Here in Australia it is Autumn. The days are getting shorter although the weather is still quite warm and people are still out enjoying the beach.
I actually took these photos this week for a 52 Week Project I am doing . This week the theme was “activity” after being unsuccessful capturing anything all week I returned to the beach yesterday and captured a few people engaged in different activities during the last few hours of daylight.
Thought it was time I updated my pinned post. Cant believe it’s been 4 years since I started my Website.
April 2016
Welcome to my Photography Portfolio. I’m currently doing a 366 day project rather than post everyday, which you can see on my Flickr and Instagram. I’ll be sharing my fav photo of the week and also keeping you upto date with my Tree, Autumn and Reflection Projects. I hope you stick around and enjoy my photos.
Before I Share my favourite colour film photographs I took last year I thought I would do a post of my digital photographs particularly photos I created in response to 52 Frames a great weekly photography challenge I discovered last year .
I’ve attempted a few 52 week challenges over the years and have never succeeded this one was no different however i did get to 38 weeks before forgetting to do the photo and not continuing on.
I only realised when going through the photos to upload how many black and White Photos I took for the challenges . I’ve also added the theme
I’ve always enjoyed responding to briefs both professionally and with personal photography projects. However this year between work and focussing on creating a more cohesive portfolio and series of images I’m not committing to anything more than a post a week on here. You can also find me on instagram if you want to see more.
I am beginning the Year with my first post of 2023 on my neglected website by sharing 10 of my favourite black and white film photos i took in 2022.
I got back into film photography in 2021 and i enjoy experimenting with different techniques particularly double exposure , I develop the black and white film at home. I also shoot colour as well and may try and develop it at home too.I hope to create a portfolio of images either for an exhibition or a book this year.
I will also be updating my website and hope to post at least once a week and engage more in the community.
I have a few crystals I have collected over the years and was fortunate enough to find a crystal vein on our property years ago and collected alot of quartz crystals which unfortunately i have since misplaced.
Though as quartz and diamonds are mainly translucent and sparkly I’ve used images ive taken with my crystal ball using it as a lens to see through rather than focussing on its colour.
The crystal Ball causes refraction and turns the World up side Down
And because i feel i have gone completely of topic I have also included a moving image I took of my crystal ball and a tree with my 3D – 35mm camera which has 3 different lenses that simultaneously capture 3 different images of 3 different perspectives of the subject and when combined appear 3d.
It’s been so long since I’ve uploaded anything on here though I thought i would make an appearence by contributing to the lens Artist- #189 odds and ends challenge hosted by Tina.
This week the theme is “Odds and Ends” Initially I was going to include photos from a folder on my computer titled “random things” which is mainly lots of photos of random objects and photographic responses to briefs and themes I have done over the years.
Then I remembered a project I started while doing a short course on building a photographic portfolio last year . I was initially inspired by minimal landscape photos that I had taken over the years and used the word unclutter to link them all together. I then explored and documented my quest to be a minimalist and unclutter my home. I had been motivated by a statement I read from a minimalist book that stated that “we can be just as content with a photo of the object, than the object itself”.
I had planned to photograph all my odds and ends before I threw them out and then make a conceptual response to this project . I did do lots of uncluttering and took lots of photos and made some videos (which i’ll upload below of more odds and ends). I did however lack motivation as areas I uncluttered became cluttered again . Though i will revisit it more in the future .
Here is a selection of odds and ends i took which remind me of their existence. Am I sad I no longer have them , No they weren’t valuable as such just nostalgic so its nice to have an image to remind me.
A selection of some of the Odds and Ends I photographed before I donated them to op shop.
I also made a few timelapse videos of the process of uncluttering odds and ends. This one is suggesting how images of minimalist landscapes can assist with the motivation of uncluttering .
Its been weeks since the travelling restrictions have been lifted In Melbourne and We finally have freedom again. Initially Melbourne metro was under a strict 5km radius restriction due to COVID 19. I created a lot of photographic projects and did lots of learning during lockdown and when Melbourne’s restrictions eased to 25km radius on 19th October I investigated our 25km radius and realised that over half is water as we live on a Peninsula. I was fascinated that the vast expanse of water was untouchable unless by boat or swimming and it was illegal for me to explore. The shoreline had become a border to contain us.
I was inspired to create a photographic response to this new law and decided to photograph the water at the beaches on the Mornington Peninsula within my 25km radius .
Though I find these water horizon shots soothing I’ve never shared them in the past unless they have a interesting feature like a boat or other unique feature to identify them. I got out of my comfort zone and shot many for this project though also included boats and markers as I found them irresistible.
Every day I went to a different beach starting at the PortPhillip Bay side and extending to the ocean and Western Port and in no particular order captured the horizon and water and added them to the evolving photograph of a digital collage of the Peninsula.
Without the restrictions I wouldn’t have been motivated to do this project. The project eased the waiting of the restrictions being lifted and also served as an excuse to explore the area more. 21days and 21 photos later I created the A moving image of all the photos
To celebrate the restriction being lifted I printed the photograph and went to a beach outside my 25km and captured a photo of the photo aligned with the horizon And water in background .
This moving image video was taken over six months which not only coincided with quarentine restrictions but also the Autumn and Spring Equinox in Australia.
Zoé Haynes-Smith Photography 