Tiny Observations - A Photography Paradigm For Everyone

How to photograph happily, no matter where you live

Housekeeping

I’ve taken to writing in the evening and I have to say I love it. I feel like some writer working overtime trying to finish my first novel…until I realise I’m actually just writing a Substack newsletter with far less words and even less literary prowess than that of a person who would write a novel. But hey, fuck it, It’s fun to pretend.

So It’s 8pm and I just vacuumed and mopped my floors and ladled out pumpkin soup into Tupperware containers to stock my freezer because apparently, when you are in your 30’s, that’s what makes you happy.

While I was being a domestic goddess I got to thinking about the impact our location and environment has on our output as creatives and then I thought about it so much that I wanted to write about it.

So this isn’t really housekeeping at all it’s just an intro to this weeks letter.

But because it hurts my need for structure and rigidity I must list out any necessary bits of news for you since we last spoke.

• A picture I took got printed and put up on the studio wall of the brand that commissioned me to take it. A true highlight for me in my commercial career so far. You can watch this video on IG to see it being hung up and hear about the inspiration for the photo.

• Twisted towel was added to the print shop after a few requests from admirers of this image. I have submitted it to a gallery opportunity as well so who knows guy, maybe twisted towel will be worth something one day. You can get in early here and grab the print.

• I got a new point and shoot - the Minolta 110 Zoom Date. Video coming soon!

• I am considering cutting my hair into a french girl bob - stay tuned for more on this

Now let’s get into the meat and potatoes of it all shall we?

Shoegazing is cool, but not if you’re a photographer

Sometimes I loathe Australia.

When I was in New York I went to a bar and Julien Casablancas was standing behind me while the band played and then later that night I bought one of the most delicious (and cheapest) sandwiches of my life at unassuming corner store, otherwise known as a Bodega and the night went on because it’s New York City Baby!

When I was in my Uber line at LAX airport I stood just meters away from the lead singer of indie sensations Parquet Courts. I ate iconic burgers at In and Out and visited Amoeba records. I went to the Rainbow Room and I drove around in an old vintage convertible with friends of friends and felt famous. I saw a member of the punk band Germs do a DJ set casually in some random bar one night and I ate french onion soup at 2am at some restaurant/bar full of really good looking, well dressed people that were super rude.

We have well dressed, rude people here in Australia, but the rest of what I experienced in the US of A is pretty non existent in the land down under.

Everyone just got that Pentax 17 and it feels like once again Australia is on the bottom list of priorities. there is no big Beers and Cameras meet up that travels state to state and we don’t have any film photography celebs like Mr. Grainy Days or Miss Pendleton to make guest appearances and videos documenting the joyous goings on.

Maybe I sound bitter or loathing of my country but sometimes it feels hard to inhabit places that aren’t the ones we always see depicted or, in this case photographed.

When we look at all our big name photog heroes from the past it’s usually epic moments on the streets of NYC or scenes of London life and cultural movements that have become a solid part of history, or interestingly dressed people in artist lofts at the beginning of something we would later watch Netflix docos about from the comfort of our couches.

My whole childhood and young adult life, all I dreamed of was being in these scenes, being privy to these moments and feeling the swell of a city or at least something close to that.

I had it all planned out that once I got there I would be spotted on a train or walking down the street and asked to be involved in an upcoming movie by some Harmony Korine type and that would be it. Pretty naive really and my 32 year old self cringes a little even writing that but I must bare all to make my point.

The funny thing is though, the best thing that ever happened to my photography (and my general life) was moving back to the beach side town that has none of the above once desired traits young Lucy was after.

The endless sunshine spurred on a natural F stop of 16, which led to a flat as hell image, which led to increasingly more graphic and abstract compositions.

Free from any city hustle and bustle I was left with only the subject matter of beaches, waves, surfers and sunny shiny nice things….and I mean no thanks. I would rather die never taking another photo, than just take photos of the good damn fucking beach.

So I had to look for the things I wanted to see.

I had to keep me head up and my eyes peeled for piles of things laying around that i found interesting. I had to go in search of things that made me genuinely excited to photograph that were outside of just the surface level offerings here on the Gold Coast.

This quickly turned into lurking industrial estates on a Sunday when they were empty hoping someone had left some mops leaning against the wall in a way that would just make me so happy. Or finding ways to make construction, objects in shopping malls, grocery stores, backs of restaurants, hard rubbish or whatever was around and available, look like it wasn’t on the Gold Coast.

My aim is to shoot around all the defining and obvious things my town has to offer. I want it to be nondescript and free from context. I want you looking going

“What is that?”

“Where is that?”

“Why would you take that photo?”

Through this evolution of both time and space I developed what we are all in hot pursuit of.

Style.

Sure this isn’t a brand new style, but what is in 2024?

It’s my style and I’m sticking with it not only because I like the way it looks and it feels like what i want to create, but also because it frees me from the trap I used to be in, and the trap I feel we are all in sometimes as visual artists.

Longing for surroundings and subjects we don’t have regular access to.

This is a two pronged trap and issue.

One, we do it because we genuinely wish we were doing street photography in NYC and not in bum fuck Idaho, where we currently reside, and the number two reason is because it gives us an excuse as to why we can’t knuckle down and create the work we want. Or at the very least just get out there more often with our cameras.

And so TINY OBSERVATIONS was born and is here to free you from the grips of your boring suburb, backwards town, pathetic province or underwhelming location that isn’t already verified by one of the greats.

Every place has a story to tell and it’s story can be tiny.

It can be like my story of the Gold Coast which is wrapped up in how much I hated the place growing up and how my younger goth self despised the beach and anyone who happily frequented it with it’s sun and sand and good times. Gross.

You wouldn’t know this unless I told you though so the pictures themselves are tiny scenes and observations I see, but the underlying story is also tiny in the way it seeps through and maybe eats at someone asking why this would be the chosen subject of someone living in amongst a landscape so breathtakingly beautiful?

Ending a piece of writing is just as difficult as getting started so I will leave you with this final thought. Like Jerry Springer.

You cannot let your surroundings rule your creative output and don’t underestimate how they can work for you in your practise.

Let the emotion you feel for your environment be the driver of your work and by working from that place, you might find you never want to leave.

Tiny Observations is a print collection available for purchase at an affordable price. Click the button below to see a selection of this series.