Six years ago I started work on a photo series I am still proud of now. 2015 was the first time I had applied for the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. What is now known as the open program was then called the fringe program. It was designed for photographers who weren’t as well known as those invited to be a part of the main program.
Up til then most of my photography had been nature based, but I was always a storyteller. I wanted to create something extra special for the foto biennale. I set about planning Journeys “Sometimes you aren’t equipped or prepared”. Months of planning went into the location and the outfits and I am still grateful to for the model who helped me tell this story.
I feel more comfortable being behind the camera than in front of it so it was wonderful to not have to fulfil both roles. The vision for the series was 10 key stills from a movie. One day I may have the budget to develop the project to its full potential. Until then it’s been interesting developing the NFT’s for this series so many years after shooting the stills.
It’s been a journey of bringing them to life one step closer to the ultimate goal. If you have already seen this series I hope you enjoy rediscovering it in this fresh way. If this is the first time you are discovering this story please share with me how it speaks to you.
The selective colour elements in each photograph was achieved while shooting. They are not colour photographs that have been de coloured in post. There was multiple reasons why I chose to shoot the series in this way. One of the key factors was the less control I had over how much colour was in each shot. Unlike shooting in colour which picks up all the colour shooting in selective colour means if there isn’t enough light on that colour the camera doesn’t recognise it as colour. In a studio this could have been worked around. Working outside without extra lighting this was part of the process.
Journeys 04 was one of the shoots where this was most evident. If she stood in the shade of the trees the camera saw no red. If she stood in the sunlight the camera saw lots of red. Meanwhile I could see the red the whole time. Varying the amount of colour in each photograph was key to where in the story line she was.
Not showing her face was also another deliberate choice. I wanted you to be able to put yourself in her shoes, even though she isn’t wearing any another deliberate choice. I felt showing her face could tell more about her than the character she was playing and thus her face is never visible.
Journeys II “Behind closed doors” NFT’s are coming later this month.
Journeys III “For those left behind” & Journeys IV “Sometimes things aren’t as they appear” are still rattling around in my head and I hope I can bring these to life in the years ahead.
If you are unsure how to start your NFT collection but want to start, just ask..