Today I’m pleased to announce the latest episode in the How To See series of workshop videos: Ep.4, Melbourne, Australia. We actually filmed this back in April, but due to a large backlog of other work, didn’t have a chance to finish final grading and editing until recently…
Photoessay: Melbourne architecture
September 7, 2014 by
For a fan of abstract geometry, form and texture, Melbourne is an absolute paradise. Being a relatively new country, Australians seem to be far more open to experimentation with modern architecture, progressive design and integration with the unique landscape; the result is an interesting mix of 1940-s feel Chicago in places, Blade Runner and Utopia in others. The result is a place of extreme contrasts; you can see the evolution of postmodern architecture from simple geometric solids – cuboids, trapezoids, cones – to more complex shapes that appear to be formed of recursive application of those shapes. Any decorative elements are simply a further scaling and evolution again of that; there doesn’t appear to be much ornamentation in a classical sense. Perhaps that in itself is a definition of the current architectural gestalt.
Photoessay: Melbourne street color
July 9, 2014 by
A self portrait in layers
I’ve unquestionably been heavily influenced by Saul Leiter of late, and more specifically his treatment of color and use of foregrounds/ reflections to create abstraction. Combine that with my normal cinematic approach to color and the somewhat more ‘controlled’ shooting mindset that working with the Otus forces results in a rather interesting set of images. Even if not all of them were shot with the Otus – I used the GR for the balance – the way I’m shooting remains the same. My ongoing studies of the abstraction of man take a step back: here, I think I needed stronger human subjects to make the compositions work. Enjoy! MT
Photoessay: Melbourne monochromes, part II
June 23, 2014 by
The continuation and completion of the previous photoessay.
It occurs to me I never addressed why these images were presented as monochrome rather than color – Australia has wonderfully intense blue skies (I suspect this has something to do with the ozone layer, or lack of it at those latitudes) which in turn produce extremely intense colours. Personally, and I suspect also for a lot of other people, monochrome images are associated with a sort of timeless quality; I don’t – and didn’t – want the impressions to be affected by my current color choices and preferences. It’s one of the reasons we associate certain color palettes with certain eras in history – think of the 1960s and 1970s, or late 1980s, for instance; unfortunately I suspect the current period is going to be defined by over filtering, low-fi and HDR. The least I can do is spare my subjects from that…
Photoessay: Melbourne monochromes, part I
June 18, 2014 by
This photoessay is the first part of my monochrome work from the Melbourne workshop in March; some of my students may recognise the images. I’ve been criticised in the past for not getting ‘close enough’ for my images to qualify as street photography, so I’m not going to claim it as such even though there’s no strict definition of the genre to begin with. Rather, it continues a theme I’ve been exploring for the past couple of years: the exploration of people in their environment, and the idea of modern man in context as a species as opposed to an individual. Perhaps I should take up social anthropology in my spare time…
Photoessay: Living the Australian Dream, part II: signs of life
June 15, 2014 by
Dinner out
This set continues my ‘Australian Dream’ mini series – think of it as a small exhibition in instalments, or a little series of observations on the Australian psyche from an outsider’s point of view – well, not a total outsider because I did live there during my childhood. Today we add the protagonists. To quote Shakespeare: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”.
Photoessay: Living the Australian Dream, part I: the landscape
June 13, 2014 by
The set
Interestingly, the notion of the ‘Australian Dream’ is much like the American one: a land of opportunity, space, freedom, big skies, friendly people and a relaxed, laid-back lifestyle. Though I grew up in Melbourne until I was 9, I haven’t been back in nearly 18 years; I was surprised by how much the place had changed, and at the same time, how much it hadn’t. There was a sense of international polish about it that wasn’t there before, or perhaps I hadn’t noticed it.
Workshop report – Making Outstanding Images, Melbourne
April 6, 2014 by
Melbourne threw one enormous challenge at us: the weather. Those who live there weren’t surprised, but personally not having lived there for the better part of 20 years, I forgot just how indecisive and rapidly changeable it could be. If the days start off clear and bright, they landed up stormy. If they started off with rain, by the time 4pm rolled around, you wished you were wearing shorts and a t-shirt because it might be 30 degrees in the sun. Though it provided considerable sartorial confusion, it did also allow a wide variety of shooting conditions to be experienced – everything from what to do when there’s no light, to how to handle extremes of contrast when your camera can’t hold everything.
One place left each for Melbourne workshop and Havana masterclass
January 31, 2014 by
From Making Outstanding Images Amsterdam 2013
Just a gentle reminder – I have one place left each for the Melbourne (27-29 March) Making Outstanding Images workshop, and the Havana, Cuba Masterclass (28 April-3 May). London Making Outstanding Images (16-18 July) is full, but I am taking standbys as there are almost always reshufflings due to people’s work schedules…thanks! Please click on the links to the individual announcements for more info, or please send me an email to book. MT
Testimonials from previous workshops can be found here.
Places still available for Melbourne and London workshops
January 5, 2014 by
From the Prague 2013 Making Outstanding Images workshop.
A few places are left for the Melbourne and London Making Outstanding Images workshops. Please click here for more details and testimonials from previous workshops, or if you’d like to register, please send me an email.
Reports from previous workshops can be seen here – Amsterdam/ Prague, NYC/ San Francisco, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong/ Macau, Kuala Lumpur one, two and three.
Ming Thein | Photographer 