Retrospect Galleries Artists
We feature the work of over 50 artists on our websites, each month we interview one artist and publish their interview in this area.
Karen Williamson
Q:How did you end up in Port Macquarie?
A: I moved over to Australia about twenty years ago from California, USA. I started off living in Sydney and doing some travelling around NSW for about a year before settling down back in Sydney. I worked as a shop assistant but I was also into boats and sailing and spent a lot of time off-shore racing on my own 35
foot boat. I decided I needed a change of pace so moved to the Central Coast, Ourimbah to be precise, but continued to work in Sydney and travelled back and forth for a couple of years. I had a friend who lived in Bonny Hills at the time who I used to visit and she was always telling me how lovely the area was. So that, combined with my love of the Mid-North Coast, decided the move to Port Macquarie. I lived here for six years in a unit, and then purchased my own unit which I currently live in. I am now planning to retire in Port Macquarie.
Q: How did you get into photography?
A: When I was in California I bought a camera just for every day photos, and after moving to Sydney joined the Northern Suburbs Camera Club and became the social secretary. I took most of the photo's when the club went on social outings, and through that I developed a more in-depth interest of photography. I took workshops and courses and was taught by very talented people in the camera club. I started off taking some landscape photos around Armidale and the Laurieton area and sold them in country markets. I've now continued on to
do a series on lighthouses, Byron Bay, landscapes and reflections. I also took a few trips with the camera club around the Australian outback.
The first trip 1 went on was a camping trip by bus to Bowraville and the surrounding areas with a group of ten couples, it rained the whole time and we had to stay in a lot of community halls. We ended up getting stuck because of road closures and had to get across the river in dingys with the
help of the SES. We were in Eulo for Anzac day and Iremember getting up at the community hall and marching down to the school for the service. The population of the town was only 20 people and I found the whole experience very moving. Every one of my photos has a story behind it; how I took the photo, who I was with. I will always remember that Anzac Day. .
My second trip was to Uluru. We rented 4 wheel drives to tour around the area and saw Uluru, Olgas and Devils Marbles. It was great weather which made for great photographs, and I really connected to the outback and its people. The outback, atmosphere, sunrises and sunsets were just awesome. The third trip was by train to Broken Hill for ten days. It was a very interesting area to visit and we
saw Menindee Lakes and the surrounding areas. At the time there was a drought, I remember lots of kangaroo skeletons and dusty dried up lands.
Q: Who do you look up to in the industry?
A: Robert Billington, a Sydney based photographer is very talented and has made several books on the Sydney area, specifically Balmoral. He's done a lot of work in black and white with traditional style cameras, and also holds photography seminars. One of which I recently went to on creating books, which in turn led me to putting together my own portfolio book. He used to have his own shop based in Crows Nest selling a lot of his work until he recently moved to the Southern Highlands. Another photographer who's work I admire is Ansel Adams.
He lived in California and has also done a lot ofblack and white shots, particularly of Yosemite.
Q: Your photography of Sydney and more noteably the fireworks are amazing. What work goes into these shots?
A: When I started out in 1998, if someone had said to me I would be taking these shots and be doing it for another ten years, I definitely wouldn't believe it. As the years progress, I have to wait longer and longer to get the best spot at Lady Macquarie's Chair (the area everyone goes to see the fireworks) on New Year's Eve. This year I arrived at 7am to get through security and sit in the hot sun in order to get a frontline spot for midnight! So now I go prepared with a chair and an umbrella! When I've got all my photos, I take them to a ProLab to get 6x4 prints, which I always make sure are on Fuji paper and developed with a Fuji machine as I find them the highest quality I also produce greeting cards with the New Year's Eve pictures on them, large prints and canvas prints for the markets and wholesale.
Q: Why do you have such a passion for photography what drives you to continue it?
A: The ever-changing sky You can miss a photo so fast, in an instant. One minute there's colour in the sky, the next its gone! It changes so fast and you have to catch it at just the right moment.
Q: You've been to every Sydney New Year's Evesince 1998. What was the best year?
A: Definitely 2003, which had bigger and better displays than previously and for the first time had a laser show. I also got a good spot down the front to take photos from and the people surrounding me were very friendly I really enjoyed 2000 and 2001 as well with the aboriginal themed displays.
Q: Apart from fireworks you do a lot of landscapes. Tell us a bit more about those.
A: I decide on a series which I'm interested in like the lighthouses or Byron Bay and compile a series on them. In a couple of weeks I will be doing one on South West Rocks, and I'm also interested in a stairways in the countryside series. My forte really is landscaping, although I dabble a little in a few other areas.
Q:You're also doing a series on Port Macquarie, how is that coming along?
A: It's in the planning stages at the moment, I like the beaches up here so I'm going to do more beach scenes, and possibly include the Comboyne area as
well. I did a little on the national park near Comboyne so I might expand the Port Macquarie series to include those.
Q: What has been your favourite photo to date?
A: My favourite photo that I have taken would have to be the Anzac bridge in black and white. I went out on a Christmas cruise; for the camera club in Sydney and the ANZAC Bridge had just been opened, and I was very taken aback by it. We came back from the cruise and were going to meet afterwards at a pub but I was so taken by the bridge that I skipped the pub and waited for two hours for the sun to come out from the clouds so that I could get the perfect picture. But when I went to the pub afterwards they all thought I was at another pub drinking! But it's OK because I got the picture of the day which I then sold at the markets in Sydney.
Another one of my favourites was when I took one of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, I got lost when I was on one street and I ended up taking photos at the dead end of a street.
Q: Do you still use traditional methods in your photography?
A: Yes all my photography is still done by traditional methods such as SLR Cannon cameras, and Cannon lenses, and all my film is 400 or black and white
TMAX 400.1 proof all my black and white pictures at a dark room in Sydney and develop them there. None of my photos are digitally enhanced as I use filters and polarising filters. The lens I use is 28-135mm, which is my favourite lens. My wide angle is 20-35mm, which I also use for a lot for my landscape photos. I don't use digital cameras at all, only the conventional style cameras, as the digital has such a slow shutter speed, especially for the fireworks. It's better to do it the traditional way, I find it easier that way.
Q: So what are the plans for your future?
A: I will still do markets, sell wholesale to the shops in Sydney and continue to put my works on canvas. I have produced a book of my Sydney and outback photos and will continue to publish them in the future. I am also updating my website at the moment with recent photos that I've taken up the coast of NSW. I would like to create a book on the states of Australia in the future and also have an exhibition overseas in California.