Death of Suburbia - one by one they fall - Cremorne

My project photographing the rapid built changes occurring throughout Melbourne I take the time to photograph the often overlooked spaces and places of the city. The big changes are obvious, huge skyscrapers and massive demolitions, but it’s the everyday suburban scenes such as this one that fascinate me and draw me to make photographs. I photographed these four 19th Century cottages over many years, getting to know them like a good friend. This capture was at immanent demolition. I am drawn to hoarding on demolitions, I think it’s a visual metaphor for the final moments of life of these homes. I like how the hoarding obscures and almost like its smothering any feeling of what were once homes. I always find it emotional and thought provoking how lives are lived in these homes for well over 100 years, and in a matter of days it’s as if they never existed, only the photograph remains as a reminder of this everyday yet radical change. View my Cremorne project gallery

Shifting Geometry of Cremorne

I’ve been visiting the suburb of Cremorne in Melbourne over several years for a project documenting the suburb's rapid rate of change. Many of my projects are long term ranging from weeks, months and even decades. Reviewing my current photographic collection for the Cremorne project I have amassed in excess of 20,000 photographs. Repeatedly exploring a given location forms part of my creative process. How the light changes throughout the day and seasons means the opportunities to create photography are constantly variable. Mixing this with a suburb under immense change due to redevelopment, Cremorne provides a rich playground for documentary photography. This is a relatively new building in Cremorne, and I love its rusty patina and a nod to the industrial architecture and history that was once prominent in the suburb. I also like how its juxtaposed next to an older industrial building, and a reminder that perhaps it too could be gone with the march of progress?...

 
 

Football Below Richmond Station

Always enjoy this artwork on the overhead railway walls when alighting at Richmond Station. The monochromatic palette compliments the large concrete wall that soars over Swan Street, bridging Richmond and Cremorne. The mess and chaos of the train power lines is an enduring feature of the area with power lines in such close vicinity knitting their way between the narrow streets. The sports theme is fitting as the station is a major stop for the surrounding sporting stadiums including the Rectangular Stadium and M.C.G. The concrete railway runs split at Richmond station running beside and in the middle of Cremorne as the lines diverge for passengers going to the eastern suburbs and the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran and beyond. As I work documenting this beautiful and changing suburb the rumble and grinding of the trains is a constant auditory stimulant in my process of making and creating photographs.

 
 

Fading Beauty of Industrial Cremorne

The fading beauty of autumn leaves draped over the window of this industrial warehouse is typical of Cremrone.  Like the leaves that fast disappear with the approaching winter, these little industrial buildings that dot Cremorne are a fading reminder of the city’s once long-standing reputation as a manufacturing Goliath. I lost track of the times I went back to this building to capture it in peak autumn leaf. I would walk to turn the corner over many walks I lost count of the number of times that I reached the corner only to be disappointed by finding a vehicle parked in front and/or the sun not quite in the desired location. The joy of making many trips is the intense knowledge I gain of the light.  Eventually I made captures I was happy with, before the autumn leaves dropped and the building was demolished for an enormous office tower block.

 



Views of Cremorne from Richmond Station

This is the first view one gets when alighting from the train at Richmond Station. The station itself is captivating for me as I love the Modernist period of architecture and this station with its coloured tiles as you head up and down on each platform is a joy. These shops are typical of Cremorne and inner city Melbourne suburbs. Fun fact about Cremorne - the suburb was absorbed into Richmond and it was only in the late 20th century that it reverted back to Cremorne.