FREMANTLE’S ARTY ARTHUR’S HEAD

 

 

Two arty photos I took this morning in Fremantle. The top one is new art by J Shed sculptor Greg James in front of the door to stone artist Jina Lee‘s studio there.

The bottom photo is of footprints in the Whalers Tunnel.

Roel Loopers

STILL LIFE AT FREMANTLE’S BATHERS BEACH

 

 

There is always something different to photograph in photogenic Fremantle when one walks around and is observant.

I took this photo on the beach in front of the Bathers Beach House where Perth’ first and only beach alfresco location is.

Great views of the Indian Ocean, the arrival and departure of ships from Fremantle Port, and of course those gorgeous sunsets.

Roel Loopers

STUNNING PEACEFUL PHOTOGRAPHY MOMENTS AT J SHED

 

 

The eclectic and cluttered upstairs gallery at sculptor Greg James’ studio in J Shed at Fremantle’s Bathers Beach is always worth a visit, but even more so now with the Peaceful Moments exhibitions.

There are only five large photos by Amerigo Carello and they alone should be seen by anyone interested in outstanding landscape photography. The three landscapes where the rising sun creates dappled light in the undulated scenery are exquisitely painterly. They are sublime and should be bought for a corporate collection or boardroom! There are also two images of Fremantle. One of the Maritime Museum just before sunrise and a night shot of historic High Street.

There are also very creative collages by Ivan Zuvela, sweet beach landscape paintings by David Moran and of course a variety of smaller sculptures from the Greg James stable by him Lesley Barrett and others.

J Shed is an enigma. It frustrates Fremantle Council because in its desperation of activating the area it appears to overlook the significance of it as a venue where great art has been created for more than twenty years.

On Saturday Arthur’s Head looked like an ant hill with hundreds and hundreds of people, including passengers from the Sea Princess, climbing the stairs to the Roundhouse. The West End of Freo was buzzing.

The Bathers Beach Art Precinct is on the radar of our Councillors and City officers and it is likely it will be an agenda item for the Ordinary Council meeting in April. Will they come up with new creative solutions, such as a sculpture park on the A Class Reserve at J Shed, or change tune totally and abandon the arts precinct idea? It is anyone’s guess at present.

Go and have a look at the J Shed show. You won’t regret it!

Roel Loopers

 

FRIDAY NIGHT ART IN PAKENHAM STREET

 

 

Friday night is the going out night, so have a break between pub crawling and head to Fremantle’s Pakenham Street where there are two art exhibitions in two venues just metres apart.

Michael O’Connell is showing his work at the relatively new Whitespace gallery while Guy Vinciguerra is exhibiting his photography at PS Art Space.

And after that visit one of Freo’s lovely bars , taverns or restaurants!

Roel Loopers

 

 

TRAFFIC DEATH TRAUMA PHOTO EXHIBITION AT PSAS

 

 

My mate Perth photographer Guy Vinciguerra drove all over Australia to photograph the roadside shrines people create in memory of loved ones who lost their life in a road accident. Guy drove 40,000 km and it took him five years to shoot the photos for this exhibition.

His powerful and sensitive images will be on show at PS Art Studios in Fremantle’s Pakenham Street from Friday. The opening of Sacred Places is on Friday March 15 at 6pm.

PSAS writes:

Guy Vinciguerra’s images expose to our view sites of memorial usually seen only fleetingly as we speed by on our sure and confident way to our destination. Glimpsed occasionally here and there in the landscape, in this space they are brought together in an evocation of what Paul Virilio conceptualised as a ‘museum of the accident’, a gathering of instances that present evidence of the inherent failures of the technologies of our lives, as opposed to the lauding of our efforts at progress. They are individual, personal representations of a communal trauma particular to this era of fossil-fuelled technologies, an era in itself passing. The Sacred has been defined as something ‘set aside’ and dedicated, a discrete fixed point where meaning gains coherence.

In this space lies the opportunity to pause and to contemplate these memorials in their multitude and pathos, saturated with colour and paradox, raw sorrows opened to the public gaze. We are invited to look, sanctioned to be voyeurs. Every feature is in sharp focus, like the heightened reality experienced in moments of shock, perceptions are intense with detail. The sumptuous colour contrasts with the greys and greens of ground and landscape. We are confronted with the juxtaposition of beauty and the banality of objects, of ordinary peoples’ lives shattered by an extraordinary event. The Sacred is unifying, it represents the shared interests of a community, it can inhere in things, in symbols and objects, and in places as power and resistance. These images are Sacred Places.

While I highly recommend to come and view the exhibition I am  less impressed with the over the top info blurb and pretentious writing in the catalogue. There is nothing pretentious about Guy Vinciguerra or his photos, which are straight forward and powerful in their own right.

Roel Loopers

FILM FRIENDLY FREO ATTRACTION FOR MOVIE MAKERS

 

The agenda for this Wednesday’s Ordinary Council meeting of the City of Fremantle is huge-250 pages long!- with most items having already been debated at various council committees.

But one item stands out for me and that is the suggestion by Councillor Hannah Fitzhardinge  to consider a Film Friendly Freo policy.

ELECTED MEMBER SUMMARY
The City of Fremantle is a film friendly location and it would be a positive step forward to support the professional film and television industry to use the City for this purpose.
Fremantle’s iconic locations, from our beaches to our working port and heritage West End, provide an abundance of attractive settings for films of all types. A ‘Film Friendly Freo’ policy will make it quicker and easier for film-makers to gain approvals and support from the City of Fremantle to film in our city.”

Many cities in Australia do charge fees for commercial photo shoots and filming, so Hannah Fithardinge’s suggestion might attract more film productions to Fremantle. It is important though that the city would get credit for its generosity, with a prominent mention that the movie was shot on location in Fremantle, free of charge.

I can’t wait for Hollywood and Bollywood to discover Freo! 😍

Roel Loopers

RAIL LINE PHOTOGRAPHY IS STUPIDITY

 

 

I just do not understand the fascination people have with rail lines and why they want to be photographed on them, when it is dangerous and illegal to do so.

Even wedding parties are being captured on the rails near the Fremantle Roundhouse, so what is the symbolism of it, I wonder?

I took this photo about an hour ago when these two young ladies walked a long way from the railway crossing to take photos. Pretty stupid as a lot of container freight trains come through there on their way to the port!

Roel Loopers

THE COLOURS OF FREO

 

 

It is not easy when you are getting close to your death bed at the ripe old smelly age of seventy to commit yourself to exercise and getting the body just that little bit more fit, but that is just what I did this morning when I walked from Beacy to the Freo CBD and back.

It will probably take me a week to recover from this madness and that is probably why my nickname is Loopy. ; >).

I took these two photos of the colours of Freo while I wandered around and also the one in the blog post above this one about the paving trial at Kings Square.

Roel Loopers

SUNSET AT THE FREO MARITIME MUSEUM

 

 

I think I must be addicted to photography, because when I haven’t taken any photos for a day or two I have a real desire to go out and try to discover some, so after a busy day volunteering at the Roundhouse I decided to go out again and take some happy snaps of the beautiful sun set at the Fremantle Martime Museum in the port.

Roel Loopers

BAD BROWSER, WEATHER AND MOOD

 

 

Hello Freo. I am back!

Finally back on line as my browser suddenly did not work this morning, probably due to my 10-year-old Mac. If anyone got a more recent one they want to sell for not too much please let me know.

Not much to report today, but the weather forecast is not too good for tomorrow so I am posting one of my favourite rain photos of 2018 again.

Roel Loopers