February 16, 2014
The key difference between a boring photograph and a brilliant one is usually patience and skill. But sometimes it also just comes down to pure luck.
That was the consensus of visitors who attended the opening of the Kingaroy Art Gallery’s February exhibition on Friday night.
This month, the Gallery is displaying 148 photographs taken by members of the Murgon Camera Club, as well as a smaller collection of watercolours by Nanango artist Cherie Sibley and a mixed media collection produced by Kingaroy artist Lynden Day.
The photographs range from outback scenes to rodeo action shots, flowers and animals, landscapes and seascapes.
They were shot by camera club members at locations ranging from the South Burnett to Western Australia over the last two years.
Curator Fiona Kemp said the works are the first major photographic exhibition held at the Gallery in many years, and added that the new show had already received a lot of praise from locals and visitors since it opened at the start of the month.
Murgon Camera Club president Max Walters said he was very proud of the work his club members had produced, and he hoped viewers would share their mutual enthusiasm for carefully crafted images.
Discussion on the night largely focussed on some of the technical aspects of photography and the difficulties that getting photos of some subjects posed – especially wildlife, action shots and low-light situations, such as sunrises and sunsets.
“You have to be very patient to get some photos,” photography exhibitor Russell Stimpson said.
“And for some others, such as rodeos or sports, you have to anticipate – because by the time you see something that would make a good photo, the moment has already passed.”
Ivor Dimmock, who has a collection of salted prints and landscapes in the exhibition, said he found he was becoming increasingly interested in the ways ordinary photographs could be enhanced, either by traditional “wet room” techniques or through modern photo processing software such as Lightbox.
And while he agreed that the advent of digital cameras had “democratised” photography and made it much more accessible to ordinary people, this still hadn’t altered the principles of what makes a good shot.
The exhibition will remain on display at the Kingaroy Art Gallery until Friday, February 28. Admission to view it is free.
