Emily Cat 176

 On Saturday l went to a talk by Fiona Basile. Fiona is a photographer, journalist, writer and open water swimmer.  Immerse is a coffee table book that she has written about the Pole Dancers which is a group of open water swimmers who swim off Seaford beach. Most were there to hear about the swimming, l was there to hear about the photography. This project was born in COVID and the strict lockdowns we had in Melbourne. Although we couldn't go further than 5 kms we were allowed to go out for 2 hours and exercise keeping a clear distance from anyone else. I went out and walked for the whole 2 hours; Fiona discovered open water swimming. The book contains interviews as well as photos and, oh my, what beautiful photos. Seaford is a southern beach side suburb in Melbourne and these photos were taken in Port Philip Bay, Melbourne's bay, my bay. There is no photoshopping or tweaking, no need for all that. Each photo shows the beauty and might of the sea. Most were taken when Fiona wa...

In the age of Covid travel is a dream, even within the country of Australia. I love seeing photography exhibitions, but they're not running now either. So online it must be. I live in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria. Brisbane is the capital city of Queensland. Type in the link below and enjoy historical photos of Brisbane. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-04/historical-photos-of-brisbane-digitised/13089956?nw=0

She was an American of French and Austrian descent and was born in 1926. She spent most of her working life as a nanny, giving care to others. She also had many storage lockers. In those lockers were photos, many, many photos. She took photos on the streets of Chicago and New York mainly through the 1950's to the 1980's. In the '70's and 80's she took coloured photos, but, it's the black and white photos in the 50's that l love. Vivian Maier passed away in 2009 and it was only after her death that this all came to light. She was a street photographer, and a very good one at that. I prefer black and white in photography and her shots of everyday people doing everyday things are a study of place and time. Definitely planning to buy one of the prints. www.vivianmaier.com