R O AD T RI P
ROAD TRIP
Echo Publishing 12 Northumberland Street South Melbourne 3205 www.echopublishing.com.au Part of the Bonnier Publishing Group www.bonnierpublishing.com
Offbeat Australia by Polaroid and Plastic Camera
To my partner Sarah and our daughter Florence
Copyright Š David Marks, 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or be transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
D AV I D M A R K S
First published 2015 Printed in China Cover and internal design by Philip Campbell Design National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Marks, David Alexander, author. Road trip : offbeat Australia by polaroid and Diana camera / David Marks. ISBN: 9781760067281 (hardback) Australia--Pictorial works. Australia--Description and travel--Pictorial works. 919.400222
AUSTR Â ALIAN PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY
CONTENTS Introduction 6 Big things 8 Vacation deluxe 36 Point of sale 70 On the road 110 Equipment 156 Acknowledgements 157 David Marks 159
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INTRODUCTION I have been playing around with and collecting naive cameras since the mid-1990s. Plastic 120 film toy cameras from the 1960s in all their variations: Dianas, Holgas, Banners, Snappys, golf swing, baby Halinas and box brownies. Back then you could buy Diana and Polaroid cameras at opportunity shops for a dollar each, still in their boxes. This was before the Lomography resurrection in 2007, when Diana cameras were reproduced and sold online en masse. Back then roll film was still relatively cheap, and so was film processing, especially during my time working in professional labs such as Lab X and CPL, in Melbourne. In 2000 I had an exhibition called Diana goes to La La Land featuring images which I took on a road trip along the west coast of America, mainly architectural icons of Americana culture, cinemas, junk food stores, big things and cars. Nostalgic subjects and roadside vernacular architecture are common themes throughout my work. The Diana camera, a cheap plastic tourist souvenir of the 1960s, is the ideal camera to shoot on a road trip. It was designed to take snaps with; the kind of pictures many people find unremarkable. The Diana F camera imposes a naive approach to image making. It is a simple low-tech device with one shutter speed, limited focus, and exposure control. Using a simple camera, like a Diana, gets you back to the basics of photography – which is composing elements in a frame. The inherent bad lens quality of the Diana camera, mixed with the subject matter, helps add to the nostalgic quality of the images. Smart phones and apps like Instagram and Hipstagram have brought the square format and a synthesised plastic lens ‘look’ of the Diana camera to the masses via social media. Achieving a guaranteed fake Diana look – that used to take much time, money, experimentation and skill to achieve – is now as easy as a touch on a screen. The arrival of the digital age has really 6
changed photography. The guesswork, the happy accident, the element of risk has been removed from image making. Smart phones don’t leak light, double expose if you forgot to wind on or run out of film, and you can frame exactly what you want in your shot in real time, with no parallax error. Previsualisation or guesstimation is not needed. You just shoot and decide what post-effect filter you want to add later. In 2002 I became more interested in working with Polaroids. I bought an old SX-70 camera, one of the coolest pieces of design I have ever come across, with its chrome and brown leather look. The SX-70 is an SLR, in that what you see through the viewfinder is an accurate framing of the subject. The prints that the SX-70 spits out are unique one-offs, objects in their own right. The Polaroid print’s uniqueness has a connection to the birth of photography back in 1839, where the first method of recording an image was the daguerreotype, a process where the image was exposed onto a polished silver plate. It was then developed by contact with mercury vapours and, like the Polaroid, it was a unique object that was unable to be reproduced with analogue technologies to the same clarity and quality of an original. The actual climate and temperature at the time of capture affects the quality of the Polaroid image. Colour and image density change, depending on how cold or hot it is. You can be physical with the print when it is still developing, for example, by rubbing and warming the emulsion you can change the look of the image. This kind of physical interaction between image and photographer does not exist in digital photography. David Marks
Opposite: Detail, Golden Fleece, Ross, Tas, 1997 Previous pages: Detail, Break Dance, Ascot Vale, Vic, 2001 7
BIG THINGS
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Orange World, Mourquong, NSW, 2005
Big Milkshake, Cheeseworld, Allansford, Vic, 2004
Previous pages: Detail, Big Kewpie Doll, Braidwood, NSW, 2007
Opposite: Detail, Big Pineapple, Nambour, QLD, 2002 11
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Pie in the Sky, Ascot Vale, Vic, 2001
Big Cherries, Young, NSW, 2001
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Giant Koala, Dadswells Bridge, Vic, 2006
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Big Lobster, Kingston, SA, 2006
Big Shell, Tewantin, QLD, 2002
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Lakes Caravilla Caravan Park, Lakes Entrance, Vic, 2001
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World’s Largest Trout, Adaminaby, NSW, 2001
Big Lobster, Kingston, SA, 2006
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Big Potato, Robertson, NSW, 2004
Comfort Inn Scotty’s, Adelaide, SA, 2006
Opposite: Detail, Big Mower, Beerwah, QLD, 2002 18
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Big Golf Ball, Lakes Mini Golf, Lakes Entrance, Vic 2001
Big Rocking Horse, Gumeracha, SA, 2006
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Griffiths Sea Shell Museum, Lakes Entrance, Vic, 1998
Big Stubby, House of Bottles, Tewantin, QLD, 2002
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Coming Soon – The Big Grape, Mildura, Vic, 2005 24
Opposite: Detail, Big Merino, Goulburn, NSW, 2001 25
The Big Apple, Harcourt, Vic, 2006
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Casper’s World in Miniature Tourist Park, Stawell, Vic, 2006
Above and right: Big Pheasant, Gumbuya Park, Tynong, Vic, 2001
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Big Cow, Nambour, QLD, 2002
Big Ned Kelly, Glenrowan, Vic, 2001
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Big Wine Bottle, Rutherglen, Vic, 2001
Big Soup Can, Campbell’s Factory, Lemnos, Vic, 2001
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Big Cheese, Bodalla, Vic, 2001 32
Opposite: Detail, Big Murray Cod, Tocumwal, NSW, 2001 33
Island Travel Centre, Magnetic Island, QLD, 2007 34
Opposite: Detail, Big Top and Beast, Rosebud, Vic, 2003 35
VACATION DELUXE
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Beach Box, Brighton, Vic, 1984
Obelisk, Robe, SA, 1984
Previous pages: Detail, Riviera Motel, Mildura, Vic, 2005
Opposite: Detail, Hawaii Motel, Cooma, NSW, 2001
High Rise, Surfers Paradise, QLD, 2004
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Palm Tree, Albert Park Lake, Vic, 2003
Fake Roses, Northcote, Vic, 2005
Cactus Shadow, St Kilda, Vic, 1985
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Miami Ice, Miami, QLD, 2004
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Kings Avenue, St Arnaud, Vic, 2005
Daveys Bay Beach, Frankston South, Vic, 1984
Rocks, Noosa Beach, QLD, 2004
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Mount Martha, Vic, 2005
Mount Martha Lifesaving Club, Vic, 2005
Opposite: Detail, Dromana Drive-in, Vic, 1996 44
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One Apostle, Princetown, Vic, 2004
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Shack, Port Campbell, Vic, 2004
Shack, Safety Beach, Vic, 2002
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Surf Comber, Maroochydore, QLD, 2002
Riptide Motel, Queenscliff, Vic, 2003
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Lakes Mini Golf, Lakes Entrance, Vic, 2001
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Suncity Bowl, Alexandra Headland, QLD, 2002
Dodgem Cars, Ascot Vale, Vic, 2001
Dromana Drive-in, Vic, 1996
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Umbrella, Lake Menindee, NSW, 1997
Merry-go-round, Ascot Vale, Vic, 2001
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