The scans arrived that very afternoon - as always, the guys had done a marvellous job. But the 28mm just seemed to feel right for the space and I happily burned through all 36 exposures without changing.īeing not too far from the centre of Brisbane, I made a beeline for the film lab (DigiDirect in Adelaide Street) and handed over the roll straight out of the back of the camera. My plan was to make an initial circuit of the exhibition with the Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AiS lens, and then a second pass with the Voigtlander 58mm f/1.4. In some of the shots I used a shallow depth of field to render individuals unidentifiable and simplify an untidy background. There were many opportunities for visual interplay between artwork, building and people. My composition process was to seek out combinations of interesting subjects and light, and then look for perspective or layers to add depth.
I pushed two stops for stronger contrast and grain, and some more low-light firepower. I also really enjoy the grain structure and exposure latitude. After a look around I decided to load Ilford HP5+, mainly because I felt black and white would help bring continuity to a series of shots in differently coloured environments. I brought a few different rolls of film, keeping my options open. In most situations I prefer SLR control of depth of field and exposure. It’s manual everything, but simple and intuitive, and faithfully reliable. I only have a few cameras, and I use my Nikon FM almost exclusively for film photography. Also on display at the exhibition, and of particular interest for photographers, are Rachel Mounsey’s evocative images of the Black Summer fires in 2019. These images feature the hanging spheres from artist Tomás Saraceno, Dora Budor’s volcano-littered scenes inside brightly lit glass cases, Yhonnie Scarce’s Cloud Chamber, Ron Mueck’s remarkable “In bed” sculpture, and Carlos Amorales’ thousands of butterflies and moths, cut from black paper and fixed to the gallery walls.
The gallery environment provided plenty of interesting shapes, light and dark environments, colour, contrast, reflections, and the artwork itself. To add another dimension to my visit to the ‘Air’ exhibition at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art, I decided to take my camera along.
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