Ralph Gibson

This is back blipped from 30 Oct.

When I was in Sydney a little over a week ago I had two photographic treats. The first was to spend some time with the photographer Ralph Gibson who was visiting from New York and had an exhibition of some of his work created during the last 50 years at point light gallery in Surry Hills. Ralph was an inspiration. At 74 years old he is still as enthusiastic about photography as he ever was. He takes his photos with Tri-X film in a 35mm Leica with a 50mm lens. After god knoews how many rolls of film he says he is still learning how to use the camera. One thing I learned was that Ralph is an artist first and a photographer second. His camera is simply his preferred method to create his art. Ralph is also a guitarist and we were treated to him playing one of his compositions that was commissioned for a George Eastman memorial. This photo shows him preparing for this with his light show spilling across him. The reason it took so long to post this was because I requested Ralph's permission to do so. Luckily he liked the shot.

The second treat for me was to be able to see approximately 200 original prints by Eugene Atget at the Art Gallery of NSW. This also was wonderful and I managed to go two times.