Zozo, a legend in her own lifetime….

My beautiful and loyal furry friend left this world last weekend after 12 fabulous years. Found on a whim at the RSPCA, Zoe (or Zozo as she has affectionately become known) actually looked like an overgrown chihuaha – big ears, swollen belly – but it was her personality that got me. She was with me throughout my relationship, survived countless moves across the country as well as other (naughty sheep-eating) pets; protected my little brood of bairns and never gave up on me – even when it might have seemed that I did her.

Thankyou Carl, our wonderful homeopathic vet, who helped make Zoe’s final transition a peaceful one.

Big girl, there’ll never be another dog like you. We will miss you and love you always…….. xxx

Zoe Puppy

Zoe – Stick Fetcher

Zoe’s Last Day

Zozo’s resting place , where Zoe is now catching endless sticks with her pals Bulla, Maude and Jesse!

La vida es un partido!!

Life has been mental as anything, and I’m wondering how long it’ll keep going on like this! All I know is that I’m doing the right thing, living in my bubble and just staggering ahead on full steam (or more accurately, on the smell of an oil-rag!). Not making as many images as usual, however I have made a number of submissions recently into photo comps and other awards. It all makes for good practice and one hopes that getting your name bandied around might potentially pay-off? We shall see, I’m sure I am helping to pay for other peoples’ prize $$. It certainly isn’t a cheap exercise, especially on my ridiculous budget.

Nevertheless, life goes on…… I am due for a review next week which will be interesting to say the least. I’m not sure that I’ve progressed my writing much at all, though I will have some new images to show. Helen Ennis is now officially my new supervisor in Chaitanya’s absence, and I think will present some significant and much needed challenges for me. Our first meeting had me present her with a handful of my favourite photographs (a difficult task given how many brilliant ones there are out there) and from which I explained what it was I liked about them. Interestingly, a few themes emerged in terms of what I am attracted to visually. It’s not an approach I had thought of before in terms of tackling a beginning point in one’s writing but it certainly makes sense to begin with an image rather than a ‘topic’ as such. I’m hoping that this may cure me of my seemingly unending writer’s block! It truly is annoying……

Another good exhibition on at the moment at the NGA is Very Important Photographs (VIP) It’s an interesting collection from the NGA’s archives which I visited with a friend (followed by finger sandwiches and excellent coffee up in the well-positioned cafe! A must do for gallery visitors.) The one photographer who I didn’t know about before this show was the late 19th/early 20th century Melbourne based photographer J.W Lindt. There was something in his work that really struck me, despite their rather formal and stiff overtones, which was very much the mood of ethnographic inquiry at the time. Researching information about Lindt on the net yielded this interesting review of the South Australian artist Alan Cruickshank’s witty and insightful series called The Arcanum Museum (see composite below):

 

I also attended Martyn’s floortalk today at the VIP exhibit where he discussed one particular image of Lindt’s titled ‘The capture of Joe Byrne’ (??) An interesting departure for Lindt from his formal and posed portraits, nearly a snapshot, the image below is actually a cropped version. It was excellent to hear Martyn’s investigation into the images that he’d chosen to discuss and was a lesson for me to really look at photographs in order to analyse and/or interpret them.

Also on show was Weegee (Arthur Fellig) whose images confirm him as one of my all time favourite photographers. The ICP in NY has a section dedicated to him on their website called Weegee’s World: Life, Death and the Human Drama. Potent sub-heading… I mean what else is there in life??

So, I continue to be a busy bee and I shall leave you with a few images to ponder (see extras filed under the WIP page) taken where my mate Frank lives at the Bungendore Motel. The party with the South Americans did eventuate in the end and it was one very strange experience. It was brilliant to be there and photograph it….. with a little help from Frank and lest we forget…. Chofi (my new agent apparently!). Gracias cada uno, tenía un gran rato!!

Chofi

Mascarlito and Johanna