon be added to the site.

Please also take a moment to check out IndieGoGo and to share it with your friends. All the tools are there. Get perks, make a contribution, or simply follow updates: http://bit.ly/hrTHhf OR if you are an Australian taxpayer you can also make a tax-deductible donation via ABAF: http://bit.ly/dOjS1f (sorry this one is a no-go if you are related to me! Why don’t you Indiegogo instead?)

If enough of us get behind it, we can make ‘The Korea Project’ happen. Please don’t hesitate to forward this email on to your networks, to get in touch if you would like more information or if you wish to discuss any aspect of the project.

Light Journeys presents Marian Drew

Light Journeys is proud to present Brisbane based artist Marian Drew as our featured artist for March:

from the series Australiana

(courtesy Marian Drew)

Light Journeys presents Leila Jeffreys

Light Journeys is proud to present Sydney based photographer Leila Jeffreys as our featured artist for February:

from the series Portrait of a Budgerigar

(courtesy Leila Jeffreys)

Light Journeys presents Michelle Tran

Light Journeys is proud to present Melbourne based photographer Michelle Tran as our first featured artist for 2011:

from the series Double Life

(courtesy Michelle Tran)

Light Journeys presents Narelle Autio

Light Journeys is proud to present Adelaide based photographer Narelle Autio as our featured artist for December:

from the series The Summer of Us

(courtesy Narelle Autio)

Projections 2010

Here is the official blurb on the Projections for 2010. (I won last year’s 2009 competition):

Be the first to spot Australia’s next top photographer at Projections 2010, proudly presented by ACMP in Association with Sony. In November, Sydney, Melbourne Canberra and now Brisbane will host screenings of the finalists of Projections 2010 – an annual competition that is rapidly becoming a major talent-spotting event for the next generation of top photographers.

Photographers with less than 3 years’ professional experience have submitted a series of works and are vying for one of five titles: Best Editorial Photographer; Best Commercial Photographer; Best Art Photographer; People’s Choice Award; and the grand prize, Best Overall Photographer, and the new Pool Grant worth $10K to a lucky emergent photographer.

Creative directors, art directors, photographers producers and lovers of a fabulous visual feast are invited to come and have a few drinks, dive into the work in full HD screenings and meet some fresh photographic talent.

Projections is now in its 7th year, jointly presented by the Australian Commercial and Media Photographers (ACMP) and Sony. Entries in Projections are in a unique format – photographers are asked to submit a thematic series of images, rather than individual shots.

To best display the finalists work , it is shown in a full cinematic experience complete with soundtrack at the Chauvel Cinema in Sydney on November 16 and at the Astor in Melbourne on Tuesday 9th November. Canberra will host a screening at M16 Art Spaces’s new premises in Griffith on Thursday 18th November.

The photographers are competing in five categories – Best Commercial Photographer; Best Art Photographer; Best Editorial Photographer; People’s Choice Award; and the grand prize, Best Overall Photographer. As well as the new components, Sony’s make.believe competition and The Pool Grant, created by Sean Izzard and Simon Harsent.

In its first few years of existence, Projections has produced an alumni of photographers who are gaining traction in the industry, both within Australia and around the world.

Tickets for the screenings in both cities are available from www.acmp.com.au/events – and at only $30 a pop for non members and $25 for ACMP members, including drinks and nibbles, you can afford to take the plunge and dive into Projections 2010.

For more information contact Sacha Walters on 0418 264 755 or admin@acmp.com.au or visit www.theprojections.com

Family Ties

Bite! Magazine is currently working on a brand new multimedia project. They would like to include as many quotes, from you, as possible on the one theme, familiar to all of us: Family.

Share your thoughts at http://www.bitemagazine.net/family-is/

Deadline is Monday night and the multimedia project will be featured on iTunes by the end of November.

Anonymous family photograph

Light Journeys presents Shauna Greyerbiehl

Light Journeys is proud to present Sydney based photographer Shauna Greyerbiehl as our featured artist for November:

from the series Daily Motion

(courtesy Shauna Greyerbiehl)

Light Journeys presents Katrin Koenning

Light Journeys is proud to present Melbourne based photographer Katrin Koenning as our featured artist for October:

from the series Thirteen: Twenty Lacuna

(courtesy Katrin Koenning)

Dead Calm…

OK well maybe not so much. I know I’m not posting anything these days and partially this is because I’m a bit over it, too busy and I think the blog was really aimed at tracking my own progress with my studies, which now thankfully is finished, approved and done. Also, I want to spend less time blogging and writing about photography and actually make them instead! And like most people I have to earn a living so making work is (out of necessity) squeezed in between everything else that is going on. Anyway, I do have a future online project being planned so keep an eye out and I shall make a final post here later in the year to notify everyone, before finally putting this blog to sleep.

In the meantime there are a few things worth blogging about. Firstly, my friend Andy Adams over at Flak Photo is running a promotion month for Hijacked 2 which is currently touring Australia as an exhibition. You can also buy the book which I can highly recommend – it will be money well spent, rest assured. You can check it out at Andy’s website or on Facebook here. Or better go see the exhibition or attend a launch party. Dates and venues are:

Australian National University – School of Art Gallery, Canberra
8 September – 2 October 2010

Monash Gallery of Art – Melbourne
29 October 2010 – 16 January 2011

Queensland College of Art Gallery Griffith University – Brisbane
19 February – 24 April 2011

Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum University of South Australia – Adelaide
13 May – 1 July 2011

John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University – Perth
21 July – 11 September 2011 .

Also, I’m heading down to Melbourne tomorrow to attend the opening of the Bowness Photography Prize at the MGA, in which I am a finalist with the following image. So attention Melbournites, make it out to the Gallery for a beer and some great photography!

Another little gem discovered recently is the work of Ketaki Sheth, an Indian photographer who is currently showing work at the Photo Ink gallery in New Delhi, India. Her series “Twinspotting” is terrific and definitely worth a look. If you can spare the very low price of $20, you can buy the book at The Book Depository here.

Lastly, please help support a very worthwhile project over at Kickstarter by Marc McAndrews. I posted about Marc’s new series Nevada Rose a little while back and he is now working on publishing the book  for release next year. But as we all know, the world of self-publishing is still expensive (especially if you want to do it well) and Marc is looking for backers to help him with the scanning costs. Every dollar will help and he only has till October to raise the funds. So get your altruistic hat on and support a fellow photographer. It’ll come back to you eventually and if you commit to $125, you’ll actually get a signed copy of a first edition book, definitely a good investment and a quick turnaround on a good deed.

Stay tuned for more good things happening…….