Muybridge by Guy Delisle

This graphic novel covers a lot of Eadweard Muybridge's life, innovations and influence

Guy Delisle's art and storytelling are so engaging that I had read through this book within less than 24 hours. 

Muybridge is a name that was only a little bit familiar to me at first and his photograph showing a horse has all four hooves off the ground while galloping is a technical feat, although it's hard to appreciate from over one hundred years later. 

I had not known about his role in demonstrating the use of photography for public relations outcomes by the US Government, after the beauty of Yosemite was captured within a decade of it becoming the first national park.

These old cameras were heavy and involved to use, which reflects a commitment to camping and working in a remote location. 

Looking up Muybridge just now, I'm pondering the photographers influence on Ansell Adams -- who would become synonymous with that landscape. 

The innovations developed by Muybridge really are remarkable and Delisle links the invention of synchronised photography with the famous "bullet time" technique.

It was also interesting to learn his presentations used a moving picture technology that pre-dated cinema. 

This influence is relevant a quarter of a century later, as the recent film 28 Years Later used a portable rig of iPhones to great effect.

Bills horse trough

Darrell Jones is shown cleaning a Bills horse trough at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum

George and Annis Bills established a trust fund to support working horses that led to 700 troughs being installed throughout NSW and Victoria between 1930 and '39.

Are you cool?

We're working on an international collaboration later in 2025 and you're invited to get involved

The Stay Cool exhibition is looking for photography, poetry and music inspired by the landscape.

"We're asking people to share the locations where they feel a connection," said Curator Jason Richardson.

"It would be great if you have a photograph of the site to bring it along to one of the online workshops planned for March and April."

Details will be added here, so please bookmark it in your browser and visit again in early March.

A series of tutors from different parts of the world will share their tips for creating short, three-line poems that encompass insights into responses to the places identified by participants.

"These will draw on the hundreds of years of tradition that inform haiku to prompt observations of seasonal change and a connection to place," said Mr Richardson.

A selection of these poems will be distributed by Naviar Records, whose online community have been creating music and soundscapes from these creative prompts for over a decade.

"This project builds on a collaboration with Naviar that created the Crossing Streams exhibition in Narrandera during 2017, where dozens of poems were contributed by locals aged between eight and eighty."

The resulting installation at the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre included nearly six hours of music, as well as performances and workshops.

"We're looking forward to bringing together textual, visual and musical elements in a collaboration with like-minded creatives from around the world," said Mr Richardson.

This project is supported by the NSW Government through Western Riverina Arts and Create NSW. 

Kojo yakei

One of the things I like about my suburb is the industrial aesthetics mingling with gum trees

Every now and then I'll go out on my pushbike at night and come home with photographs.

So I'm excited by the Japanese term ‘kojo yakei’ meaning "factory night view" that has become a tourism phenomenon:

"The trend all began in 2007 when a book called Kojo Moe, meaning ‘factory passion’ was published. It featured photos of Japan’s factories, and gave details of the best places to go to see them."

 This could be a project for me in 2026, I think.

Uncle Michael

 

Cocoparra Corroboree

An historic moment to be part of the first corroboree within Cocoparra in over 150 years

Mental metal

These abandoned metal boxes

They have developed beautiful patterns.

I can see all sorts of things.

Historic cars

An historic car club visited work and I liked the sense of how the collection on display extended out into the carpark

I often say "Step back in time at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum."

Champion Exhibit: Summer Equinox

I won a prize at the 2023 Leeton Art Society exhibition

This photograph of a culturally-scarred tree I called 'Summer Equinox' as the theme for the acquisitive award was seasonal and late summer is when trees will give up their bark.

The printing onto pine was an opportunity to raise awareness about the impact of pine plantations in the Murrumbidgee Valley, since critics have said these take 110% of rainfall as they'll draw groundwater from neighbouring properties.

My entry was declared "Champion Exhibit" and it's led to my family calling me "champ"!

Mortar see

This brick wall in Jerilderie caught my interest

You can see how high the flooding has been by looking at the washed-out mortar.

The building overlooked the Billabong Creek, which runs through town.

I mentioned it to a local, who explained their husband had memories of walking along planks to reach the nearby primary school.

Painting with light

My youngest swirled a red and a blue torch under the full moon

I like the way the blue seems outside of the landscape, as well as the purple where they combine.

Butterflies love my mint

Some years ago I returned home from Burning Seed with a terrarium made from a plastic bottle and in it was a little mint plant

I’d built the terrarium at a workshop run by Di and Daryl at Mint Country Club, where they articulated the ten principles of Burning Man for an audience of mostly first-time Burners.

Di and Daryl are better known outside the Burner community for their attendance at country shows as First Light stilt walkers and they performed at Leeton’s show in 2019.

Anyway, I’ll cut a long story short, years later the mint now occupies a corner of my yard and is popular with a variety of insects.

As autumn begins the mint flowers are attended by bees, moths and an assortment of butterflies.

It’s surprised me how many types of butterflies flutter around.

At first I thought there were a few species, but after comparing my photos to Google’s search results, I think I’m up to around half a dozen now.

A photograph gives me the opportunity to identify their characteristics, like the spotted body on the Plain Tiger — which seems a misnomer.

And I didn’t know these small, bright yellow creatures are also butterflies.

I’ve said that nothing sorts out introverts and extraverts quicker than someone pointing a camera at them, and this seems to be true of butterflies.

The older-looking ones with faded and rough-edged wings will seem oblivious as I move increasingly closer to take photographs; while the pale ones are skittish and fly up over my head, sometimes circling around behind me to get back to the mint but other times continuing up over my house.

Another plant that seems to be popular with some insects is the basil I bought a supermarket

It’s worth getting a little punnet of living basil during spring, because if you treat it right it’ll supply you with fresh herb throughout the warmer months.

I found a caterpillar under one of the leaves this week, while picking the remaining leaves after the basil had flowered.

Hilltop holiday

One of the highlights of Christmas for me is spending time with my outlaws and seeing the landscape outside of Wagga

I've photographed sunrises and sunsets, as well as many blossoming plants. The Kurrajong trees, for example, were flowering like I've never seen before.

I was also surprised to hear a Grey Butcherbird among the more familiar birdsong, such as willy wagtail and magpie and crow.

I also saw this brown eagle, which was hanging around the chicken carcasses from Christmas lunch.

As I wandered about the land I saw lots of lizards and wondered whether they were, like the blossoming plants, having a good year for breeding.

I'd grabbed my camera to try and get a picture of this big skink, when I heard a rustle in the bushes and realised I wasn't the only spectator as the lizard basked in the afternoon light.

There was a brown snake -- which was a thrill to say the least!

You can see more pictures of wildlife that I've encountered on my Shotwildlife blog.

Grey Butcherbird melody

One of the recent Disquiet Junto activities was to recreate a favourite sound from memory



I chose the song of the Grey Butcherbird because it reminds me of waking up at Burning Seed.

This morning, Christmas 2017, I awoke to peachy colours and arose to collect my camera to photograph the sunrise.

It was nice to hear the Grey Butcherbird's taunt among the morning birdsong.



Hope you're enjoying the festive season.

Postscript: I've learned the bird is actually a gerygone.

Flashback to Henham Rd

Thought this photo at The Irrigator looked familiar

I took it in 2014!

Animal in a predicament

Recently I was introduced to the Facebook page Animals in Predicaments and have been amused by the sometimes surreal images and GIFs they share.

Just now while reading news websites, I saw this image from a story about a program to return pandas to the wild in China and wondered how long before it appears on their page.

The photograph is by Ami Vitale and has been shortlisted for a Sony World Photography award.

Picture perfect at Pioneer Park Museum

Among the line-up of complementary workshops planned for Griffith Pioneer Park Museum's 'Action Day' this Good Friday will be photography classes from a local living legend.

Garry Bazzacco has been capturing the City of Griffith for over four decades and will offer assistance to beginners and intermediate photographers.

"The workshops will cater for all interested people, from the novice to the enthusiast, being fully beneficial for all those that participate," said Mr Bazzacco.

The first workshops in the morning will introduce an understanding of camera settings. "Using a camera is basically painting with light and, just as a painter will have different brushes to create effects, cameras have different settings that are good to know if you want to get a certain result."

The second workshop at 2pm will apply camera settings to outdoor photography at the Museum. "There's is so much action on Action Day that I expect we'll be able to explore the real-world application of a few photographic techniques."

"I feel this is a great opportunity for the community to take part, to learn, and to promote the variety of arts and crafts our City has to offer, and what a better location than at the Museum."

Jason Richardson, Pioneer Park Museum curator, said these workshops were an opportunity for visitors on Action Day to improve their skills with a camera.

"These days many people have devices that can record photographs and I expect many will be doing so on Good Friday, so this will contribute toward capturing another historic day at our community museum."

This Good Friday will be the 46th Action Day since Griffith Pioneer Park Museum opened in 1971. There will be a range of activities for all ages, including rides and displays.

The Action Day workshops are supported by Arts NSW’s Country Arts Support Program, a devolved funding program administered by Regional Arts NSW and Western Riverina Arts on behalf of the NSW Government.

Photo on TV

Derek Motion shared this photo of my photo of sunrise over SunRice this morning on ABC News.

Kinda funny how quickly it would've been sent out of the Riverina and then broadcast back in again. Especially as I nearly didn't make it out to take the photo.

My favourite photo of the Rice Co-op is still this one.

Got a nice sunset pic?

If you've taken a nice photograph of a sunset, why not email it to Kate Morell?

I was moved to send a few of my pics to Kate after reading of her wish to see more than 14,000 sunsets before she loses her eyesight to Ushers syndrome.

Feeling unacknowledged

Surprised to see the photograph on the cover of Griffith City Council's Annual Report for 2015/16 is my image.

This photograph was also used on the invite to the opening and shows three of the sculptures created during the symposium at Pioneer Park Museum in April this year. From left to right the sculptures are:

• 'Eternity' by Tobel (cropped)
• 'Solido Grigio Silenzio' by Francesco Panceri
• 'Water is the Driver of Nature' by Hew Chee Fong 

Copyright laws promote acknowledging the work of photographers and it's good practice, however there would be room for my employer to argue they own the image as it was taken during work hours and using a phone they supplied.

I published it on Instagram, which also has a bunch of conditions that would ignore my moral right. They might even claim it was their photograph.

It's interesting that the moral right of an artist to be acknowledged does not extend to stating which artist created a sculpture shown in an image in the same way that one must acknowledge the photographer and also the details of other 2D visual art.

Copyright laws are weird like that because they're shaped by the lobbying of corporations and (so called) free trade agreements.