It’s time to share another of my fixations. Adelaide is still giving here and if you’ve been playing along for a while you can probably tell me what I love about this inner city, industrial scene… feel free to say so in the comments if you’re brave… if you’re new here click the #fixations tag above and you’ll get the idea!
Geoffrey Smart
Fixations 5
Fixations 5. Still in Adelaide (not now, at the time of taking). If you’ve been following this series of me obsessing over fairly ordinary things, you can probably tell me what I love about this little scene… but in case you haven’t, here it is… colour, obviously. Strong lines and shadows - also obvious. Perhaps less obvious is the contrasting texture of those bricks sitting alongside the smooth concrete and bitumen. And of course there’s that ever present sense of isolation. It was also the way it revealed itself to me as I made my way down the lane. Those colourful little buildings sitting amongst the surrounding concrete giants were like a little oasis in the hot Adelaide sun. That’s all.
Fixations 4
Did you know I have a carpark fetish? Maybe fascination is a better word. In any case, I do. I’ve been wandering in and out of carparks, old and new for many years but like so much of my personal work, it remains unseen. What is it about carparks? It’s all the themes that run throughout this series of fixations and more - strong lines, great colours, concrete, detritus a sense of the extraordinary in the ordinary and that feeling of isolation. The “more” in this instance, is the light - dark, moody, atmospheric and a touch cinematic.
This carpark, in Adelaide, has a very particular and strong memory and feeling attached to it. I was returning to my hotel late in the day when I came across it. It was unclear if it was public or private but unable to resist I went on in and started to shoot. So there I am, snapping away when I heard the roller door start to close! Of course I was too far in to make it back to the door and regardless, as a wise lecturer (2nd year for those in the know) once told me “photographers never run”. Instant panic set it at the thought of being stuck in that dark, moody and no longer atmospheric, just terrifying, carpark.
Fortunately, it turns out it was a pubic carpark and swipe access was not required to leave the exit door in the back, so once my heart rate had settled I continued to snap away! Here’s what I saw:
Fixations 3
So here we are again. Fixated. This time in Adelaide and quite some time ago. What is it I’m seeing?
Colour plays a part here. The palette of this little scene reminds me, somewhat cringingly and somewhat fondly of a check shirt I wore in the nineties - blue, beige and brown. And I can’t resist a bit of yellow, divisive as it is as a colour.
From colour to texture - organic and manmade - rocks and stone, contrasting with the industrial elements of iron, steel and aluminium.
What else? Lines. Always lines. Lines of different widths and heights and orientations - repeating, crossing, meeting. Curved lines to interrupt the straight. Order in the chaos.
There’s a hint of pareidolia (google it) - though I’m never seeking it or deliberately framing for it.
Finally it’s the little reminders of the natural environment to soften the industrial hardness - soft clouds, palm tree and even a little shadow.
There’s just something about industry that draws me in as it did one of my favourite Australian painters and significant influencer of my work, Geoffrey Smart.
