Thursday, January 21, 2016

Heidi Museum of Modern Art

This weeks adventure took me to a location a little closer to home as it was only about a 10 minute drive. I have driven past "Heide Museum of Modern Art" many many times and always tell myself I will go in there one day - so this week the time had come. Even though I am not a huge fan of modern art, this museum didn't disappoint in stretching my life experiences and knowledge. As much as the art was interesting I think the story of John and Sunday Reed, the couple that gave birth to this historic gallery was the highlight for me. The  museum is located in the suburb of Bulleen, but back in 1934 when it was originally built the suburb was called Heidelberg, which is where the name came from. Heide was the affectionate name for Heidelberg John and Sunday gave to their property.
The Museum consists of three buildings, Heide 1 which is the original house where John, Sunday and their adopted son Sweeney lived. Numerous artists such as Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and many more also lived there at various times over the years. During these times there were many intermingled relationships between the artists. One such relationship is said to have been a ménage a trios between John, Sunday and Sidney. This building is currently holding the Modern Love: The Lives of John and Sunday Reed exhibition. 
Sidney Nolan, Kelly at the Mine 1946-47
Painted while living at Heide. 

Heide 1 - The home of John and Sunday Reed
Heide 11 currently has an Alex Selenitsch: Life/Text exhibition which didn't grab me but I found some pieces interesting. 
Interesting but baffled me a bit

Heide 111 holds a few different exhibitions but currently one of them is the Aleks Danko: My Fellow Aus-Tra-Aliens exhibition. I found most of his pieces very interesting and thought provoking. 
Thought provoking work of Aleks Danko

There is also a couple of kitchen gardens that supply the Cafe' Vue and lastly the Sculpture Garden. 
Entrance to one of the kitchen gardens

Basket and Waves - 1984

Scales - 1987
All in all I really enjoyed my morning at Heide. I am finding on my weekly adventures there are so many people stories that I am just finding amazing and interesting. I would recommend anyone visit this gallery, even if it's just to delve into the John and Sunday Reed story. 

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Photography and Social Media - Project 1 Submission

The date has now arrived for me to submit my Project 1 work for my UTAS course. I have found even in the short time the course has been running, my outlook on how I take my photos has changed dramatically. I tend to be looking at the world around me in thirds, leading lines, complimentary colours and numerous other ways I never did before. I would love to hear any feedback you may have on my work so far. 

Project 1
Not being a fan of the “selfie”, I asked some of my friends if they were to take a photo of something that represented me, what would it be? So that is what I started out to do and that is why I have chosen the photos I am submitting.  I also decided that I would challenge myself and take all my photos for this course with my iPhone rather than my DSLR.

Photo 1. The suggestion was given to me to take a photo of something mysterious and a bit crazy. After taking several simple shots of my face and choosing one, I then played around with MultiExpo. I feel the red gives a bit of a crazy feel and the reason I am showing just my eyes is to convey a bit of mystery.
Davine trying to portray a mysterious outlook
Photo 2. Another person gave me the suggestion of something fun. As it happened to be Christmas, and I love Christmas and try and have a Christmas tree in each room of my house I thought the Christmas bauble a good choice. I wanted my image to be a secondary feature as the Christmas Tree is the main subject. I think the shot shows how I feel about Christmas and the bright colours show the fun I get out of life. This photo was modified using the app Moldiv which I had never used before.
Hopefully the colourfulness of this shots portray the fun side of me
Photo 3. Quite a few of my friends said I just had to include a photo that included my camera as I don’t leave the house without it. I included this photo as I feel it shows the real me doing something I truly love.  I would class this shot as a self-portrait as I directed another person in how to take the shot I wanted. I then modified the shot using the Photo Editor app. Firstly creating a soft hazy light and then softening the edges. This is my favourite photo of the three, I like the softness the haze has given the overall feel of the photo. I also feel it represents the message I was trying to convey. 
Me doing what I love!

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

William Ricketts Sanctuary

Yes, today was another day of exploration and what a fabulous day it turned out to be. My exploration today took me up to Mount Dandenong to the William Ricketts Sanctuary. I have had this attraction on my list to see for a while but never really knew anything about it, except that there were sculptures throughout the bush, but it is so much more than that.



Now owned by Parks Victoria there is no entry fee, but they appreciate any donations. I chose to pay $5.00 for a self-walk audio tour, and am so glad I did. I learnt so much more than what I would have just walking around. Situated in a ferny glade in the Dandenongs, William Ricketts Sanctuary is a place of total beauty and spirituality, due to the 90 plus mystical sculptures positioned through the this idyllic location.


As well as the amazing sculptures the William Ricketts story is extremely interesting. Born in Richmond, Victoria in 1898 William Ricketts was a non trained potter, a jewellery maker and a violinist who settled permanently in stunning Mount Dandenong in 1934. Here he started his major artistic work, creating this amazing spiritual sculpture park.


From 1949 to 1960 he spent a lot of time in Central Australia, living with Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte Aboriginal people, whose traditions and culture inspired his spiritual sculptures. He worked on his sculptures until his death in 1993.


I would really recommend a visit to this attraction and also delving into the William Ricketts story - what an amazingly talented man.



Friday, January 8, 2016

Photography and Social Media - Week 3/4

Week 3 of the course comprised of setting up a digital journal, which I have done on Tumblr. Tag all my shots with the #smputas tag, also done. Lastly I had to upload at least 5 selfies - done in my last post, with explanations of how I got the effect.

Week 4 consists of four activities being Composition, Design, Colour and Light. In my next couple of posts I will address these activities.

Activity 1 - Composition. There are quite a few different techniques I can use in my photos for this activity. I must use at least two of the techniques, but I will try to tackle more.

- Rule of Thirds
This photo, as with all my photos for this course was shot using my iPhone. It was taken in the conservatory in Fitzroy Gardens. I tried take this shot using the rule of thirds by where I placed the purple flowers and the white lady statue. The only modifications I did was that I cropped it slightly. 


- Leading Lines
My leading lines shot was taken at the Royal Botanic Garden in Melbourne. I felt the railing as well as the steps led the eye to the unknown at the top of the steps. What was at the top of the steps? Temple of the Winds. I modified this shot in Afterlight by increasing the saturation slightly and darkening the shadows slightly. 


- Symmetry
This is the Conservatory in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne. Looking face on at this beautiful building it is obviously symmetrical. I modified it by increasing the contrast slightly in Afterlight.


- Pattern and Repetition
The bark on this Queensland Kauri struck me straight away with it's repetition of the bark colours. The only modification done was a slight darkening of the outside border.


- Framing
Looking at this fountain I thought the huge cactus framed it dramatically. I increased the contrast slightly in Afterlight so the fountain would stand out a bit more.

- Point of Interest
The point of interest of this huge tree is the shadow of the trunk and branches. No modifications were made.

- Point of View (unusual)
The unusual point of view I wanted to portray in this shot was the obvious partying that had been going on in the beautiful Fitzroy Garden over the Christmas holiday. I modified the photo using PIP Editor.


- Fill the Frame
The only modification made to the shot of these flowers was that I cropped the photo slightly.


Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne

Today was another day of exploring for me, so I decided to head into the CBD and wander around the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens. This 38 hectares of garden beds, tranquil lakes and amazing sweeping lawns was founded in 1846. It is home to 50,000 individual plants representing more than 9,000 species from around the world. The last time I was at the Botanic Gardens was in July 2014 when my son Shane and his then partner had their pre-wedding lunch prior to heading to the Wedding register for the ceremony. So my visit this morning bought back some lovely memories.

 I have never spent time wandering around these amazing gardens before, but after spending 2 1/2 hours there I now know what joy it can bring to your day spending it amongst so much beauty. There are trees planted by English Royalty as far back as the 1920's and I even saw a Queensland Kauri that was planted in the 1800's.
One Huge Queensland Kauri
But trees are not all that these gardens provide, there's a Children's Garden, Ornamental Lake, Guilfoyle's Volcano, the National Herbarium and various tours and performances at specific times.
Looking over Guilfoyle's Volcano

Dramatic Leaves