The camera fault that I described in the last post is evident again in this photo. In this pic, the family is looking out over the Great Australian Bight, on a six-week road trip to the eastern states. I took a similar pic in 1989, and the scene would look almost the same if you took a photo there today, apart from the people. As I mentioned previously, tourist spots often frame the photo for you.
I shot plenty of film on this trip, including a few tourist spots, but my main focus was my own family and our adventure together. I did not take much time out to wander and find other interesting photo subjects. I consumed a reasonable amount of film just recording the places we went together, and the family and friends we visited. We took in a bit of family history, visiting addresses in Melbourne where my father had grown up, and the National War Memorial in Canberra where my great-uncle was listed. I photographed them all, mostly as a matter of record rather than as artistic endeavours. Back then, with spending constraints on film and equipment, family records mattered more than creative fulfilment.
Similarly, I did not tend to use my camera to make political statements, but maybe you can’t help that in the nation’s capital. We visited Canberra and walked on the lawn over Parliament House to take this photo. Two decades later, this image has a political angle to it, because the government has changed the rules to restrict access to the lawns above Parliament House. I haven’t been back there to check, but I don’t think you would be able to take this photo today.
Like all art and imagery, photos can change their meaning by virtue of staying the same as the times around them change. When you take a photo that tells even a simple story, you might be enabling a future story that is far more complex and powerful.