Things have taken a dire turn at Paul Amyes Photography. For some reason the links to the images are all of a sudden broken. I’m not sure what has happened, but it does mean that I’m having to go through all 616 pages and re-link the photos. It is a mammoth undertaking and will keep me occupied for some while.
I saw the accompanying image when we went to Beverley for the Spring Equinox Flower Festival. I couldn’t resist the red and the blue. It was taken with one of my everyday cameras. I did take some photos of the flower exhibits, but, they were a bit meh when compared to this one.
The entrance to Beverley Station Arts in the Western Australian town of Beverley.
Those who regularly follow my blog will know that I’m currently the artist in residence at Beverley Station Arts in Western Australia. So for this entry I’ll talk a little about the place. The town of Beverley is located some 130Km (or 80 miles for those still using imperial measurements) east of Perth in the Avon Valley in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. The Beverley Arts Gallery Committee was inaugurated in 1967 with the aim of establishing a venue for the fine arts in the town. Sir Claude Hotchin a noted arts benefactor donated work from his collection with the aim of starting the fledgling gallery off. The collection is now housed in what was the old railway station in Beverley.
Inside the exhibition space at Beverley Station Arts. Sony A7r, Fotodiox OM to Nex adapter, Olympus OM Zuiko 21mm f3.5 lens. Exposure: 1/400th sec, f5.6 at ISO 6400.
The old station master’s quarters is now where the visiting artists in residence are accommodated. Beverley Station Arts, Western Australia. Sony A7r, Fotodiox OM adapter, Olympus OM Zuiko 21mm f3.5 lens. Exposure: 1/400th sec, f8 ISO 400.
Beverley Station Arts also utilizes the former station masters living accommodation for the artist in residence program. This allows an artist to base themselves at the gallery and produce work, put on an exhibition, run workshops and generally interact with the community. Recently an open air stage was built which is suitable for all the performing arts. It has a seating capacity of 500 and local audiences enjoy music, theatre, movies and dance under the stars during the summer months. On Saturday 10th September 2016 the venue hosted the Voice Moves Country Choir Bash. This year there were eight participating choirs:
The Platform Theatre performing space at Beverley Station Arts, Western Australia. Sony A7r, Fotodiox OM to Nex adapter, Olympus OM Zuiko 21mm f3.5 lens. Exposure: 1/200th sec, f8 at ISO 400.
As is usual in country Western Australia a sumptuous afternoon tea was provided in the intermission. The event was great fun and enjoyed by both the audience and the participants alike. Below is a short video featuring the Beverley Station Singers.
The garden bench even has a railway theme. Beverley Station Arts, Western Australia. Sony A7r, Fotodiox OM to Nex adapter and Olympus OM Zuiko 21mm f3.5 lens. Exposure: 1/80th sec, f16, at ISO 400
It seems like absolutely ages since I last made a post. The break came about because I moved house (yes again!) and as usual Telstra and iiNet cocked the whole re-location up resulting in me being without phone and internet for 6 weeks. Now I have signed up with Optus and I’m the proud owner of a fantastic broadband connection.
So in the last six weeks what have I been up to? Well I’ve definitely not been slacking off I can tell you! I’m pleased to announce that for the whole of September I will be artist in residence at Beverley Station Arts and I’ll also be showing a body of work entitled “Sex, Lies, and Flowers”. Sex, Lies and Flowers is a project on the terrestrial orchids of the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. The word orchid comes from the Greek “orchis”, which literally means ‘testicle’ (with reference to the shape of its tuber). Orchids are distinguished from other flowers by their uniquely shaped column which is composed of the fused stamens and pistils. Often the petals are modified to mimic the shapes of insects to attract male insects to mate with the faux female and pollinate the flowers. Some of the forms they take also resembles human genitalia Hence the title “Sex, Lies and Flowers”. Over the last eight years I have travelled within the region photographing the plants on location. Instead of taking the standard approach of photographing the plant in its environment showing its full structure I’ve chosen to photograph them in a style more used in portraiture so as to bring out the distinguishing features and characteristics of the plants. The aim is not to produce an exhaustive catalogue of the plants but to produce a series of images that show case the beauty of the plants and raise awareness of them and how fragile they are. Hopefully some of you can pop in and see me and the work, if you are unable then the images from the exhibition and many more can be seen here.
Below is a video clip I made a while ago about photographing orchids in the Avon Valley of Western Australia.
Thanks for your patience everyone and regular programming should now resume.
I like trains, not in that anorak wearing train spotter way, but I have happy associations with them of journeys done and I’ve always lived by railway tracks. It’s not the first time I’ve made blog entry about trains. The other one was TransPerth Transhumance. So the first of my photos is this:
York CBH Nocturne. Train been filled at the York CBH grain handling facility in York, Western Australia. Canon EOS 5D with Canon EF24mm f/2.8 lens. Exposure: manual mode 20.0 s at f/4.0 ISO 800.
I live very close to the CBH grain handling facility in York and can hear when they are filling the trains, which for some reasons always seem to happen at night. Anyway last night I heard the train pulling in at about 8:30pm and I quickly grabbed a camera and tripod and headed down there. So here it is fresh from the camera card.
Thomas the tank engine pulls into the platform at the Beverley Station Art Gallery. Immediately he senses that something is not quite right. Beverley, Western Australia. Canon EOS 550D with Canon EF24mm f/2.8 lens. Exposure: aperture priority mode 1/320 s at f/11.0 ISO 1600.
The picture of Thomas was just a piece of fun. My partner had an exhibition at the Beverley Station Gallery, and I found this old battered Thomas The Tank Engine Toy in the gallery so it was a picture just begging to be made.
Oh and for those wondering about the title of the post and where it comes from – it’s from a track called “Crazy Train” by Western Australian band The Waifs.
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