Photography and Artist Talks!

In early August we have the chance to visit the Hornsby Library a couple more times to hear more artists share their stories.  The first was a talk on 100 Years of Photography by Richard Batterley.  Richard shares some stories about the origins of photography and brings along his collection of vintage cameras for people to look at.  He has cameras from every decade beginning from 1900, to the modern cameras of today.  I couldn’t really see myself getting excited about cameras but he is passionate about his hobby and sources his cameras from ebay to local markets! 

Richard says that the use of cameras in Australia has gone from 1 million  to 10 million in the space of the last 100 years.  He talks about the first photographic image that was created in 1830 and shares some early photographs.  Interestingly, he mentions that the one part of a camera that has not changed in over 100 years is the screw at the bottom for fixing on to a tripod!

During the same week, the library organised for the author Tony Park to come along and share some of his stories.  Years ago, I had read about this man in the local newspaper in an article that highlighted interesting careers.  Tony had grown up in the western suburbs of Sydney and now he and his wife split their time between Australia and Africa, where they own a tent and a land rover!  An idyllic life.  He writes on location, basing his stories on the life, times and troubles of Africa.  There is plenty of inspiration around him and he never suffers from writers block!

Check out his website:  http://www.tonypark.net/

I find his life fascinating and would love to do something similar one day.  I buy a copy of his latest book, African Dawn and can’t wait to read it!

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” — Albert Einstein