Created in 2017. Some of the collection featured in an exhibition for the Australian Street Documentary Association, In 2019 also, this photo was published in a book produced by AASPI in 2020.
“Unmasked”.
The people of Chapel Street.
When I am out photographing on the street. I go through some different processes; I try to ask myself what’s happening here? What’s the scene? Where are the moments?
One of the things I like to so is, where I just walk with the view finder pressed up against my eye, photograph and look for, people, shape lines, colour and context or a narrative.
I look closer, is there a story here is there something to record or tell?
I ask myself and keep photographing.
I often find myself looking for the emotions in people be it love, courage, sadness, a story a glimpse of someone’s life behind the wall. Even shape, colour or anything that provokes an emotional and feeling reaction.
I do find that; I find myself wondering what people are thinking or how they are feeling.
I ask myself what’s the vibe here?
I either reach out to them and ask them to share about themselves casually chatting, usually by just having conversations or I snap away.
Mr Boss man, the photograph above was unique to me.
As I was walking down the street and I saw this old man in the middle of all this action and young groups of people, he was people watching.
“Watching everything”.
The science; Mr Boss Man.
Reminded me of times that had gone by an era gone, mostly though it was just great to see him out enjoying every moment.
As he has already seen so much in his life, we all have our own stories and moments that make up who we are for me he was, Mr Boss man. With deepest respect.
I was concerned not to alarm him, so I aimed my camera at the street and at the last minute swung it back around and snap. We have Mr Boss man.
I love being in the thick of the action and generally I am not trying to hide but more spending time trying to connect as I love people. Sometimes though you must spend time thinking of how that looks.
India in December 2019
These documentary styles of photographs were produced on the
Mother Ganges Varanasi.
I absolutely loved India!
What an amazing and special place to visit. A colourful delight of culture and everyday life the massive amount of noise both audio and visual!
This journey was defiantly spiritually moving as I watched, wondered, and photographed the locals. They were so excepting of me and my camera, often asking me to photograph them.
I felt my way along with the camera sometimes feeling very out of my depth but always wanting more. Truly incredible experience. I’ll be back.
I very much enjoyed being on the streets of India in this incredible space. The everyday hustle and overwhelming kindness of strangers.
The smell of Jasmine, spices, cow poop and of the special local burning wood, used in the Assi Ghat’s fills the air.
There is a real clash of richness and poverty. Then you have the everyday colour, rituals, prayer, and spirituality a world I haven’t seen on any other of my travels. A very wonderful place, they may tell you it’s the pathway to Atma.
2017. Working with Les is a time I would never forget. We produced a photo that he used for the cover of his book. I was very grateful to have met him and wondered if it was fate.
Les’s book titled.
“The Mouth that Roared”
Les decided the location needed to be his old haunt Braybrook in Melbourne.
Being raised in Footscray myself I was Familiar with the area.
In the end we took the photograph Les used, out front of The Footscray Community Arts Centre building, as I love the old bluestone as the backdrop.
The photo I chose for my website, is different from the one for Les’s book. I thought I’d show this photograph, as I love the artworks in the background as well as the way Les engages with the camera.
As we went around Braybrook before we chose a location, Les told me about his life as a Youth Worker and what this work means to him.
He shared many memories that he holds dear. He showed where best friend used to live whom is sadly no longer with us.
Les is a salt of the earth sort of guy and an amazing human.
Raised in Braybrook in Melbourne’s Western suburbs, Les has devoted his life to young people doing it tough both in Melbourne’s west and more recently in western Sydney, setting up crucial programs, services, and resources to assist youth at risk.
Les has a dedicated and passionate team who work directly with the young people to bring about individual change; and building a huge public profile to support his work.
It was such a pleasure working with Louise to produce some portraits for her campaign in 2020.
We chose a local spot in St Kilda Melbourne and used flash and soft diffusion to focus on bringing out Louise’s natural beauty.
Working with Louise I enjoyed her passion for community issues, our environment and for the arts.
2018
In these portraits again we are using studio light to show off the subject. To add passion mood and strength to the character or the subject. This was a very enjoyable day for all we shot the photographs on site using studio light and backdrops to enhance the mood and depth as desired.
A bit about my client below.
Established in 2008, Fitness Ring is more than your typical boxing studio. Situated in Richmond, we are a personalised, supportive, passionate and family run set up where anyone from any level of fitness can get involved. Owned and operated by husband and wife Nick and Tonia Tetoros, Fitness Ring offers a variety of group classes; from conditioning and cardio, to boxing and kickboxing. To check out our awesome classes.
Nick was a professional boxer and kickboxer for 11 years in which he held several titles and belts, including World Kickboxing Champion 1998 and WBO World Boxing Organization ranked #8 in 2003. He represented Australia at the Pre Olympic Boxing Trials in 1991. Nick was a sparring partner of former World Champion, Kostya Tszyu, in preparation for Kostya’s world title elimination fight.
High Sync Speed Flash photography light, is a fabulous way to get just the right moments especially when capturing moving objects to light your subject. It’s great way to avoid your highlights being blown out in your background and create a statement, mood.
Studio photography is all about light and how much of it to use.
What type of feeling you want to invoke with the viewer and even the subject. Working in studio is a lot of fun the same type of principles apply, working with either people, product, still life or advertsisting.
How much light? Do you need images that are:
High key
Mid Key
Dark key
What type of mood and branding do you want to create?
Mardi Gras 2018 with Party Passport for the rock out with your crock out Indigenous float.
On deforestation:
Louise Chen is predominately a documentary photographer, with a grass roots approach. Louise shows her enthusiasm and expression towards the topic of deforestation through the lens. Her passion for such matters is clearly demonstrated by her photography.
Originally, being inspired on a political level to help support the Great Forest National Park campaign, Louise has put together this series of photos to investigate and create awareness about the issues of deforestation. There has been much consideration made towards the view point in which the audience sits, therefore the series can be taken on board by someone who is not across such matters of deforestation. The visual language communicated through her photographs is clear to all who want to view. The sequence of photos shows the rainforests is in its natural state and then showing the logging coups a devastated landscape.
Using a shallow depth of felid and rich colour to express the quite moments captured in the rainforests and then to show the bleakness and raspy nature of the devastated logging coupes, its effect much like a war zone.
I was so moved by whats happening in the forests and I have been able to contribute to the GFNP through this photo series and working with the wilderness society. This has been an amazing experience for me, I hope to bring about awareness and change through my photography. The volunteer work that I do and all the volunteers, play such a big role in helping to protect these forests. I work towards being able to use my photos as a voice for a new way at looking at our precious forests, water security and native animal species. For our future.
These photographs were taken in in the central highlands of Victoria. Some on a tour with the Wilderness society, Louise’s ongoing work is to help to show the devastation that deforestation/ logging our native rainforests is causing. In a time where the many of our native animal species are becoming extinct. These areas are home to many critically endangered species including;
Leadbeater's Possum- The Leadbeater's possum is a critically endangered possum largely restricted to small pockets of alpine as they live in the majestic mountain ash trees found in this area.
Spotted Tree Frog
The spotted Quoll - an endangered carnivorous marsupial once found throughout the central highlands but seldom seen today.
The mythical 'drop-bear' and not to be confused with the Brush-tailed possums. These massive Possums are known as the Mountain Brushtail and are significantly larger than their urban counter-parts.
Boo-Book owl -The Boo-book whose call is as unusual as it is haunting. The call of the Boo-Book can be heard in tandem with the Yellow-Bellied Gliders on the sound byte.
Little Sugar Glider- common resident of these forests. Today their future remains precarious as scientists are finding fewer of these little gliders in the forests of the Central Highlands. They are an important food source for predators such as Owls.
Satin Bower birds are renowned for their unique courtship behaviour. The males build a structure and decorate it with sticks and brightly coloured (usually blue) objects to attract a mate.
Mountain Ash Trees
Victoria’s central highlands area are home to the Majestic Mountain Ash Trees, native to Australia. Mountain Ash Tree’s are the tallest flowering tree in the world.
Mountain Ash are characteristically tall and straight, typically with no branches until near the crown. Increased maturity is characterised by trees becoming more widely spaced and heavier in the trunk, with a greater number of tree hollows forming. In the absence of fire, old age and death occurs at around 400 - 500 years. Fire sensitive cool temperate rainforest species commonly coexist with Mountain Ash, particularly in the gullies, it’s also highly unlikely to have naturally occurring fires if the rainforest is left to grow as the forest floor is wet.
Leadbeaters' Possum requires mature Mountain Ash for nest sites. The tree provides nectar and seeds for birds and leaves for caterpillars.
Mountain Ash Forests are also the most carbon rich forests in the world, and hence one of the world’s most important types of rainforests to protect. Especially given the global warming crisis and an increase in brushfires and unstable climate.
Clerfell logging stops old growth forests from regenerating and increases the fire proneness in forests bushfires like (Black Saturday 2009)
Mountain Ash forests are threatened by recurrent and widespread industrial clearfell logging.
Our water catchment areas
Clearfell logging coupes in Victoria are concentrated in high rainfall areas of Melbourne’s catchments.
As bushfire is going to become even more common with global warming we need to be aware that cutting down the forests will only create dryer conditions and higher chances of major bushfires like Marysville.
For further information please check out;
https://www.greatforestnationalpark.com.au
https://www.wilderness.org.au
Chronicle 106.
A community project.
2019- 2020
This project encompasses Portrait photography and documentary film.
This was a yearlong project that developed over this time.
As I began photographing the artists at Studio 106 St Kilda, I saw that they were such an amazing group of people who are so talented with their different artworks. So eclectic, & individual to the artistic journeys.
A true inspiration to me.
I realised that some stories need to be told and this was one.
As more artists decided they wanted to take part in the project, I thought that we need to showcase this. I knew I needed to look for a space to exhibit my portraits of them, sitting in situ with their own artworks.
With the twelve artists that participated, I created a documentary on some of the current cohort of artists at the time.
Also, with the help to fund the project and in being successful with being granted with an Arts Grant from City of Port Phillip. We were able to part fund the development of the project and opening night.
At the Carlisle Street Artspace.
Featuring one of the oldest run artists collectives in Melbourne today. The show was a great success.
Unfortunately, though, as cafe culture has moved in and redevelopment of so many artists’ studios everywhere across Melbourne.
The studio is at threat of closure due to looming redevelopment into apartments.
It seems for many, it’s a balancing act for artists finding areas that are close to transport and offer affordable rents for studios in the current times.
At the exhibition we also aired my documentary film on the current cohort of twelve of the artists.
“On a Mission with 106”
&
Katrina Mathers
“Follow your Dreams”
One of the oldest founding members who is also filmmaker.
“A bit on the Studio 106”.
Artist’s Studio 106 is an independently run artist's collective, established in the mid 1990's and consisting of working artist studios and a gallery space. It is home to over 20 resident artists, filmmakers and writers hailing from diverse cultural backgrounds and working across a multitude of mediums - including illustration, sculpture, painting, digital art, mixed media, poetry & Film.
Chronicle 106
Visual Artist and Art Teacher
Chronicle 106
Digital, visual artist and Teacher
Chronicle 106
Visual Artist
Chronicle 106.
Chronicle 106
Visual Artist
Chronicle 106
Visual Artist and Arts Teacher
Chronicle 106
Visual Artist
Chronicle 106
Visual Artist
Chronicle 106
Visual Artist & Photographer
Chronicle 106
Visual & Ceramic Artist
Chronicle 106
Visual Artist and Art therapist.
