Stranded at Foto Freo

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Cheerleaders, New Orleans, Louisiana © Amy Stein

A few years ago Mark McPherson contacted me out of the blue asking if I was interested in taking part in a book project that focused on Australian and American photographers. I thought, hmm... that's random, but potentially interesting. I knew very little about Australia beyond the cliches of surfing, kangaroos and walkabouts. Since Hijacked was released I have been involved in an intense love affair with the country.

Thank you, Mark, for opening so many doors.

After three weeks touring about New South Wales, I'm now in Perth for a series of Foto Freo related events. Thursday, Stranded will have it's solo debut at the Perth Centre for Photography. The show will include 33 images and I'm nervous and excited to see how they work together. Foto Freo also includes talks and shows by Trente Park, Chien-Chi Chang, Jon Levy and friends and fellow Americans Carrie Levy, Stacy Mehfar and Andy Adams.

Thanks to Bob Hewitt, June Moorhouse, Laura Beilby and the folks at the Perth Centre for Photography for inviting me to Australia and Foto Freo.

Thank You Kodak

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Through the loupe

A year ago I met Stacy Mehrfar for a drink at the Half King in Chelsea. We'd known each other since our early days printing in the color darkroom at the ICP, but on that day Stacy was in town from Sydney, where she lives with her husband Gavin. As we were catching up over a drink and talking about her new adopted country, she mentioned a strange phrase, Tall Poppy Syndrome. Tall Poppy Syndrome is an Australian societal phenomenon where people who are seen to be successful are resented by their fellow citizens. Having been raised in a country that preaches the religion of individual success (USA! USA! USA!), this concept was foreign to me. As we discussed it further we decided it would be a great structure for a photo series about Australia.

Switch to a year later, I'm in Australia and we are about to head out on the second leg of our photographic road trip exploring the land Down Under.

Mostly unshot film

This project was made possible in large part because of the support of my chairs at SVA and Parsons and the folks at FotoFreo, but there's not a chance in hell we could have pulled it off without a generous film sponsorship from Kodak. As long time Kodak shooters, Stacy and I are thrilled to have their support for this project.

Ready for processing

During our first leg of this trip into the Australian Bush and Outback, we shot hundreds of rolls and sheets of Kodak Portra 160 and 400NC. Yesterday we picked up the processed film and were thrilled with the negatives so far. We'll be posting some early scans of the film in the next week. Stay tuned.

4x5 negatives!

Thank you Kodak!

Greetings From Down Under

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Outback © Amy Stein or Stacy Mehrfar. Who cares?

This blog has been quiet lately because I've been focusing on making images rather than writing about them.

Right now, I'm in Australia to participate in Foto Freo. The festival--which will feature the first solo show of Stranded and a panel discussion where I'll be speaking about online photo communities and blogging with the illustrious Andy Adams and Jon Levy--doesn't start until March 20, but I decided to turn my once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia into a jam packed, three week affair.

Over the past ten days or so I've been working on a new collaborative project with photographer Stacy Mehrfar that has taken us from Sydney to the dusty wilds of the outback. After ten straight days of shooting from sunup to sundown I'm very happy to be back in Sydney.

If you happen to be in Sydney, please come celebrate with me tonight at the Australian Centre for Photography where a solo exhibition of Domesticated is opening. My focus will be squarely on the Sydney art scene and drinking a ridiculous amount of Coopers.

Here are the details:

Amy Stein | Domesticated
Friday March 12 - Sunday April 11, 2010
Australian Centre for Photography
257 Oxford St
Paddington NSW 2021

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 11, 6-8pm
Artists Talk: Saturday, March 13, 1pm