If I had the right idea, the task for this week's field trip at Lake George was to focus on one aspect and explore it.

I thought about what I've read and seen about landscape photography and I think one of the most important things to me is composition. The landscape at Lake George is fairly barren looking, so I had to think about something to place in the shot, or shooting it a different way, to make it more interesting.

After walking out and along the fence-line I decided to take most of my shots from a ground-up perspective (i.e. lying on my front in the grass/dirt/droppings.

I've used a 16:9 crop for most of them, because it's the shape I think of for landscapes, and... I like it. I've also tried to focus on balancing the shots.

As a theme to tie my shots together I looked at the "forgotten" feeling you get at the lake. Walking around I could see remnants of activity once going on down there, either when it is full for fishing or completely empty for sheep grazing… at the moment it is neither.

There were some sun bleached animal bones, weathered and tiredly leaning wooden posts, a neglected fence and an ancient rusted can. I also took a photo of a large rock tied with rope as though it had once perhaps been used as an anchor or a weight… the mind wanders...

I have to say, it's kind of creepy down there with that cold wind, those ET-esque wind farms and a quiet, eerie nothingness.

Australian War Memorial 2010

I didn't take any photographs inside the war memorial, just the open courtyard area.

It was a very bright sunny day, as usual in beautiful Canberra. I wish I knew how to capture the dazzle of the sun caught by the ripples as people threw coins into the "Pool of Reflection".

A small section of the Roll of Honour, which lists the names of virtually every Australian who has died in war since 1885. There are currently approximately 102,000 names inscribed. *



School students placing poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in the "Hall of Memory"

* Information from The Australian War Memorial www.awm.gov.au

National Gallery of Australia visit 07 April 2010

Willem DE KOONING

1904 The Netherlands – United States of America 1997

Woman V 1952-53

oil and charcoal on canvas 154.5 h x 114.5 w cm

Purchased 1974

Accession No: NGA 74.385

© Willem de Kooning. Licensed by ARS & VISCOPY, Australia

According to the image information on the NGA website, this image is of a woman with her hands clasped at her waist, possibly standing in water.

Painted in America in 1952, I have to say that this was one of the few paintings that I felt that I really disliked.

There were others that didn't spark any interest in me, and to be honest the federation landscapes and colonial art bored me to tears. However, this was the only piece of art that made me stop and "oh wow, I really don't like that". Normally that's where I would leave it but obviously the point is here to think about why we don't like it, and whether we are supposed to, and what this might have meant at the time it was created.

Firstly, the initial element in this painting that I found uncomfortable with is the almost grotesque representation of a woman. To me, the colours on her face and her grin look clownish, and her bulging eyes are hideous. Like all abstract art, I suppose it's not supposed to be a flattering visual representation, but I find it hard to see past the garishness. As a sexual representation, I find it quite disturbing. To me it shows little of the things I associate with women- softness, curves, beauty.

Finally, I find the seemingly chaotic mess of the paint and the colour distracting. It is hard to make out any details and almost feels as though the artist doesn't really care whether we understand it or not.

René MAGRITTE

1898 Belgium – 1967

Les Amants

[The lovers] 1928

oil on canvas 54.0 h x 73.0 w cm

Purchased 1990

Accession No: NGA 90.1583

© Rene Magritte. Licensed by ADAGP & VISCOPY, Australia

This surrealist painting caught my eye immediately and I found myself thinking about it as I walked around the rest of the gallery, so I would say that it was possibly one of my favourites.

I love the simplicity in this painting- the landscape behind the people, and the subjects themselves- there is fairly little detail in their clothing or skin. I believe this simplicity is what allows the concept of the shrouded heads to sit nicely at the centre of my attention. The thought behind this, I read on the NGA website* that the painter "Magritte himself disliked explanations which diffused the mystery of his images. His matter-of-fact style deliberately eschewed the assumption that these images were simply the expression of personal fantasy or private neurosis. They are images calculated to unlock the darker side of the mind."

I like that, it is as though he is not pushing any ideas or specific imagery. There's little to tell anything about the personalities or circumstances of these subjects, which gives them an every-man anonymity, like a blank canvas onto which a viewer can project their impressions and feelings.

To me the covered faces represent a facelessness in society, losing one's individuality.

To others it might represent something like death or being blind, and I like that openness to interpretation.

Images from The National Gallery of Australia

www.nga.gov.au

* MAGRITTE, Rene Les Amants [The Lovers]

National Gallery of Australia

http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?View=LRG&IRN=148052&PICTAUS=True

Michael Lloyd & Michael Desmond European and American Paintings and Sculptures 1870-1970 in the Australian National Gallery 1992 p.173.

For this week's field trip we went to Braidwood on the NSW Southern Tablelands.

It was fairly cool, especially for me since I have no hair at the moment to keep my head insulated... but otherwise it's a nice little town to spend a few hours wandering around...