Light Years by Camberwell Camera Club: Part One
Light Years was a community exhibition by members of the Camberwell Camera Club, (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) which took place back in April - June 2023. It was the culmination of a major project in 2022, where the members collected a series of images to tell a story in a more powerful way than can be achieved with a single image. Through photographic essays exploring themes of the everyday, cultural traditions, and the beauty of nature, the featured artists take the viewer on a journey revealing the power of visual storytelling.1
The Camerwell Camera Club consists of 162 members, both photography hobbyists and professional photographers, who meet regularly to develop their craft. We know two of the members and their work very well - my cousin Colin Morris and his wife Pam Morris as we have featured many of their images over the years here on the AnArt4Life blog.
Over the next couple of posts we are going to showcase the images from some of the members and we will commence with Botanical Portraits by Pam Morris.
Photographer's Statement
Photography allows me to express what I find fascinating in the natural world and communicate it to others. This series explores the innate structural and architectural beauty of plants. By photographing them using shallow depth of field and front lighting I was able to highlight their similarities and differences, thus producing 'portraits'. Pam Morris
The next poster to appreciate is Trekking in the Kingdom of Mustang by David Symonds.
Photographer's Statement
I have a passion for travel and street photography and for experiencing the customs and cultures of different countries expressed through the lives of everyday people. I enjoy capturing those moments of the everyday that are authentic yet provide room for ambiguity and interpretation.
These images were shot on a trek in Mustang, Nepal in Sept 2022. The scenery is rugged and uncompromising as are the local people. I enjoy shooting scenes with contrasts of light and deep shadows that provide drama. David Symonds
A Moment of Eternity as shown below was created by Linlin Zhao.
Photographer's Statement
As a medical researcher, art and literature have always been my refuge. My photographic journey started in late 2017 when I joined the Camberwell Camera Club. My project uses the impressionist approach to create a sense of time by blurring motion. Combining Photoshop and Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) skills, I adopted the French photographer Thomas Fotomas' method and created images with blurred backgrounds and static figures.
'To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour'
English poet William Blake expressed my idea perfectly. In this fast-paced world, everybody's looking for something. For me, it's the moment of eternity! LinLin Zhao
Peter Waters created Empyrean for the Light Years exhibition.
Photographer's Statement
Empyrean is the summit of Dante's journey through the afterlife, the highest sphere of Heaven. My subjects and I are members of the Port Melbourne Icebergers. We swim daily, through all four seasons.
Swimming at dawn has become a daily ritual of baptism and rebirth. It's a tangent to the ellipse of daily life. Pressures, responsibilities, and anxieties are swept away by the immediacy of the cold water, salty air in our lungs and heavens above, glowing with mooncrest, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter.
Ripples reflect and multiply the midday sun. Conversion to black and white abstracts the water, creating a star embroidered ether. Peter Waters
Light Years represents the Boroondara community and its greater surroundings, captured lovingly by local photographers. Experience the Camberwell Camera Club is supported by Swinburne Univereisty, Final Grade Printing and Epson.
If you would like to see more work by these amazing photographers plus follow the bookmark link below.
Credits
1. Exhibition leaflet, Camberwell Camera Club