Grapey grapey…

I’m totally addicted to grapes.

Ok. So that was mostly a way of putting pictures of grapes on the screen while I made a parody of the old Josh Abrahams song “Addicted To Bass”. But I bet you didn’t know that it was also a test for the Talkr plugin I’ve currently got installed on this blog that lets you listen to the blog.

Go on, click the bit that says “Listen to this post” to hear the crazy computerised voice of Silicon Sarah* (not her real name) sing “Totally Addicted To Grapes”.

Or say it, anyway.

Here’s an infrared photo of a vineyard in the Hunter just in case you’re still annoyed at the lack of parody lyrics I’ve provided.

Seriously, I’m digging grapes at the moment.

]]> http://www.leighlo.com/2009/04/totally-addicted-to-grapes/feed/ 0 http://www.leighlo.com/2009/04/dirty-gritty/ http://www.leighlo.com/2009/04/dirty-gritty/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:48:02 +0000 Leigh :) Stark http://www.leighlo.com/?p=736 While out on a photographic walk a couple of weeks ago, I decided to slap on my new infrared filter and get some shots (it’s new because my old one fit a different ring size and this one is larger).

This turned out to be a good idea as it let me flex my old infrared-enjoyment muscle. I think it’s called my “brain” or something.

Got no idea, really. But it was fun.

Plus, I love the grainy look I’ve always been able to pull out of the way I post-process things. The IR and the high-ISO that these images have only helps me think that this looks a hell of a lot better & more classic.

Of course, I could be wrong. Wait, no I can’t… it’s my opinion!

More images after the jump…

These images were shot on a part of a walk called “The Great North Walk” which actually starts in Sydney and ends in Newcastle.

Obviously, I haven’t walked the entire stretch.

However, these images come from the part of the walk we did do that day: from Woolwich to Drummoyne. In total, we walked around 12 kilometres.

These images have been processed using black & white settings designed to take advantage of infrared photography.

The rest of the pictures are below in an order that feels like a series…

I should say right off of the cuff that I have no problem with the said image. It is art; plain and simple. The works of Ms. P (whom I have always called "Ms. P" because I have no idea how to say Papapetrou) have always been about young girls and innocence. If I remember correctly, she photographs her daughter as the subject of her art. Please correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

I'm not going to debate the issue of naturistic art versus porn because we've all been down this pointless road before. Naked children are naked children. Those of you who automatically think that a naked child constitutes child pornography need to absolutely, well & truly wake up to the fact that you may in fact be idiots.

No, this time I take aim at Art Monthly Australia who have done something sick. It's not "sick" in the way Morris Iemma thinks it is; he thinks the image is "sick" in its nature. That's fine. Everyone has their own opinion. I happen to think that Iemma is an idiot: that's MY opinion.

Instead, Art Monthly Australia have done something "sick" by reintroducing the dead horse and well and truly flogging it to within an inch of becoming that mystery meat that sits in a meat pie.

Last month, Bill Henson got a media & political shafting when a reporter decided to act on what might appear to be "good conscience" and inform child protection society Bravehearts that these new Bill Henson works were little more than child porn. What ensued was a media circus. Day after day of Henson this, child porn that. Regional galleries decided they wanted a share of the publicity — I mean fun — and tell police about their Henson artworks.

Once again as art seems to be able to do as effectively as religion, the community was divided. Conservatives, concerned parents, and politicians were claiming outrage and calling for prosecution, while the art world couldn't see what everyone was so pissed off about.

And everyone in the art community knew there was no chance that Henson could have been prosecuted.

Guess what? He wasn't. The Office of Film & Literature Classification rated his works as being "mild and justified" and rated PG. The works were returned and the exhibition moved on. The topic stopped being so vital for news desks around the country and we all moved on to vital things.

Like news. Real news.

But now we're back here again because the editor of Art Monthly feels that the topic still needs some talking (which he's right) and that it needs to be introduced by way of a 2003 image that's being used to prove publicity– err, I mean topic stimulation.

Seriously, the Bill Henson debate got spurred by way of an accident. Henson didn't engineer those images to be controversial or to spark talks about the right or wrong of naked children in art. The media came along and pulled what they wanted from the images never caring for what got distorted along the way.

Did it spark controversy? Yes. Was it intentional? Absolutely not.

That is, however, entirely different from sticking an image a few years old on the cover of an art magazine. While Art Monthly's editor Maurice O'Riordan can claim the good journalist act all he wants with reasons like the "hope of restoring some dignity to the debate" and "validate nudity and childhood as subjects for art", his actions don't add up.

If Art Monthly really wanted to have this discussion, they wouldn't need to find another Australian image to stick on the front cover to intentionally cause controversy.

Further, unless that image is being run in a new exhibition, how is Art Monthly really upholding their own editorial values?

Now granted, I have yet to read this issue, but my comments aren't about the photo so I'm not one of those idiots who condemned Henson without actually viewing the work.

What I don't like seeing though is intentional controversy that is, for all intents & purposes, entirely unnecessary.

And has anyone at Art Monthly asked Ms. P if she would like to be the flame-tipped sword or this publication's catalyst that gets it some much needed publicity while potentially damaging her reputation?

The artworks are still fine and the conversations absolutely need to be had, but surely the editor of Australian Art Monthly could have come up with a way to look like less of an ass looking for free advertising.

Or maybe not. The article on their site about the child porn debate is listed as being entry "666."

Edit: Apologies if this seems poorly written near the end. I was falling asleep as I was posting this

As a photographer who used to work at the gallery in question as the web manager, I can tell you that the images aren't anything new for Henson. This sort of work has been a part of his repertoire for a long while now.

For those who didn't have the foresight to look at a concept of art, allow me to be an ass an explain it to you: it's called naturist photography. This isn't exactly new, and for a lesson in history, please research the following (if you're going to get your backs up about this): David Hamilton, Sally Mann, and Jock Sturges to name but a few.

Now I happen to like a lot of their photography. I don't look at the nudity and go "oh, well that's a child there" but instead look at the photography as a whole… as that's what photography is. An image, not an element. Sure, you can break up a photo over analysis by looking at individual elements, but a photo is not about singular elements. It is a collection bringing to the point an understanding about something – anything – and if you're hung up on Bill Henson's nudity you're not looking at the images or getting the point.

Which in turn brings me to this point:
If I like the work of Sally Mann or Jock Sturges and I own a book, am I able to be convicted of a crime?

The works are art. They're not porn. Which leads me to my next point because what I love about this entire pointless thing is that people are calling Henson's work pornography. As a connoisseur of porn, let me just fill those of you in who don't know what porn is.

Porn is not "nudity" unless you're talking specifically about "softcore porn" which no porn lover would ever consider porn.

Porn is about sex. Occasionally control but by and large sex as a whole.

If I am naked, I am not pornographic. I am merely naked.

Nudity is nudity. It is a naked form and unless you're going to start drawing parallels between heading to the Art Gallery of New South Wales and seeing painted pornography, you're looking at the wrong idea.

I won't deny that there are photographers who indulge in pornographic photography, but just because you take a picture of a person in their naked flesh does not mean that you're taking a picture of something pornographic. And age is irrelevant in that.

If I am 24 and I am naked and only naked in the act than I am just as un-pornographic as a 12 year old accomplishing the same act of standing in the nude.

Now, let's take a look at the NSW Crimes Act which I found through reading a forum thread over this very issue.

"child pornography" means material that depicts or describes, in a manner that would in all the circumstances cause offence to reasonable persons, a person under (or apparently under) the age of 16 years:
    (a) engaged in sexual activity, or
    (b) in a sexual context, or
    (c) as the victim of torture, cruelty or physical abuse (whether or not in a sexual context).

A child naked not engaged in sexual activity is not porn. The models in the Henson imagery are not engaged in sexual activity. That's point A. They're not point C as that doesn't really match Henson's subjects.

Point B is the one that people are stuck on and it's this whole "sexual context" some of you seem to have issues with. And that's fine, you're welcome to your opinion.

I personally like Henson's imagery for the whimsy of innocence, but I'd hardly call that a "sexual context". But that's just me. You're welcome to interpret it how you want.

However I hardly see it as a means to say "arrest that man, fine him, pull down his work" or anything that removes an artistic perception from my eyes without giving me the choice.

This is censorship in a pure and simple form. A lot of us get our backs up when we hear that the OFLC have banned games or movies or even books… and here's a question… are those of you who got pissed about the banning of Ken Park or Baise Moi or maybe an unedited copy of Grand Theft Auto IV among the people complaining against Bill Henson now?

Because shit… that might be seen as a level of hypocrisy.

For what it's worth, I have had a good laugh at some of the things people in the media have been saying about the Henson issue over the past couple of days.

This one is particularly funny. Ms. Hetty Johnston from Bravehearts said that "even art should be classified."

You've got to love the image that that presents: a whole bunch of artists lining up at the OFLC offices with their money in hand and someone looking over their abstract sculptures, their phallic representations, their photos of anything and everything, paintings of love and torture… while three individuals stand there debating over the entire thing and handing out G, PG, M, MA15+, R18+ and X ratings to artists.

This just in! Every digital camera will be forced to include a ratings monitor that will automatically scan over every image you take and look for a naked breast. If one is found, you will be issued with a rating then and there on the spot so you can actually show it to friends or stick it on your site. "The follow image of my hot girlfriend is rated MA15+; we'll try harder next time for an R rating as the OFLC doesn't like us much today." That sort of thing (patent pending on my idea, of course; make sure to use me or I'll sue your ass American-style).

And this gets better as why only classify art when we can classify literature to the point of understanding the relationships between characters! Hey, wasn't Juliet underage in Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet? Surely that should be classed as illegal as a romantically linked character was under age.

This comment from the art life on the issue was amusing too (used below, so you don't have to click):

It is a good idea for the show to be re-hung. With all my due respect for Bill Henson, this show might attract pedophiles "in disguise", or more so some wannabe "photographer/pedophiles" might do the same later, defending themselves by saying "Henson has done it, why can't I?"

Sod it. Let's ban the beaches while we're at it. We let our kids swim or stand around naked and there might be a paedophile there!

Seriously… someone can't tell me that this whole thing is just a tad too Orwellian for belief?

It's a cold day. Everyone is bundled up and wearing something warm; not a t-shirt in sight.

It's my day off and I'm up early.  I didn't even want the full day off though, merely the morning.

As I sit in a queue that barely moves, I curl my toes up in the thick cotton socks keeping the coldest parts of me warm.

I'm on my way to support Bowie at RAFW. He's invited me out every year since I've started working for him, but until now I've always had something else to do. Ironically, I would have had an interview to do but I've decided to make this a priority.

I've never attended a fashion show before. I hope I don't fall asleep.

"Just look at the hot model girls," my brain tells me. "Then you'll be fine."

 The bus creeps forward some more and I wonder why they hold Rosemount Australian Fashion Week when it's cold.

And then I realise: nipples.

One of the not-so-well-guarded trade secrets that probably isn't a trade secret and is me making up an excuse for something in glamour based industries is the pre-conceived notion that if you've got hot young things – guys or girls – wearing your clothes and they look horny, your items will look better. Or at least it's what I think it means, anyway.

Hence the whole erect nipples thing. And on a cold day, you'd be saving money on ice.

Click the image to see it bigger!

Or it could be the view.

It doesn't matter how big of a name you've got at Fashion Week, if you were in a hall or a restaurant then you didn't have the great idea of setting up on the waterfront in front of the Sydney Opera House.

Brilliant idea, whoever it was. It just works so well. 

Click on the image to see it bigger!

It's a bit later and I'm seeing life imitating art in front of my eyes. 

You know those random blonde bimbos you see in movies all the time? Well there are two right in front of me now.

Okay… so one is a brunette of sorts… they're still bimbos. Or irritating. They couldn't even count. I think the guy helping them get seated just gave up on trying to have them read the numbers on their chairs. Seven is not eight. Eight is not nine. Nine is not… oh, nevermind.

And the technologist in me wants to make a comment on the occasional blinged up Blackberry I'm seeing held together with a rubber band. 

As in… expensive shiny gadget being held together by rubber band. Oh sweet mercy.

The gold-plated mediocre Nokia, chrome organiser, the person massaging the hands of a lady who probably barely uses them…

While I know & understand the people I'm around right now, I think if I were to ever be in fashion (design or just in-fashion),  I'd stay the same guy as I've always been and play with my Nintendo DS or write in my journal like I am now.

It's i.20 and the show hasn't begun. *sigh*

It's now 6.45 pm and I'm on my way home.

From work.

At the end of Bowie's show, I decided to go into work. Yes, it was my day off and no, I'm not addicted to work (even though I probably am) but short of some of the projects that I'm working on (yes Mum, I'm working on the music video…), I couldn't think of anything to do.

So I went into work and did that instead. 

How it looked from our point of view. Click the image to see it bigger! 

The clothes today were interesting. Flashy and subtle, simple and complicated. While I'm a tech reviewer, I'm not sure I'm all that qualified to talk about fashion.

I'll give it a stab anyway.

Umm… nice.

Yup. That's all I got.

More pics below… 

Easily the hottest girl there. 

The designer himself, Mr. Bowie Wong.

My friend Wendell T. working…

Followed by Wendell doing what every digital photographer does everyday… "chimping".

These images are all owned and therefore copyrighted to me, hence the nice watermark in most of the images. Buzz me if you want to use them.

Here is my little test from this evening converting the Nikon D300 to a video camera…

Oh yes. I can occasionally surprise you.

Occasionally.

And yes, you're looking at my laundry. I apologise. Next time I'll order some hot women for you to look at.  

While Soundwave wasn't too impressive an organised thing, the people deciding to put it on felt the need to make a little bit more money by running what they called "Sidewaves". These were side gigs that bands from Soundwave would play in each city.

Not having our complete fill of As Tall As Lions and The Dear Hunter, my brother Michael and I went on the Monday.

That was the day after Soundwave. We'd both been to work that day and I was exhausted from the day prior.

As well as burnt.

The Dear Hunter were one of a few bands I got photos of that night…

Here's what happened…

My American Heart

I have no idea who you are or what you sound like. I apologise. 

We only heard glimpses of you as we were standing in line. You / they / whoever it is sounds okay. 

mewithoutYou 

Before that night, I had never heard of "mewithoutYou". Today, I'd just look away! Look away!

mewithoutYou is interesting but the lead singer has what is quite possibly one of the worst voices I have ever heard in my life. It's like stuffing a sponge down the throat of a taco chip and then smashing a bottle over its head and requesting that it sing music that your parents would love.

I have no other way of explaining it. Seriously.

Ok, so he could play the accordion… it doesn't mean he could sing…

Ok, I lied. I do. I was just being lazy and comedic (or attempting to be, anyway).

Full credit to him for handing out food to the audience though. I wonder if he's used to his audiences feeling an urge to throw him out of a window and has used this to quell them in the past.

The fresh food didn't go down quite as well as the singer had hoped. This was what I saw as we left the gig…

Unfortunately for any of us who tried the fresh food that was good for us, it was a little… too fresh… 

…seriously, who eats raw asparagus. 

I actually said to Mike as they were playing their set that "this music makes me want to slaughter innocent children".

It wasn't that the songs did it… just his "singing". But if you thought we would escape the wrath of his voice – whoever he is – you'd be wrong because…

Kevin Devine

…mewithoutYou returned in Kevin Devine's set.

Kevin Devine was a surprising one for me because while I had never heard of him let alone heard him, I actually didn't expect him to be as good of an artist as what he was.

Click on the image to see it bigger!

Mike & I didn't catch the entire set for him as immediately after the mewithoutYou punishment session was over, we headed outside for some food. Unfortunately, all we could find was a dodgy slice of pizza at an even dodgier kebab shop and after that we headed back inside to see what else was on before As Tall As Lions & The Dear Hunter. The first song we heard Kevin Devine play felt like your typical Dashboard Confessional acoustic emo rock mish mash and Mike and I turned to each other, our nods echoing the same thoughts we were having.

And then Kevin played a song called America… and everything changed.

Click on the image to see it bigger!

Here was a musician who was baring his heart and letting everything out in a beautifully constructed song filled with wondrous lyrics and a remarkable sense of passion. While I'd easily bet that Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba is one of those singers that empties his soul into a schooner only to see every girl drink out of it in hopeful agony, here was a singer who was pouring out his life and his observations into a song because he could.

It wasn't about getting the girl. It wasn't about fucking. It was about something tangible, something real.

And that was nice to see.

It was also nice to see him just blending in with the crowd as the rest of the fans waited around for their favourite bands.

I'll be buying some of his stuff later on, me thinks. 

Click on the image to see it bigger!

As Tall As Lions

Click on the image to see it… yep, you guessed it… bigger!

After seeing ATAL play the day before at Soundwaves, I was looking forward to hearing them play in a gig where the sound guy wasn't a deranged idiot with a packet of plastic forks shoved up his ass and ears. I was looking forward to hearing them sound brilliant and play a different set.

I got half of it.

The half I got was them sounding excellent. They really are a brilliant little band, even if we only got to see two of the band members play down there. It's a shame that they really didn't do anything to change their set. 

"Stab City" would have been nice. I only yelled it out at each thing I saw them at. *sigh* 

Click on the image to see it bigger!

On the plus side, while we were standing in line, there was a small laughterish line as – while I wore one of my trilbies – I commented to the mustached guy out of As Tall As Lions "nice hat". He in turn said "thanks," saw my hat, and smiled.

I guess he didn't see my freshly signed As Tall As Lions shirt from the day before.

While the set was more or less the same of what we heard at Soundwaves a bit over 24 hours ago, we got a nicer rendition of "Love, Love, Love". Sure, it's hard to beat one where one of the guys from Cartel and the lead out of The Dear Hunter co
me along, but there were enough up on stage for As Tall As Lion's last song to make it something that no ATAL fan would forget.

Love, love, love… click on the image to see it bigger! (Yeah, not as good as the original lyric but what are you gonna do…)

The Dear Hunter 

While As Tall As Lions and The Dear Hunter are very different bands and each command a different sort of stage presence, Mike is probably right:

The Dear Hunter were the better of the bands to see.

Click on the image to see it bigger!

It's so simple when you see them play. While the two ATAL members who were there have a lot of fun and put a lot of passion into what they do, it's just not as amazing as seeing some of the fun the band members are having in The Dear Hunter. They're jumping all over the place, shaking their heads while their hair whips around at the environment madly. The light dances off of beads of sweat and you can see without a doubt that this is live music at its best: musicians pounding away at notes and lyrics to produce a sound that is nothing short of amazing.

It's just so brilliant to see something like this. Rock. Pure unadulterated rock.

And sheer pleasure in the eyes of the people playing it for those of us who love it. Brilliant sounds bouncing off of tired walls, reverberating through our ear drums and pushing us deeper and deeper into the brilliance of this this music.

It was a shame that one of the guitarists was too fucking loud. 

He must be a fan of Spinal Tap. I expect there's a bloody "11" painted in white out on his Marshall amp and I suspect that night that the sound guy knew he was too loud but couldn't do anything about it.

Everything that The Dear Hunter did was fucking brilliant… except for this guy.

Yes, he's a great guitarist and he was certainly doing some very cool things. I would just like to have heard the rest of the band… I was there for the songs, not for a ear shattering guitar solo that had more in common with noise than anything else.

If the guitarist – whoever he is – ever comes across this page, do a few of us a favour and heed these words of advice: shut the fuck up by turning yourself down. 

Take off your sweater, your shoes and your shirt and click the pic! (Once again, my linking caption blurb doesn't do a song justice…)

Once again, it was a shame that The Dear Hunter chose a path much like As Tall As Lions and opted for pretty much the same set-list as they'd used at Soundwave. While I didn't know their discography, I know Michael as well as a couple of others who were shouting for an encore were looking for something more than just what they'd heard before, and not even two days prior.

But other than that… brilliant. Definitely worth seeing if you love music.

Leigh's Final Word & Some more images…

By the end of the concert, I was exhausted. During the last few songs in The Dear Hunter's set, I got to talking to a gorgeous Kiwi girl named Sarah (I love the Kiwi accent on girls… *melts*) who was taking pictures of broccoli… and the band. But we got to talking and as the show ended, I quickly got her email (alas, not the phone number…) so I could… you know, communicate with her.

As the lead singer of The Dear Hunter was getting off of stage, I told Mike to go up to him.

And then when he did… eventually… I got a shot of them together. Mike was annoyed at me for not getting two shots. Lack of professionalism on my part or something. I think the image was fine. That's a Michael smile!

Click on the image to see it bigger!

So it's a cross between a smile, a frown, and a lemon… it's the moment that Mike will remember most. 

Earlier on in the night, some random photographer took a picture of Mike & I… here it is. He can be found at his website, in case you were curious.

Finally, here are some more pictures from the night. I don't have as many shots left over as I did from say something like Soundwave.

Please remember that I don't make money from my shots so if you're going to link to them or embed them in a page, make sure to leave a link back to my site with some sort of "I found these at Leighlo.com!" or something like that. I've already had some people embed without linking back and it just makes me realise that there are some grade A asses out there, and not the sort I want to do fun things to.

Back on topic, while I would love to make cash out of my photography, I do this for fun at the moment so if you like my shots, leave me some comments and if you want to use them, leave a link or a trackback. It's the un-ass-ish thing to do.

As Tall As Lions getting all Love, Love, Love-y…

Sing until your lungs get sore…

All you need is love, love, love… love is all you need. Ish. Sort of…

…although I could go for some sex. Not with these people. All they want is Love, Love, Love. I'm just saying in general. Sex. For me… ahhh, forgetaboutit… 

The Dear Hunter's lead singer really getting into it…

Encore! Encore! 

Someone whom I've liked since I first heard played: Ruthie Foster. I'm heading to bed now, but here's an image to salivate those… err… saliva glands.

Click the image to see the phenomenal Ruthie Foster appear in a larger image that I shot tonight (the same image… but bigger)!

I found some dickheads on another forum or two linking to my images directly without mentioning or commenting to me and I decided to take some sort of action on my images. I will be re-linking to ones with smaller watermarks in a few days just as I'll also be blogging the other As Tall As Lion & Dear Hunter gig, but give me a few days.

It really irritates me when people do shit like this. I've got no problem with others linking to my images and showing them, but a link back to me or a mention of who shot them and their page would be nice. That way people can say "great shots!" or "sweet" and what-not and it can actually be directed me… the guy who did the work on the photos.

But nooooo…. people have to go and be dicks about things.

Shit, I don't make money out of my images. All I ask for is a bit of credit.