The Effect Of Colour

We all know the theories of colour as it is used in flat art work - warm colours advance, cool colours recede. Purple indicates distance in landscapes. Pink is reserved for Mme. Pompadour and Jayne Mansfield. Yellow is the colour of insanity, etc. etc. Whole semesters at Art School are given up to trying to define terms like "Puce" or "Taupe".

For that matter, some of the best brains in the country are kidnapped each year and chained to desks in advertising agencies where they are compelled to invent new names for spray paint colours. "Boogalicious Burgundy" and "Semipalatinsk Sludge " were two that won awards.

Colour is used to sell cameras...even when the absence of it is the only thing on offer. First it was generations of photographers who saved all their pennies for colour slide film...and watched the colour slide right off it as time went on - and then it was digital shooters who paid extraordinary amounts of money to buy cameras that could only shoot in black and white. I'll bet a few of them have since spent their evenings hand colouring in the files from the black and white camera...

The Fujifilm company has had a distinct advantage with their penetration of the instant-camera market; most of their offerings have been budget targeted and have been moulded in various plastics. They have been able to incorporate colours right into the basic body. Colour experimentation is certainly possible - thus our two star cameras today:

The Pink Surprise. Those of you who have seen Peppa Pig on television cartoons may well be struck by the resemblance of the camera to her. The Japanese makers might find this an awkward comparison, but Japan loves animé and kid's cartoon characters anyway so they won't mind selling cameras on this basis.

The Grape. This is one of the richest colours in the Fujifilm Instax range. It suggests luxury and imperial splendour, inasfar as a plastic camera can be either imperial or splendid. It has all the basic Instax features of 10-pack film loading, automatic exposure, adjustable focusing, and in-built flash. It pumps out colourful and sharp little hand-sized instant prints. And you can be darn sure that you are the only person in the firing line at the international press conference for Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton with a deep purple camera.

See the Instax Mini 8 in store at 230 Stirling St or online.

The Frame Up Job

At the risk of sounding like a Me-Too blogger, I wish to draw attention to a course being run by the Shoot Workshops next door. It is a workshop on Picture Framing and will be run by Aaron McPolin on Sunday, the 4th of September - not that far into the future.

The workshop costs $139, but this is the sort of thing that just does not come along every day. In fact, I would be prepared to say that in Perth this does not come along ANY day. It is the chance of a lifetime for some of us.

We all make files. We all make images. Some of us make pictures. Few of us make pictures that hang on walls. And damned few of us make pictures that deserve to hang on the walls.

Part of this is the files, part of it is the images. After that a great deal of it is the aesthetic that either supports or condemns the image. Here is where Aaron may be able to offer the insight to help us improve our pictures.

The blurb for the workshop speaks of colour theory, printing for longevity, placement, glazing, and matting. Also lighting, placement, exhibition design, and pricing. Even if you are not trying for " Family Of Man " and would settle for the relatives spread out over the lounge room wall in reasonable order, this workshop is going to help.

I freely admit to not being an artist, and have had this firmly attested to by Perth Artists on Facebook, but I think that this sort of thing will help me to improve my taste and present my work better. I have an ambition to be rejected by a better class of gallery than Facebook, and this may help.

Studio 281
281 Guildford Road, Maylands
Sunday, 4th of September
10AM - 4PM

Contact Shannon at Shoot Photography Workshops to make a booking:

T. 08 9228 8232
E. shannon@shootworkshops.com.au
W. www.shootworkshops.com.au