LightVision

Oxford Street Blockbuster
Wildlight co-founder Philip Quirk has produced a truly unique graduate thesis by delving into the psyche of an iconic city thoroughfare and has come up with a companion visual project that unlocks the mystery of the sum of the parts that comprises it.  Photographing every building on both sides of the street in a continuous collage from Woollahra to Taylor Square, Phil’s Oxford Street Profile shines an entirely new light along the whole length. Sweeping aside our usual perception of that small piece of neighbourhood a few blocks long that we feel comfortable calling home, is the whole story. The resulting wall of images is reminiscent of the historic panorama of the Sydney harbour shoreline by John Degotardi in the 1860s. View the outstanding results for yourself from 24 August at the OSP exhibition at the Barometer Gallery on the corner of Gurner Street (No 13) and Duxford Street Paddington. It is close to Five Ways Paddington on the Woollahra side of that iconic location. Also, on display is a limited edition hand made book which concertinas to reveal an eight metre! wide print of one of Sydney most famous streets - now that’s taking panoramic photography to new lengths. See it online at www.oxfordstreetprofile.com

Hooked on Bachman
Intrepid Wildlight photographer Bill Bachman never ceases to amaze us with his never ending supply of amazing images covering all things Australian from all over Australia. See his latest collection here and feast on a trove of new visual resources ranging from industrial to lifestyle, captured right up to the present time.

In Days Gone By

Wildlight’s archive of niche, region specific, golden oldie images has been tapped by realtor Richardson & Wrench Elizabeth Bay. Using yesteryear shots of Kings Cross and Potts Point for an electronic display in the window of the R&W location on bustling Macleay Street in Potts Point, Sydney. In days gone by it’s clear that things were thinner on the ground but always on the move, just as they are today. R&W director Andrew Hoggett said “we have had some great feedback” to the historic images. During our fleeting visit, there were many people stopped in their tracks, fascinated by the ’step back in time’ historical snapshots. Potts Point, Australia’s most densely populated suburb, is the ‘Manhattan of Sydney’ and attracts types from all walks of life now and as depicted in the images of Kings Cross in the early 1970’s by renowned social documentary photographer, Rennie Ellis. Also on display is a triptych of Kings Cross black & whites by Muriel Mowbray Stephenson, documenting Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Sydney in 1954. Wildlight has Sydney covered back to 1908!

On the Count of Ten

Ernst Graf von Schmeckle, can now count to ten, in High German of course, since he has recently attained that pugnacious age. To mark the occasion, a small banquet was held for friends and relations after which Ernie repaired in lie-flat comfort to the Black Forest for a rest cure to recover from a decade of hard work under the desks at Wildlight Photo Agency.

Photographer Spotlight
Ross Isaacs - Ocean Planet 3D

20,000 leagues under the reef
Acclaimed underwater cinematographer and director, Ross Isaacs informs us from the decompression chamber that he has launched a dedicated 3D underwater production company capable of the highest quality 5K steroscopic footage in any terrestrial environment. Ocean Planet 3D will fin alongside any humpback whale using the  specialised Deep Atom underwater housing and Epic Red Cameras. Ross’s experienced crews will operate from his Port Douglas headquarters. With the ability to capture bespoke 3D CGI base sequences and 3D stock footage, Ross is set to conquer two thirds of the earth. Check out his website or call him on 0417-711-545 to see double vision.

Photographer Spotlight
Hugh Brown - adventure photographer

Hit by lightning, a brush with a big croc, heat stroke - Hugh will stop at nothing for untouched wilderness landscapes
Hugh Brown has come a long way since catching the photography bug in 1998, he now often jets over to Africa or PNG for lengthy  photo assignments for mining corporations. However, his true passion is to capture untouched outback landscapes often in extreme conditions. Hugh would often email fascinating travel journals regailing his physical hardship in achieving an unspoilt location. His stories of the friends and characters he met along the way add great richness to his visual story telling. Hugh has published three books on the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia. A character in his own right, visit Hugh’s website to learn more.

Enduring vision

When we launched our LightVision ezine last year, we told you that its source inspiration was a bi-monthly magazine of the same name that had its origins in Melbourne in 1977 under the editorial stewardship of Wildlight director Jean-Marc Le Péchoux. Then as now the publication provided a snapshot of the history and techniques of photography with an emphasis on people in the business. Back then, well known photographers like Philip Quirk, founder of Wildlight Photo Agency and Rennie Ellis, later a contributing photographer to the agency, were typical authors of the articles. The modern day electronic version carries on this tradition — co-incidentally, with both these photographers still represented in the library—with the added benefit that in its blog format we can receive your feedback and ideas. Who better than Jean-Marc to note these 32 years on: plus ça change… as much as the times change things stay the same at Wildlight, the standard bearer of high-quality Australian photography for almost a quarter of a century. After such a tangent of self-congratulation, you must be wondering, where’s this all leading to? Look here at the scanned pages of LightVISION #1 Australia’s international photography magazine, dated Sep/Oct 1977 (captured as a pdf with searchable text) and you’ll be comforted by the knowledge that nothing has passed you by, corduroys are still the rage and real estate in South Yarra is just as likely to break the bank now as it did back then. Relive that seminal moment on a summer afternoon in the 1820s, when the first photographic image of a French garden taken by heliograph process, introduced what was to become an all-encompassing medium. And to cap the retrospective, this stanza of verse by Minor White, surely will leave us with little doubt that things are bound to be the same in 2041 (but don’t hold your breath!):
“Count inhalations
 Count exhalations
 Count nothing
 Be Breath”

New takes on Suburbia

Refresh your stock of home soil images, covering anything from cliff-top washing lines to ferry commuters to perambulating mums to period pubs, by paying a visit to our new features section where you’ll see that we’ve recently been out and about in the burbs capturing the latest esoterica from everyday life. Remember, Wildlight is pure Oz with an emphasis on ozone (there’s a lot of sea air in our picture library at wildlight.net). Let the spray lash your face and rejoice that you’re experiencing the GFC in a sun-filled place.

Going for the Big Picture…

Ever wonder how a small tranny blows up for use in large format installations for offices, displays and so on? See for yourself: Eight massive scenics from large format Wildlight panoramas cover feature walls in the newly fitted out Hyundai Motors head office complex in Ryde, Sydney. The project was handled by George P Johnson, a specialist design firm that also causes big things to happen at trade shows and exhibitions.

Go overseas with Wildlight

Pictures from our library now grace two pages of the new ‘N’ Series Australian passport produced by Note Printing Australia. Colin Beard’s lively image (Page 10) of a stockman driving cattle in the Victorian highlands as well as yachts (Page 35) on the Huon River in Tasmania by Tom Keating are among images of Australia printed throughout the document making every visa page unique. This has resulted in a passport which is very difficult to falsify through page substitution or tampering, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who launched the new document at the end of May.

Wildlight standard bearer and Australian trade power broker, Ernst Graf von Schmeckle, was one of the first to be issued with the paw proof passports, he immediately headed to the ‘drome’ to attend the G8 conference.

Wildlight Photographer, Jeff Drewitz, has been submitting a flood of images to the library, so it’s no surprise to see one of Jeff’s beautiful landscapes on a book cover, Floodtide by Judy Nunn. Random House used a striking image of Cape Leveque on the Kimberley Coast. Jeff is a specialist landscape stock photographer, and a very successful one at that. He travfels extensively in Australia but also overseas. His recent images of Norway and New Zealand are quite breathtaking, check them out here.

Wildlight photographer’s, Sheridan Nilsson, Greg Hard, Tom Keating and Bill Bachman, have been included in an online photo gallery as part of National Geographic Traveler’s, Places of a Lifetime series. The ten picture showcase exclusively used images from the Wildlight library. To see all of Wildlight’s Bondi Beach collection click here.

Wildlight photographer, Hugh Brown, landed the section cover image for the Sydney Morning Herald Traveller section. Hugh’s spectacular aerial image, WL050001020, of the Ragged Ranges in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia is a great example of a solid cover image. Firstly, it’s vertical, yippee! How many photographers are stuck holding their cameras horizontally? Too many. I can’t wait to go the the Kimberley, look at the quality of light on the cliff faces. It would be great to have someone like Hugh take you around the region, that’s exactly what he’s done with other people -taken them trekking through the scrub in search of some rarley seen canyon or cave painting. Hugh is an adventure photographer and has been on some hair raising journeys in some extreme weather, check out Hugh Brown’s website here. Hugh’s latest book, The Pilbara – Australia’s Ancient Heartbeat, makes you want to book a ticket right away!