Frayne’s ode to South Australia offers a fresh view of spaces and places around our State.
After completing his Bachelor of Arts at Flinders University, South Australian filmmaker Alex Frayne made a series of short films and a 2006 Australian gothic feature film, Modern Love. It was during this period, scouting locations for films, that Frayne discovered his talent for photography which has since earned acclaim internationally. Images from his body of work are held in collections in Australia and overseas.
This is his third book of photography, following on from Adelaide Noir (2014) and Theatre of Life (2017), both released by Wakefield Press. Of the 200 images featured in this new display book, about a third were taken with a Nikon FE 33mm, popular in the 1980s. This is indicative of his preference for analogue over digital photography, although both are represented in this tome. He also preferences a Yashica 6×6 124g medium format camera and a 6×9 Fuji camera in medium format in his work.
Artistically, film over digital adds depth and character to the images, adding mood and, often, emotion to the photos that simply can’t be captured by the sharpness of digital cameras. The balance of monochrome and colour, and film and digital, provides a vivid contrast to the photos as Frayne exposes South Australia in all its rustic beauty and quirky undertones.
Frayne is known for his skill in playing with light and shadow and these are amply demonstrated throughout the book. Each photo is paired with at least one other, inviting the reader to open the book fully and examine the couplings side by side. In the book’s introduction by Murray Bramwell, Frayne is quoted on four examples where he has experimented with his images, although the page references for each need to be updated for future prints.
Corona Nightscape on page 44 (actually, page 52) is the first he discusses on his use of long exposure. Reciprocity failure causes a shift in colour to create stunning purple hues in a cloud-dense sky above North Adelaide’s Piccadilly Cinema.
Take Me Home on page 97 (actually, page 105) is an accidentally overexposed image of a dirt road in Shea-Oak Log. Presented in monochrome, it’s an image that brings up memories for Frayne. When viewed alongside its sepia companion piece of an isolated railway track in Karoonda, the double-page spread is haunting and foreboding in its sense of isolation.
Landscapes of South Australia
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Distributed by: Wakefield Press
Released: January 2020
RRP: $75 hardcover
- Read our review of Theatre of Life, by Alex Frayne