It is with great sadness we mourn the loss of the incredible photographer Eryk Fitkau. We would like to acknowledge his amazing creative contribution to the advertising and photographic industry, as well his personal artistic pursuits. He will be sadly missed.

It was extremely sad to hear that Eyrk Fitaku had passed away. Eryk was one of my favourite photographers. From the first time I met him his energy and personality were truly infectious. I loved doing Eryk’s prints for him as he would always ask the impossible of you and when you handed over a completed truly hand crafted print you would realise that the impossible was possible. Being able to work with Eryk was a privilege that I will cherish for a long time. His creative input and knowledge of the photographic medium will be sadly missed. For those of you who did not get to meet Eryk or get to work with him or enjoy a philosophical discussion on a journey to create a photographic image you sadly missed out. As I sit here I am remembering and visualising some I my favourite Eryk images. I will have these for life thankyou Eryk. Colour Factory sends its sincere condolences to Christine.

-Phill

All images courtesy of Eryk Fitkau at www.eryk.com.au

Wisma campaign

Lavassa campaign

Ansel campaign

While in Japan, I visited a lot of contemporary galleries in Tokyo such as the Mori Arts Center, National Art Center, Koyanagi Gallery in Ginza and a commercial gallery complex housed in an industrial warehouse in Kiyosumi.

While in Osaka, I visited the Osaka Art fair, held in the top 4 stories of the Dojima Hotel. Each hotel room had a designated gallery which hosted solo or group shows of their artists. This was a fascinating and informative experience, especially being so close to the upcoming Melbourne Art Fair. It will be an interesting comparison!

Photography is alive and well in Japan, as you can imagine, and a few things were interesting to note. Of the many photographic artists I saw, all but one presented their work for exhibition as C-Type prints. The only exception was Hintobi- an art duo, (Issay Kitagawa & Kenshu Shintsubo), who printed to canvas in combination with mixed media, which was then stretched. Presentation ranged from pinning and traditional framing to Dibond mounting. Highlights were Lieko Shiga at the Mori Arts Centre and Hintobi in Osaka.

Lieko Shiga, C-type print, mounted to Dibond

Lieko Shiga, C-type print, mounted to Dibond

Charmwood, an exhibition by four Melbourne based photographers which opened at the Colour Factory on June 3.

Melbourne based curator and arts writer, Jessica O’Brien writes about the exhibition.

The latest exhibition to show at The Colour Factory exhibition space is Charmwood, a collaboration between Melbourne based photographers Todd Anderson- Kunert, Warwick Baker, Linsey Gosper and Michelle Tran.

The conceptual basis for the work is a small, fictional town called Charmwood, a place that could represent any and every suburban wasteland or depressed small town. The body of work comprises of a mixture of staged portraits, the minutiae of everyday life, objects and empty rooms.

There is a pervasive anxiety throughout the photographs, evident in the carefully arranged domestic interiors, empty landscapes and the awkwardness and vulnerability captured in the depictions of the towns inhabitants.  Not all is bleak however. Themes of isolation, stunted dreams and the claustrophobic nature of small town lives are interspersed with works that contemplate the often surprising beauty of the kitsch and mundane.

Gosper, Baker, Tran and Anderson–Kunert employ a combination of staged and documentary photography, and share a similar pared-down aesthetic. The result is a cohesive, cinematic body of work, with each photograph building on an overall narrative.

The Charmwood exhibition represents a small selection of the work which eventuated from the overall project.  The limited edition catalogue, free from the constraints of a limited gallery space, fleshes out the fictional Charmwood with a larger body of work from each artist.

-Jessica O’Brien

Michelle Tran

Linsey Gosper

Warwick Baker

Todd Anderson-Kunert

Gallery manager and artist Linsey Gosper writes about the concept and process behind the exhibition.

At the beginning of 2010, considering the ‘line up’ of shows to be held at the Colour Factory Gallery, I wanted to be involved in a contemporary photographic exhibition that would embody some of the principals that the Colour Factory staff share – technical proficiency, the tradition of film based photography using a variety of camera formats to produce beautiful photographic (C-type) prints. The images in this exhibition have been scanned and printed onto photographic paper using a wet process, the same process for making analogue optical prints.

I wanted to collaborate with photographers who share a similar passion for these principles, a similar aesthetic and process of making work. I immediately thought of Anderson-Kunert, Baker & Tran. I have seen the work of these artists for a couple of years, and our common love for photography has strengthened our friendships.

To arrive at the theme of Charmwood we held regular show & tell meetings to find a common thread from the work we were already making. Through this continual shared dialogue we could see a connection in the documentation of our personal relationships, and a strong theme of the Australian domestic emerging. Our similar approach to making artwork has increased the exhibitions consistency.

Coming from a traditional documentary background, influenced by contemporary filmic and narrative based photography, we take inspiration from our life experiences and recreate these personal moments through staged fictional narratives. The exhibition features selected images from the broader narrative that is explored in the Charmwood book, also on show in the exhibition.

-Linsey Gosper

Colour Factory will be committing to a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Through the acknowledgement of the Aboriginal people as the traditional owners of our country and their continuing connection to the land and community, as well as through the education of our staff, we hope to create a better understanding and relationship with indigenous people. We will be researching our particular area of inhabitance and familiarizing ourselves with the details of its original occupants. We will be working in collaboration with Reconciliation Australia and following the guidelines of the RAP.

Often generic lens test articles can be lacking in definitive and non-biased information. Articles can read as a “cut and paste” of technical reviews and the specifications brochure. Although providing accurate information on technical specs, nowhere in the article is there a reference to print quality, which the Colour Factory team believes to be imperative in evaluating lens performance.

Accompanying test shots seem barely related and have little to offer in assessing the lens. Often the conclusive paragraph contradictorily sings its praise while suggesting it is only an amateur ‘family vacation’ lens. However, to be fair we must also keep in mind the target audience.

Optical Evaluations

After all our imaginations it is the ability to reconcile the differences of our ideas imagined to those of reality we have created. After all, often what you see is not often what you get.

Yet another lens review bogged down in the Holy Trinity of photographic equipment evaluation systems ( P.E.E.S.)

i. Design & Construction
ii. Optical or Image Quality (IQ)
iii. The Bottom Line

Design & Construction is generally just a green flag to spew verbatim, without prevarication, word for word the brochure of the manufacturer. This technique is used to expand the length of the article by focusing on features that are so numbingly commonplace one wonders if anyone actually cares that the product has a:

“0.95cm focus ring AND a 1.9cm wide zoom ring“  and also ” a  (somewhat small) distance scale positioned at the extreme front of the lens barrel, and  incorporates markings in both feet and metres. The focus ring travels slightly past the infinity mark, apparently to allow for the effects of ambient  temperature variations.”

We have turned headfast now into the land of absolute babble and drivel!

Optical or Image Quality testing involves the now commonplace procedures of the almighty “Pixel Peeping” and “100 % zoom crops”.  Our assemblage of image mercenaries will ravage and relish any signs of aberration, flaring, flanging, or fringing and mightily proclaim remedies for such inflictions much in the way of the travelling medicine man of the Old west would peddle snake oils and Indian pills.

“one product is all you need
“it’s an emergency room in a bottle”  – Clayton Tedeton

Yeee Haaaa Photoshop cowboys lets lock -N- Load !!!!

The Bottom Line is where it hurts. Here we must marry our desire for the “Best freaking lens ever invented man! “  with the fundamental obligation to our existence……. our wallet. This is where our Bestman is “convenience” and our Bridesmaid is “multi-purpose”. 18 – 200mm superzoom compact best of the group single barrel burden free all round good time best buy bargain of the year. Only to be informed the “Serious shooters” would never hitch themselves to such an ambitious multi talented harlot of a lens! Thus wasting a large wad of the good stuff on something that could never be what it wanted to be.

“A different kind of view”
i. Design & Construction
ii. Optical or Image Quality ( IQ)
iii. The Bottom Line

Design & Construction

How does it feel?…quite simple really. Hold it in your hands and shoot. Does it excite and inspire you? Is it comfortable, can it be your new close companion?  This is the vibe.

Optical or Image Quality. This is also the vibe

For this we need to materialize the image, then judge the elements that establish the basis of the work. Testing needs to take into account the ability of the lens to resolve detail that can be resolved by the media. Full screen zooms will not tell us how the image will appear once printed and displayed on a wall. Certain images will be definitely be off limits and or the lens will have flaws. However the computer will not tell us how the image will interact with materials used. Elements like size, scope, space and context cannot be transported via computer screens.

We do not want to become bogged down in matters that obstruct our ability to “see” the image. Our enemies here are the pixels. It is time to transform them into light or dots and evaluate their performance.

The Bottom Line

We must honestly ask ourselves ‘what kind of work are we shooting’ and do we really need the extra length for a compromise in quality? Does multi-purpose override beauty? What is more important? Will a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ lens satisfy our desire in a long term relationship or should we divorce all round performance, walk the extra mile ourselves and not be lazy photographers. Is it worth paying a little extra to get a red hot number that continues to inspire and instill awe for a lifetime of rewarding photography?

And finally the bottom line is also the vibe and the print quality!

Phill, Shane, Linsey & team wish everyone well for the Festive Season and thank you all for your support in 2009! Enjoy the break and we look forward to working with you in the New Year.

Holiday hours
The Colour Factory, including the Colour Factory Gallery, will close on December 23, 2009 and reopen on January 4, 2010.

The Colour Factory is very proud of its reduce, reuse, recycle policy.  Small to medium off cuts of mount board and the ends of rolls of printing substrate are available for you local school art room, kinda or crafty groups.

We do request a gold coin donation, all of which goes to environmental groups.  Call 9419 8756 to organise a collection time.