Sydney Photo Events

[goldie]

I've heard from a few sources that Chippendale pro lab Photo Technica went out of business this week. Not sure of the full story. The past year or so has seen a big shake out in the local pro lab scene. A couple of years ago there were at least 7 labs that did pro level E6 & other services within a 30 minute drive of me, including one lab that processed Scala. As of today I can think of only two.

This is what has happened since late 2005
Icon at Artarmon, who did Scala & E6 gave it up when Agfa went down. Reinvented themselves as a digital bureau.

Trannys at Crows Nest stopped processing film last year.

Vision at St Leonards stopped processing film & became a drop off & pick up spot for the Redfern branch.

Then Vision Redfern merged with the Lab to become Vision Imagelab.

With Photo Technica gone that leaves just Vision Imagelab & the Lighthouse.

Hard times for the big old pro labs.

[David Grenet]

Sad news - thanks for the update goldie

[Stephen Frizza]

Well as the owner off the lighthouse lab and having just celebrated the businesses second successful year. I want to say I ain't going anywhere but further forward into analog!

[Matthew Gorringe]

Nice one Stephen,
I'll have to drop by if I'm in the eastern suburbs. Any discounts for APUG subscribers?

[Stephen Frizza]

Hey Mattg look forward to seeing you, and yep I discount 10%

~Steve Frizza
The Lighthouse Lab

[Akalai]

"Conversations with the Mob" by Megan Lewis
...from the Sydney Writer's Festival website:
http://www.swf.org.au/component/opti...24/Itemid,192/

"In 2002, Walkley Award-winning photojournalist Megan Lewis went to live with the Martu people – one of the last indigenous groups in Australia’s vast Western Desert to come into contact with Europeans. Through this stunning collection of photographs and oral stories, Conversations with the Mob captures the beauty, humour, sadness and friendship of a traditional Aboriginal tribe at odds with western culture."

Free lecture/presentation by Megan Lewis on Saturday, May 24 2008 (12:30 - 13:30) to be held at;

Bangarra Theatre
Pier 4/5, Hickson Road
Walsh Bay

To get a better idea of her work it's worth reading the newspaper article below;

THE AUSTRALIAN: Private lives of the Mob
A photographer joined an Aboriginal community to record their lives in a book.
by Victoria Laurie | March 29, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-16947,00.html

...and Megan Lewis' website;
http://www.meganlewis.com.au/

If you plan on attending take an extra $49 with you... her book is amazing! The printed photos are much better than any of her work displayed on the web and the additional stories and information included make it a lot more than just another photo book, it's a really fascinating read and a lot can be learned from it... oh yeah and having had the chance to already hear her speak I can say she really shines as a human being!

[goldie]

I heard something about a Bill Henson exhibition in Paddington ...

[Tony Egan]

Per the ABC news tonight the opening has been cancelled due to claims of child pornography on exhibition with police examining the images on the Roslyn Oxley gallery web site. The gallery web site appears to be down as I write this. In the Sydney Morning Herald today it seemed arch-conservative columnist Miranda Devine may have been on the soapbox about this. (I never read her articles on principle but the mention of a photographer caught my eye) I assume some of Miranda's fans rang the authorities full of righteous indignation and the cops were brought in?

I'm a bit on the fence when it comes to Bill Henson's work. Some work I find very beautiful and compelling, others a bit disturbing and discomforting.

[goldie]

Hi Tony, yes I was alluding to that blow up in my earlier post. Was driving to visit a friend & the talkback radio was going off about this. 2GB Philip Clarke was interviewing Miranda Devine (arch right wing ratbags, both) & was ranting about a 53 year old man photographing naked teenage girls. I'm cynical enough to think that these creeps don't even believe most of what they're saying - it's just content for them. I'm not a huge fan of Bill Henson but I do regard him as a very good, sincere artist. I believe that he works with youth a lot because that was a key period in his own life that he wants to explore. I think it's the dirty minds that see filth where others don't.

[Wyno]

Hi Goldie and Tony,
I must admit I find some of his work disturbing but some is really good, and Goldie I agree about dirty minds seeing filth where there is none. I had this discussion this morning with the photography education manager at the TAFE where I work and we were both agreed on that point. He had taken his students to see the last Henson exhibition in Melbourne and was quite OK with the content. There was another thread about this sort of problem with some work by Nan Goldin (I think) in London. Bloody wowsers using their own problems to stop anyone else seeing something controversial.
Mike