Talking Portfolio: Episode Six
Behind the Painting: Photographer
My grandfather, Miles, was a photographer in the Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF) during the Second World War. This triptych was taken in a photobooth.
After the war, he opened his own photographic studio. He built his own darkroom, where he developed films and worked on post-production colouring.
The picture is from the 1940’s, at a time when Miles was travelling the country as a photographer.
He converted his van into a mobile dark room, with limited place to sleep, and took his business on the road.
In those days, he sold coupons and took a number of pictures of women to send overseas to their sweethearts and pictures of men going to war overseas, for their mothers.
Behind the Painting: Photobooth
I first came across this strip of photographs from a photobooth, after my grandfather’s death in 2008. It was buried in an album and it was only by chance that I ever found it at all.
Originally, there were four shots. However, for the purposes of creating a visually interesting painting, I removed the fourth image and created a triptych.
To have more detail from the original images, I scanned the original photograph at high resolution. This not only gave me a clearer view of his expression, but it also showed aspects I had never noticed before. The transformation from photograph to work of art can be seen in my Flipbook.
Behind the Painting: Unusual
In particular, my grandfather’s shirt caught my eye. In contrast to his rather formal suit jacket and bow tie, he was wearing a shirt with an unexpected design on the fabric.
Miles was never a conventional man and his choice in clothing could be unusual. If you look closely, you can see on his shirt in Photobooth is a pattern of insects, including moths and beetles.
Once I discovered what exactly was on his shirt, I had the pleasure of painting the design three times: one for each panel of the triptych.
Behind the Painting: Landscape
My grandfather was also an artist, with a special interest in Australian Aboriginal art and culture, and landscape pieces. I particularly love this painting of his, because of the richness of the ochres and the interesting composition.
