I went out looking for a new wall, longer story - I won’t go into that, and found a fixation instead. I’ve explored a lot of Melbourne’s streets and laneways over my years of photography so it’s always a surprise and delight when I come across something new. In this case something old, made new, by Hilton if I recall correctly.
Elizabeth Schiavello
Lanson Place Hotel
There’s a new hotel in Melbourne town, the Lanson Place Hotel and it’s been decked out from head to toe with art by the formidable team at Curatorial+Co, led by the most formidable and inspiring Sophie Vander. We spent a full and fun day together last month ahead of the hotel’s opening capturing the beautiful artworks, many of which are by my friend and amazing artist Kate Banazi - this whole project - a coming together of excellent people, doing fabulous creative things. Here are some highlights… too many to share them all.
From the 'New York' end of Flinders Lane...
My friends at Amicus have renovated their own home, and here it is. Tucked away at the New York (I think that’s what they call it these days) end of Flinders Lane, it’s a cosy space that packs a punch in red and blue (my longtime favs).
Langmore Lane for Baldasso Cortese Architects
I tell you, I got lucky with the weather gods for this one. I was watching the weather from two weeks out, which forecast 15ml of rain on this August day. Two days out it was slightly better at 6ml. Regardless of the weather, the lovely stylist Cassie Thomson was booked and we were shooting rain, hail or shine… gulp. To my shock and awe, the morning of, I drove out of Melbourne under a cloudless blue sky, which held until about the time I was ready to head inside and shoot interiors. I must have done something, to please someone that week! Anyway, enough about the weather and more about the building. A little residential gem tucked into the side of a hill in Berwick, designed by Baldasso Cortese Architects and built by Markscon.
Developer: Harmon Group
Architect: Baldasso Cortese Architects
Builder: Markson Pty Ltd
Stylist: Cassie Thomson
Shoot assist: Renee Coster
United Co. Smith Street
Sharing some highlights from the first of a couple of days shooting for United Co in Fitzroy earlier this year. They’ve gone all out to make their offices, co-working and function spaces first rate, highly desirable places to work… more to come soon…
Duality
So many thoughts swirling around my head about the series I’m sharing here. I thought it was going to be a fixation to begin with but this is bigger. I’ve long pondered what draws me to the intersection of contradictions; new and old, natural and built, dark and light, straight and curved and so on and thought it was just a matter of visual interest. What I’ve come to realise through much reading, talking and searching is that it’s much deeper than that. It’s a desire to understand the contradictions, the dichotomies, the dualities within myself. There’s too much to say on this to say it all here, but I’ll leave you with this. For all the time I’ve been looking at places where the natural environment meets the built, I thought, as someone who loves and respects nature, that I was cheering for the nature, when actually my heart lies with the built, in this case the house. My metaphor was back to front.
*Side note. There are too many photos here, I know, but in my defence I spent time with this house on two seperate days and took close to 300 photos. It was hard to choose!
**Side note two, I could have done a fixations series on the lacy curtains alone.
Coming out from behind the camera, so to speak.
Anyone that knows me well will tell you I’m quite a private person and enjoy being on the side of the camera that I am. However, I recognise the importance of showing my face every now and then, so in the spirit of “showing my face” I shared some insights into my practice with Jan Henderson and the team at Indesignlive. You can have a quick look below or read the full profile here: https://www.indesignlive.com/people/elizabeth-schiavello. A big thanks to Jan Henderson for her kindness and generosity of spirit.
Image Makers Association Australia's '1 Shot 24 - Seeing & Knowing'
In partnership with Stylecraft, 1 SHOT 24 opened nationally last night in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane Stylecraft showrooms. The exhibition is displayed alongside collections of both local and international brands and products, exclusive to Stylecraft.
The overarching theme of Seeing & Knowing and its disparate meaning is reflected in the images of the 42 exhibitors from Australia’s pre-eminent photographers, who each present their personal interpretation of Seeing & Knowing.
Melbourne friends and followers should get along to 145 Flinders Ln, Melbourne and take in the beautiful collection. My image ‘6:30pm from Fixations 4’, expertly printed by Peter Hatzipavlis of Final Grade and framed by Angelo & Alex Grazzini of A&L Artistic Framers, is amongst the works showing.
