Androids in the Theater

This year has been the busiest year of my life.

Before I begin to explain, I have to say that I deeply sympathize for those adults who actually chose to have a large number of offspring. I only completed the set (of one of each). Truly, my heart goes out to those large families...

This year is the year my eldest child is in his senior classes in High School. For all you non-parents reading this, you may not understand the fear that this inspires in parents. It can make grown adults into cowering, crazy people at the thought that this implies university or college or "other options" in the near future. For me, the idea of college visits and the Great College Search amongst all the USA, was a foreign notion. I had attended university in Australia where I grew up. Entrance was at the whim of test scores and writing your choice colleges on a card. Simple, huh?

I was unprepared for the American way. I thought I was prepared... until the first college visit. And the applications. And the huge number of schools. And the application essay.

But I did find humor in some of the essay topics given to students. Most, however, seemed to revolve around one issue colleges appear to have "planted" in these essays... a general "Tell me about yourself and what influences you so that we can get to understand you better than your test scores".

That scared me. Not for my son, but for myself...

I have been asked by many people over time about influences on my work. I have had other peoples' artistic influences explained to me in detail. And honestly... I had to think about it for a long while. What is it that drives a person to spend their life either writing, painting, photographing... what hidden anecdotes from our pasts lead us towards these choices?

I was born in 1970. Growing up in the 70's and 80's in Australia was culturally "interesting". (I write this smiling to myself.) It was time coming and going of the age of Disco. It was Boy George, Spielberg, Cold War, and Reaganomics. I watched Michael Jackson's career go solo. It was the range of time from "The Partridge Family" to teen idols Michael J. Fox and Johnny Depp. Australia fed off the culture television and movies of America. We also pulled from the music of America and Britain. But it also was a time of vast cultural expansion in Australia in music, art, film, literature and much, much more.

I do not know where it started really. Maybe it was the small artsy community I experienced around Hunter's Hill and Woolrich. Maybe it was the poetry readings, artists' parties and other events I was drag to as a child. Perhaps it was the exposure to a large multicultural community and seeing the complexity of the world through different festivals.

But three things in my youth stand out more than the rest. One is my Mother's interest with Art and my family history. Another was the influence of my Great-Aunt and her travels. The third one was the movie, "Blade Runner".

I am aware that at least two of these things seem connected. My Mother wanted to be an full-time artist and encouraged me with a camera from an early age. An artistic family is always helpful. I have talked about her influence before.

My Great-Aunt Marj was also my Godmother. She was glamorous and outgoing.. two things I was not. She traveled the World, bringing me back each country's doll, and sending me postcards. That started my collection of postcards. They seemed little windows of the perfection of places. I was fascinated with postcards as a child (Okay, I still collect them even today!). It was like a way I could share journeys with her and see different things. I would imagine what it looked like just a little left or right of the picture as I stared at them. My Aunt's stories of her travels never seemed to match the perfect postcards she sent. They were always more gritty, more exotic and more personal. It made me thirst for pictures like that.. the not-so-posed, interesting photos that give you a sense of a place.

I was one of those poking, asking, annoying kids. I liked the muddy, sweaty, quirky places. I loved the city and found it "beautiful" especially in the imperfections of change. Even then, I found the more interesting country spots to explore and wonder at as well. I also loved nature and science.

When you put these ideas together with the whole development of special effects that came into movies during that period, it is no surprise that "Blade Runner" made a huge impression on me. It was not the usual sci-fi movie of clean corridors and cheerful endings. It didn't have aliens that made you run or made you cry. It was very "human" (yes, I know it is a movie about androids!) and set in shadowy, culturally-mixed cities of the future that showed the dirt, pollution and crime that cities deal with today. But that wasn't the reason it made such an impact.

For all those readers who have seen "Blade Runner", I suggest if it has been a few years, watch it again. For those of you who have not, I have a couple of words to give you an idea of the movie (besides the great acting). It was well ahead of it's time in cinematography with wonderful visuals and scenery with such attention to gritty detail. The light and shadows of the city are marvelously contrasted. But the best contrast was between the wealthy, organized, crystal-clean areas and the much poorer, working areas with their polluted rain, bounty hunters and busy streets. Not that I am for pollution or messed-up cities, but it was a fascinating film. The beauty was all in the details.

I think that was when I came to appreciate the details. I know it seems strange to find a film as an influence for a photographer's work. I can cite many artists in photography , painting, sculpture, etc, that influence me in some fashion or another.... but I still come back time and time again to "Blade Runner" and it's cinematography.

I must admit to a dabble in landscapes and portraits, but my first love will always be the more strange and humorous, real world the majority of this planet deals with daily.

Street Art is a more candid and personal look at the human experience, I find. I still love to wander cities and country areas alike and just shoot at the things going on around me that characterize and differentiate places. There is such beauty in the human experience, such stories, and such expressions beyond portraiture and studio photography. Well, each form of photography has it's strengths and things to recommend it, but I love Street Photography. The beauty of the everyday experience.

And I still recommend checking out a copy of "Blade Runner"...even if you watch it just to see a younger Harrison Ford and sit back in your chair and remember the days when Molly Ringwald was still in "The Breakfast Club" instead of playing Mother roles!