how long have you been shooting film?

I’ve only been shooting film since August 2010 – in fact I’ve only been seriously shooting anything since January 2010! I’ve still got heaps to learn but wow what a journey it’s been so far! I never thought that I would possess seven analogue cameras by now and four of them Polaroid. But that’s what I’ve enjoyed most about exploring film – it’s challenging, fun and just a bit addictive. And I love the anticipation of peeling back a Polaroid film or scanning a roll to see what it holds.

Student life by Lea Williams
Polaroid Colorpack II , Polaroid 667 film

do you prefer colour or black & white? do you have a favourite film, camera or technique you like to work with?

Personally I prefer black and white because of the simplicity and mood it can convey. And it picks up those shadows and light that are perhaps sometimes lost in the distraction of colour. I’m still learning about the wide variety of film grades and grains and look forward to each developed roll to see how they turn out. But in my experience, even a bad image can be salvaged in b&w!

My favourite camera is my Polaroid 100 Automatic. It’s big, clunky and always draws comments from passersby, but never lets me down (except when I accidently dropped it – I almost cried). I still marvel at how well it works despite being 45 years old! At the moment my favourite film is Polaroid Chocolate which is sadly very hard to find now. I like the texture and feel of the chocolatey tones – they add a vintage, imperfect quality to prints which I love.

show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it – how did you take it? is there a story behind it?

Pier in Polaroid Blue by Lea Williams
Polaroid Colorpack II, Polaroid Blue film

This Polaroid of Point Lonsdale Pier is a particular fave for its simplicity and the Blue film produced some lavender tones which I wasn’t expecting. I think it was only the second pack of film I’d run through the Colorpack II camera (my first Polaroid) and I remember being so pleased to have finally produced a decent print! Also, Point Lonsdale holds special memories for me and my family and I think this picture captures its tranquility.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other peoples’ photos?

The Great Escape by Dave Carswell
Pentacon Six, Ilford FP4+

It’s very difficult to choose from a pool of so many amazing and unique images, but at the moment I choose Dave Carswell’s “The Great Escape” because I love its timelessness and spontaneity. It’s such a perfectly timed shot and to me captures ‘summer’ beautifully.

There are so many beautiful images out there and I simply enjoy seeing how others have captured events, emotions and moments in time in their own unique way.

question from the previous interviewee Dave Carswell: What does the future hold for your photography? What would you like to be doing in five, ten years time?


The future in my photography holds many more years of learning, fun and seeking inspiration from others – and I suspect an expanding collection of cameras. And I might even try my own home-developing one day! What I love most about flickr and being a part of MSM is the great source of inspiration and seeing how other photographers shoot and compose. I’ve learnt so much simply from observing other photographers’ techniques and images. My journey has only just begun.

please give us a question to ask the next person:
What is your favourite subject to shoot?

St Kilda palm trees by Lea Williams
Polaroid Colorpack II, Fuji FP 100-C

Thank you so much Lea! You can find Lea on flickr.

Summer Cleansing by Dave Carswell.
Pentacon Six – Kodak Portra 800

how long have you been shooting film?

I’ve always enjoyed shooting with film. My mother is a pharmacist and as a youngster I used to love getting a roll of film processed. I’d wait patiently until the delivery van came back from the lab to ogle over the shots I had taken with disposable or point and click cameras. It’s the same thrill I get today from developing my own film or getting negatives back from the lab. Overseas travel in the early 00’s re-ignited my interest, and when I returned to Melbourne I took a course to learn how to operate a camera, develop film and make dark room prints.

Wonderwall by Dave Carswell.
Pentacon Six – Provia X

do you prefer colour or black & white? do you have a favourite film, camera or technique you like to work with?

I tend to shoot quite a lot of black and white although I think this is probably due to the convenience and affordability of home developing. I’m still learning about different films, developers and development techniques so I enjoy the educational aspects of black and white film. Having said that, there is nothing quite like looking at a processed roll of medium format slide film.
I really enjoy shooting at night so my favourite film has to be Ilford 3200 shot with my Pentacon Six or Kowa Six and developed in Ilford chemistry.

show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it – how did you take it? is there a story behind it?

At The River by Dave Carswell.
Pentacon Six – Tri-X

I took this photograph during the end of my time living in Papua New Guinea in 2009. Some friends invited me back to their village for the day and so we embarked on a road trip west of Port Moresby. The trip had all the elements of a New Guinean adventure – passing the prison where dozens of inmates had just escaped, getting bogged in mud, canoeing across the river to get to the village and sitting with the locals chewing Betel nut much to the amusement of some of the villagers who had never seen a white person in the flesh (let alone one with red teeth).
After a heady mix of tropical heat, SP beer and the aforementioned Betel nut; I went for a walk along the river. I heard some rustling in the bush and I turned around and took this shot – from the hip, unplanned and unstaged. For the viewer I guess you only get to see one part of the story (something that appeals to me in photographs), but for me it represents the adventurous elements I associate with photography as well as the sentimental value.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other peoples’ photos?

*** by Museum of Dirt.

There is so much amazing work here in the pool that it’s hard to pick one. I am going to choose this shot by Vinnie Piatek (aka Museum of Dirt). The phrase ‘seeing the world through someone else’s eye” tends to get thrown around quite carelessly when it comes to describing photography. I like to think that I have a fairly intimate knowledge of the streets in the Melbourne CBD but I am constantly impressed with Vinnie’s knack for showing Melbourne in a way that is unique to him and inevitably ‘through his eye’. His ability in using location, subject and light to produce his work is inspirational. I often find myself returning to his stream time after time.

a question from the previous interviewee Eric: Tell us one little dirty secret about one your previous or current cameras.

A little dirty secret?? Hmmm. I’ve never had a light leak from my Holga. I think light leaks from the camera are a myth

please give us a question to ask the next person:
What does the future hold for your photography? What would you like to be doing in 5, 10 years time?

The Great Escape by Dave Carswell.
Pentacon Six – Ilford FP4+

Thank you Dave! You can find Dave on flickr.

Panorama by Hing Hshen
Polaroid Sx70

how long have you been shooting film?

I’ve started shooting film back in June 2009, when I bought my first Pentax Asahi SP with 1.8/55mm, purchased at Peony Garden near Melbourne Central.

Then things got out of hand when I started shooting Polaroid or instant film.

Zebra Girl by Hing Hshen
Polaroid Land 250 + Fuji FP3000 B (B&W)

do you prefer colour or black & white? do you have a favourite film, camera or technique you like to work with?

I prefer Black and white, I love Kodak TriX 400 for 120 on my Mamiya 330 or Rolleiflex, Rollei Retro 400 for 35mm on my Pentax SP or K2, and Fuji FP 3000 B for Polaroid Land 250 camera.

As for technique,  I just like to capture people’s emotion at the point of time.

show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it – how did you take it? is there a story behind it?

jingle2 by Hing Hshen

I took this shot when I was back in Malaysia for six days. This was taken with my girlfriend’s dad’s Mamiya RB67 ProS with a 90mm lens and a Polaroid back.

I went back to KL is to celebrate my 5th year anniversary with her. While I was fiddling with the camera I saw her putting her makeup on, I took out a pack of Fuji Fp3000 and got two shots of her. I’ve seen many people shoot her portrait, but I have been telling her no one can capture her expression except me… she didn’t believe me until I showed her this picture and finally she agreed with me.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other peoples’ photos?

The MSM pool is always my favourite and I love it all. To pick one out of 16,440 shots is too hard for me. What I enjoy in other people’s photos is that we all have different perspectives in seeing a certain object or subject.

I can learn from it and experiment with the techniques and concepts.

A question from the previous interviewee Lan Huang:
What are you passionate about other than photography and why?

Besides photography, I used to aggressively skate back in Malaysia. But soon after picking up cameras, I’ve decided to hang my skates up, but I still love it and passionate about rollerblading. It’s just that my body couldn’t take one more hard impact such as last time…

please give us a question to ask the next person:

Tell us one little dirty secret about one your previous or current cameras.

tramstop by Hing Hshen
Polaroid 600 long exposure

Thank you so much for your time Eric! You can find Eric on flickr or read more in his blog, http://hinghshen.wordpress.com/.

untitled by Lan Huang

how long have you been shooting film?

Well, I first handled a film camera when I was a kid. I remember mum was always worried I was going to crop peoples’ heads out of the frame. But I started to use film more intentionally about two years ago. I think it started with a BIG W disposable camera. I just had the film processed for $5 and scanned it. I should’ve got prints…

do you prefer colour or black & white? do you have a favourite film, camera or technique you like to work with?

I mainly shoot slide film because I like looking at them through the light. But I’ve matured to like print film as well. I think I don’t like black & white as much because I stubbornly like to fly before I can walk if you know what I mean.

In terms of technique, I recently got a 35mm tilt shift lens. I think a proper camera is not complete unless it has tilt and shift functions. We had it in the beginning, why are we taking it away now?

untitled by Lan Huang

show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it – how did you take it? is there a story behind it?

untitled by Lan Huang

This photo was taken by a beautiful Agfa Record III. A camera which I’ve stupidly lost on the train. The photo was taken in one of the busiest tourist spots in Shanghai(my birth place). I’m just amazed how everyone took absolutely no notice at the four guys sleeping in the middle of the day.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other peoples’ photos?

Let me pick two. The first one has a really strong Melbourne feel to it. The second one is just a great photo, lovely light, plus it’s on instant film!

riders after the storm #4 by mugley

H by leeham

I have almost 8000 favs of other peoples’ photos on flickr. So I do love looking at other peoples’ work. I just like photos that are somehow different to everything else I’ve seen before.

I feel like the more photos I see, the closer I am to noticing the best photo ever.

question from the previous interviewee: If you could bring back one film that has been discontinued what would it be and why?

I wish Polaroid are still making the 600 and SX-70 films because they are pretty unique. What the new company is bringing out now are a load of rubbish if I’m going to be perfectly honest.

I’m also a bit disappointed that Fujifilm have discontinued the large format QuickLoad films. I plan on shooting some 4×5 in the future, loading film will not be so quick and pain free.

please give us a question to ask the next person:

What are you passionate about other than photography and why?

Untitled-1 by Lan Huang

Thank you! You can find Lan on flickr here.

A Leaf About Town by James McManus

how long have you been shooting film?

I was bitten by the film bug back in 1969 at the age of seven when I got my first camera a Kodak 126 Instamatic and have been shooting with film ever since. There was an eight year period from 1993 where I gave up on photography after I lost everything including all my work and cameras in a house fire. An overseas trip in 2001 saw me take up the addiction again and spending large amounts of money to support my habit. In the last nine years, I have owned a couple of those dSLR things as well but never seem to keep them for that long …. give me a film camera and I am happy with my photography.

Boats by James McManus

do you prefer colour or black & white? do you have a favourite film, camera or technique you like to work with?

There is something other than colour …. . I don’t mind black and white but prefer colour for my abstract and shallow depth field stuff. Normally you will find Fuji Reala and Kodak Ektachrome 100VS in my camera bag and I am always on the look out for expired C41 and E6 films to put through the Mamiya 6 or Pentax 67II.

show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it – how did you take it? is there a story behind it?

Dad’s EH by James McManus

My dad passed away at the end of 2005. While at home a few months later cleaning up for mum, I found a box of his old cameras with a Polaroid SLR 680 amongst them. I went out the next day and got two packs of 600 film to see if it worked. This was the first shot I did of the EH and the last time I saw the car. Brings back a lot of good memories not only of my dad but the many trips made in that car.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other peoples’ photos?

Photos that jump out and grab my attention and make me want to come back to check out more of their work.

Thriller by AAGCTT

question from the previous interviewee: I’d like to know what you do with your photos, aside from putting them on flickr. Do you make prints? Digital or wet prints? Do you hang them on the walls, give as presents to your friends, show into exhibitions?

The only time I seem to get anything printed these days is for an exhibition and that last happened back in 2007. I do have two digital prints under way at the moment and again for an exhibition, this time for Unsensored10. Some of my polaroids get framed and giving away as presents.

please give us a question to ask the next person:

If you could bring back one film that has been discontinued what would it be and why?

Thanks so much James. If you would like to check out more of James work you can find him on flickr or on his blog.

luci everett studio – Olga Bennett

please introduce yourself. what is “your style” of photography?

Not very original, but I guess I’m taking photographs to  capture what seems beautiful to me. I’m influenced mainly by documentary images, and am currently working on a couple of personal projects. One of the called ‘Environments’ is an attempt to document creative spaces in and around Melbourne. I prefer to use fully manual cameras that force me to take pictures slowly.

untitled – Olga Bennett

how long have you been shooting film?

As long as I’ve been photographing. I’ve tried to switch to digital a couple of times, but it never really worked for me. Not being able to check my images straight away allows for surprise, and I feel it’s important element tohang on to. Shooting film allows me to concentrate on seeing and visualizing, instead of checking the results all the time. There is also sheer beauty of out of focus  and low light areas as captured on medium format negative. Digital doesn’t come close to replicating this effect.

untitled - Olga Bennett

do you prefer colour or black & white? do you have a favourite film or camera?
I mainly shoot color, but love black  and white too. It just feels like completely different medium to me, hard to compare. I shoot a lot of Portra, but looking into different options at the moment. I use my very old Hasselblad 500 c most of the times, it took a lot of time and effort to get used to this camera, but now I’m completely in love. I’ve been also playing with Polaroid SX-70 and new black and white  film from impossible project recently. I guess I love squares.

how us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it, how did you take it and is there a story behind it?

“Environments Project” – Olga Bennett

This images come from the test roll I shoot in my old apartment, trying to sort out some issues I had with focusing and depth of field. Almost accidental, they are my favorites. It’s almost depressing to think that  while I’m learning more and more about photography, I can’t beat the simplicity of this shots. It’s a good reminder for myself.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other peoples’ photos?

“typical me, I started something and now I’m not too sure” by Deszya Yulian

I’m always drawn to images that have a strong mood or emotion. I like images, that take me somewhere else, like the one above: so dreamy! I can feel the breeze on my skin from just looking at this image. The grey sky, open space and hands thrown up in the air…  I think as photographers we hope that other people can see and feel what we did when we pressed the button. As a viewer I like when I find that connection too.

what inspires and motivates you in photography:

Hope and possibility to show other people how I see the world, I guess! Lots of small, quiet moments, details, spaces and people that I find really beautiful and want to share with others. It seems possible, but it’s very hard to achieve. So I guess it will keep me motivated for a long time yet.

please give us a question to ask the next person:
I’d like to know what you do with your photos, aside from putting them on flickr. Do you make prints? Digital or wet prints? Do you hang them on the walls, give as presents to your friends, show into exhibitions?

Well many thanks for your time Olga! You can check out Olga’s personal website at www.olgabennettphotography.com or on flickr.

mid-air

how long have you been shooting film?
It started a long time ago but there was a break of almost 10 years, due to the digital conspiracy:) I have restarted shooting film about half a year ago by finishing 10 year old roll on an old SLR I rediscovered.

do you prefer colour or black & white? do you have a favourite film, camera or technique you like to work with?
I love both colour and b&w film, but there’s something about b&w that is more analog, more artistic. My favourite camera is Zenit – an old friend, simple and robust. I haven’t worked out what my favourite film is yet.

show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it – how did you take it? is there a story behind it?

Old Quadrangle

This photo of Old Quadrangle at Melbourne Uni was taken with an Agfa Isolette on 120mm b&w film called “Lucky” – there’s something NQR with the film on this exposure, but I think it’s for the best. This shot itself was random – mostly to finish off the roll.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other peoples’ photos?
I really enjoy good portraits, especially ones that are expressive, convey emotions, mood etc.

by Karen Riley.

question from the previous interviewee: How understanding is your family/significant when you purchase another camera and/or lens, do you hide purchases from them?
I don’t hide anything, but if my wife rings you – just remember – whatever she’s asking about – you DID lend it to me:) But to answer the first part of the question – when it comes to film my family and friends think I’m on another wavelenght.

contemplate without hesitation

Question for next person:
What inspires and motivates you in photography?

Thanks for your time, Gedal! You can see more of his work on flickr as Гедаль Basman, and his blog can be found at livejournal.

Dark Path

please introduce yourself. what is “your style” of photography?

I grew up looking at photos of my great-grandfather who worked as a medic in the deep Amazon jungle over 100 years ago. I was fascinated by the cultures, strange animals (such as 20 ft anacondas) and incidents he encountered. As well as showing me my great-grandfathers photos, my grandmother would also encourage me to read her collection of National Geographic magazines. From viewing these images I became fascinated with travel, culture and photography, particularly nature and documentary photography. This has strongly influenced my style.

I do feel a bit lost when shooting in an urban environment such as Melbourne. I am still experimenting and developing my style in an urban environment. I guess my style is documentary with some arty influence.

how long have you been shooting film?

I have always been interested in photography. Growing up I would shoot off a roll with my parents 35mm compacts whenever I could. I bought my first digital camera in 2000. In 2007 I returned to university for a year of postgraduate study (in Photography & Cinematography) and had 24/7 access to a studio and darkroom. This was my first experience at developing my own film and creating wet prints, I was hooked instantly by the tactileness, smells and satisfaction of completing a completely analogue process.

Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán – Lord of Sipan Tomb Museum – Lambayeque, Peru

do you prefer colour or black & white? do you have a favourite film, camera or technique you like to work with?

When shooting film I prefer black and white, mostly because I don’t yet know how to develop my own C41 or E6. Recently I have been mostly shooting with a Voigtländer Vito B. I have been challenging myself to shoot without a meter and guess the focal distance (in feet). Once I am confident enough with this I hope to concentrate on my composition. It is a great feeling when I do end up with a shot I am happy with, knowing there was no electronics involved in the process (until I scan the negs). I am encouraging myself to take my time and think about each shot.

Komodo Dragon – Komdo National Park, Indonesia.

show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it – how did you take it? is there a story behind it?

This photo was taken on Komodo Island in Indonesia. It is a National Park where you can come face to face with Komodo dragons in the wild. I was there at the end of 2006 with my Indonesian mate Tony (also a film shooter). Tony was kind enough to lend me his Nikon F4 with an 80-200 f/2.8 lens.

Komodo Dragons can run up to 20km/h and kill the occasional tourist. On the island, you are guided by a ranger on the island who makes sure you keep a good distance from them. My mate bribed the ranger to let us up close. I managed to get about 2m away, the dragon watching us closely the whole time, the ranger was really nervous. Shortly after I took this shot, the dragon hissed and looked like he was about to run towards us.

My mate Tony audibly crapped his pants, I had always heard people say “I crapped their pants” but it was the first time I witnessed someone literally crap their pants. At this point the ranger intervened with a big stick and calmly ushered us to safety.

It is one of my favourite shots not just because of the story but also because of the texture of the dragons skin and the cold tones. I also like the shallow depth of field focusing on the dragons eye watching me closely. Perhaps my great-grandchildren will look at this strange beast one day and laugh about Tony crapping his pants.

tyler, by Morganna Magee.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other peoples’ photos?

There is so much variety and unique styles in the MSM pool but I was really drawn to this fantastic and emotive portrait. Whilst it captures a split second in time it also remains timeless and could have been taken any time in the last century.

I am drawn to photos that tell a story and provide an insight into a moment in someone else’s life. I also like to see familiar places that I might walk past and ignore regularly captured in an interesting way.

Degraves Street – Melbourne, Australia

a question from the previous interviewee: Do you like to meticulously plan shoots, or go out (or into the studio) and and see what happens?

I like to go out and see what happens, I prefer the surprise of a happy accident rather than something I have already imagined in my mind.

please give us a question to ask the next person.

How understanding is your family/significant other when you purchase another camera and/or lens – do you hide your purchases from them?

Thanks very much for your time, Marcus! You can see more of his work over on flickr, as well as on his own website.

Skyscraper, I love you.please introduce yourself. what is “your style” of photography?

I think I’m still trying to get to grips with a “style” – I tend to go off on tangents very easily. I’d like to spend more time getting to know some different styles or ideas though.

how long have you been shooting film?

I remember having a Kodak instamatic camera of some kind when I was six or seven. I found a few of the prints from that camera a few years ago, but right now I can’t seem to find them (I hope they are not lost!)

I’ve been using film cameras of various sorts, on and off, since then I guess. For a long time I had just two cameras (an Olympus OM-1 with 2 lenses and a Canonet QL-17) and never really felt the need to get anything else – I have thousands of negs from those two cameras stashed away in various folders… I have had two digital cameras – a Canon A95 snapshot camera (still going strong) and a Pentax K10D SLR that I use if quick results are needed, but otherwise I’ve mostly used film cameras since childhood. This is not really for any philosophical reasons – I couldn’t afford a good digital SLR until recently, and I didn’t like the really small viewfinders and bad low-light ability that the early digital cameras had… Now I mostly use a Mamiya C330, or the pentax digital (for speed or convenience).

dark landscape.

I’m trying to streamline everything into one medium format film camera, and a small digital, maybe one of those micro 4/3rds Olympus ones that will be able to use my OM lenses.

do you prefer colour or black & white? do you have a favourite film, camera or technique you like to work with?

I like colour and black and white. For black and white my favourite film is TRI-X 400. I’ve got to know it, and it’s predictable and useful in most situations. I use the simplest developer I could find (Diafine) that doesn’t need any special temperatures or timing. That stuff drives me insane. For colour I go for whatever reasonably fast colour negative film I can find that’s the cheapest.

For ages I used Portra 160NC though, as I bought a bulk lot of it – that’s pretty good stuff too, but a bit slow sometimes. I don’t really care about colour balance as it all gets either screwed up in the scanning process or bent to my will in photoshop anyway. I have played around with infrared film a bit, but can’t seem to get it right (I get huge grain and contrast). One day I’ll work it out, and when I do I want to photograph people’s veins.

show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it – how did you take it? is there a story behind it?

Some time during new years day, things got tiring.

I think I’d like to take more pictures with people in them. This was taken years ago, maybe in 1999 or 2000, with my afore-mentioned OM-1 and probably some C-41 black and white film. It was on a new years trip to a country town in the southwest of Western Australia.

Basically, we were all hideously drunk and falling over on the floor, and somehow this nice picture came out. It’s not that I want to take more lucky shots, but I’d like to take more shots like this, that look lucky but were made up. I’d like to have the time to dream up a scene and arrange it and light it and all that stuff.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other peoples’ photos?

There’s such a huge variety in the MSM pool, and my tastes change from day to day, so it’s hard to choose a “favourite”. I decided to search for some keywords in the pool. I tried “nude” (only 4!) Then I tried “dark”, and found this one which I like.

•••, by Kiem Tang.

But then I tried harder, searching my flickr “favourites” for things which were also in the silvermine, and found two which have a bit of a long term favourite feel to them – ones that I’ve liked for a while, rather than just found.

The first is ‘…across the river Styx’ by Stuart Murdoch.

…across the river styx, by Stuart Murdoch.

I like this one because it reminds me of being in highschool, analysing a photograph for probably the first time. The photo, of course, was “Behind the Gare St. Lazare” by Henri Cartier-Bresson – the very famous photo, allegedly taken through a hole in a fence, of a man about to land in a puddle. I managed to see a nice big print of Stuart’s photograph at his 2007 exhibition in Footscary, and was taken back to that time, being shown how to follow the curves and lines around, and thinking about the path your eyes take over the surface of an image for the first time.

The second is “ribbon hat” by Jonathan Warner, which is great because it just manages to very simply conjure up everything that’s great about Melbourne on a winterish day:

ribbon hat, by Jonathan Warner.

question from the previous interviewee: Is your work a mirror or a window?

Not too sure, probably a bit of both. I don’t think it can ever really be just a mirror…

Please give us a question to ask the next person.

Do you like to meticulously plan shoots, or go out (or into the studio) and and see what happens?

Thanks for your time, Hamish! You can see more of his work on flickr as science.

Whyalla 1998, by Stuart Murdoch.

you have been involved with photography for a long time, both on a professional level and for your own enjoyment. how did you start out and how has your outlook changed over the years? There is, in my memory, no definitive starting point where I decided I was going to actively pursue photography. I remember brief encounters with it in my later years of schooling.  The turning point though really was a duty free camera that I’d bought before going away overseas as a young man in my early 20’s. I took plenty of photos but they left me wanting, and within six months I’d begun exploring my options in regards to further study and photography, and now here I am nearly 30 years later and I’m still enamoured by the power of what a photograph can say or tell, or not tell for that matter.

Untitled, by Stuart Murdoch.

do you have a preferred technique or camera? how does this help you realize your artistic goals? My technique is usually driven by how I plan on ultimately sharing the image, or the ideas behind the series of images I’m making.

If its sole purpose is to be viewed on a screen, any capture device will do, but if I plan on exhibiting in real life on paper in a gallery for example, then I prefer my Hasselbald or my Linhof Technika II. The optics on the ‘blad are superb, and all I need worry about while making an image with it is my composition as the lens renders all in its path with an almost too honest attitude. The Linhof slows you down to a point where every image has to count. Ultimately though, I work with what I have at hand.

Having said that I recently bought bought a Canon G11, for its size and power and flexibility, and I hope to produce some solid work with it over the coming years.

what artists and movements have been important to you? are there any that have had a lasting impact on you? The most influential artists for me have been those who made images of the urban landscape during the 70’s when photography had its first major shift in artistic credentials. People like Joe Deal, Lewis Baltz, Frank Gohlke, Bernd and Hiller Becher and Robert Adams all were part of a group of photographers that were in a show  entitled ‘New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape’, held in 1975 at George Eastman House, curated by William Jenkins.  In particular Robert Adams who writes eloquently as a photographer about photography.

37.794338/144.833584, by Stuart Murdoch.

which one do you value more, change or consistency? In Photography? Hard to say, as I see value in both – change is good particularly if something good comes from it, but consistency too can be worthwhile, showing a purpose to one’s vision and craft.

show us one of your favourite shots and tell us a bit about it. how did you take it, and is there a story behind it? Again that’s a hard question, the images I probably get the most satisfaction from are the ones I revisit a period of time after making them that show or reveal to me more than I initially saw when first composing then pressing the shutter. The process can take years, or it can take as long as a roll of film takes to return from the lab. If they nudge my works and ideas in a new direction the all the more important, but really we are all like fishermen aren’t we? Always chasing the one that got away.

show us a favourite shot from the MSM pool. what do you enjoy in other people’s photos? So much talent in the pool makes it difficult to single any one person out, I like Cameron Stephen’s playful approach to his imagery and Andrew Cosgriff’s often pithy and somewhat wry take on the sights of almost darker recesses of Melbourne, but one image maker who really sticks in my mind is Morganna Magee’s work – in particular her brutally honest series of images about her father and Tyler. It is photography without pretense, yet brimming full of compassion.

Dad, by Morganna Magee.

Image 1, by Morganna Magee.

give us a question to ask the next person for this series: Is your work a mirror or a window?

Thanks for your time and thoughts Stuart! Stuart can be found all over the net but you can start by checking out these pages http://www.flickr.com/photos/s2art/, http://blog.stunik.com/ or http://altfotonet.org/.