Bottle Keys by Trevor Foon. On the one hand, a professional photographer; on the other, an acclaimed creative artist, his new exhibition is a rich and magical glimpse of his vision.
By Trevor Foon
I HAVE been a photographer all my adult life. My father was a prominent photographer in our local area for 50 years and I grew up with a firm knowledge of the business side of picture making. I photographed my first wedding when I was just 17; my mum had to drive me to the wedding.
During a three-year stint of study at the RMIT where I was exposed to a previously unknown high standard of technical quality, I saw my first taste of darkroom based “Alternative” or “Historic” photographic processes. I was enthralled and seriously hooked.
For the next 35 years this fascination has been a driving force behind my personal photography and art endeavours.
I HAVE been a photographer all my adult life. My father was a prominent photographer in our local area for 50 years and I grew up with a firm knowledge of the business side of picture making. I photographed my first wedding when I was just 17; my mum had to drive me to the wedding.
During a three-year stint of study at the RMIT where I was exposed to a previously unknown high standard of technical quality, I saw my first taste of darkroom based “Alternative” or “Historic” photographic processes. I was enthralled and seriously hooked.
For the next 35 years this fascination has been a driving force behind my personal photography and art endeavours.
| Although my career has always been as a professional photographer, my desire to create artistic pieces of work has always been with me. I became deeply involved in the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) to compete in their annual print awards. The level of quality presented in this forum is world class. It has been a personal goal to raise my standard of visual storytelling and physical presentation to the highest level and I have succeeded in winning many state and national awards. | Silver Tracing is on at ArtSpace Wonthaggi until December 20. Gallery open Thursday-Monday 11am-3pm.Trevor will demonstrate his craft on Saturday November 27 from 1-3pm. |
Rejuvenation by Trevor Foon Giving my work a point of difference has always been important. Commanding the audience’s attention is more than just making a pretty picture. I try to create images that have a visual mood about them, sometimes through the subject itself, sometimes through the photographic process, sometimes through the method of presentation.
I immerse myself completely in the work I create to the point of building my own cameras, darkroom equipment, chemical mixtures and the final framing and other creative display methods. My final works are completely infused with my personal skills and abilities.
As to my subjects, whether it is a pebble in the sand or a constructed scene, I attempt to make the viewer “feel” the image, not just see what is before them. That connection creates mindfulness and empathy and is a signature of my work. I am always finding new themes to work with and working on new ways of communicating these to the viewer.
I immerse myself completely in the work I create to the point of building my own cameras, darkroom equipment, chemical mixtures and the final framing and other creative display methods. My final works are completely infused with my personal skills and abilities.
As to my subjects, whether it is a pebble in the sand or a constructed scene, I attempt to make the viewer “feel” the image, not just see what is before them. That connection creates mindfulness and empathy and is a signature of my work. I am always finding new themes to work with and working on new ways of communicating these to the viewer.
Globe by Trevor Foon
Silver Tracing
From the conception of photography, silver has been an integral part of the process. Silver nitrate is a chemical that makes film sensitive to light. So until the era of digital cameras, photography could not function without it.
But beyond the creation of an image, the silver was removed in the developing process and contained in the process effluents. Once recovered from the waste, the silver could be returned to its metallic state once again. And with the need for silver nitrate to prepare hand-made sensitising solutions, I found a way to create this from the silver in hand.
Now a diversion. When my parents retired from our business, they took up a hobby in gemstone fossicking, which quickly escalated to lapidary and stone faceting. With many gorgeous gemstones accumulating they needed a way to give them a purpose. A short course in silver work opened up a new hobby of silver smithing and stone setting.
It soon became apparent that the recovered silver from our photo lab might have a new purpose. My father, Morris, and I made a workflow to turn the recovered fine silver into sterling silver for this reason.
Included in this exhibition is a selection of beach and coast inspired silver jewellery pieces.
The photography work in this show is a collection of digital images, wet plate collodion tintypes, stereo photography, cyanotype and Vandyke brown historic processes, most as framed work but some as three-dimensional presentations.
The collection of images is a range of retrospective work of a range of eclectic subject matter, and recent studies made on our local coastline with a spotlight on the health of our beaches.
From the conception of photography, silver has been an integral part of the process. Silver nitrate is a chemical that makes film sensitive to light. So until the era of digital cameras, photography could not function without it.
But beyond the creation of an image, the silver was removed in the developing process and contained in the process effluents. Once recovered from the waste, the silver could be returned to its metallic state once again. And with the need for silver nitrate to prepare hand-made sensitising solutions, I found a way to create this from the silver in hand.
Now a diversion. When my parents retired from our business, they took up a hobby in gemstone fossicking, which quickly escalated to lapidary and stone faceting. With many gorgeous gemstones accumulating they needed a way to give them a purpose. A short course in silver work opened up a new hobby of silver smithing and stone setting.
It soon became apparent that the recovered silver from our photo lab might have a new purpose. My father, Morris, and I made a workflow to turn the recovered fine silver into sterling silver for this reason.
Included in this exhibition is a selection of beach and coast inspired silver jewellery pieces.
The photography work in this show is a collection of digital images, wet plate collodion tintypes, stereo photography, cyanotype and Vandyke brown historic processes, most as framed work but some as three-dimensional presentations.
The collection of images is a range of retrospective work of a range of eclectic subject matter, and recent studies made on our local coastline with a spotlight on the health of our beaches.