..to Flamenco and move...

G'day Possums,

Dates for the exhibition have been finalised and the title, too.
"Invitation to the Dance".
We are exhibiting at "The Bean Barn", 217 Sturt St Ballarat

from September 19th till October 28th
(dates which were picked in December last year) to co-incide with the Royal South St. ballet and calethenics competitions presenting at Her Majesties Theatre during those times.
There will also be the "Take a Bow"  performance photo comp running around this time
http://takeabow.ballaratfoto.org/
at which ( I'll also be entering the comp ) I'll be doing demonstrations of performance photography on the two weekends: 2 sessions each on Saturday and Sunday.

Below is some recent dance stuff ... the Flamenco shoot is potentially for some advertising for a performance in November / December and the ballet as part of the exhibition at Bean Barn.
Many Thanks to Ally (ballet) and Mariah (Flamenco) for their efforts and time, it was much appreciated.....for the the technically minded; ballet stuff was shot on a 5D Mk2 with either a Canon 50mm prime or a Canon 85mm prime  at 160 ISO. Four mono-blocks were used and exposure on the "sharp" stuff was 1/125 @ f16 and the blurred stuff 1/2 sec @f16 with power turned down by 2/3..... ambient light was good so the blur is real, NOT photoshop!  Shanes new portrait was from a 350D w/ a 28-75 Tamron in available light

Mariah, Flamenco.

Mariah, Flamenco

Ally, Ballet

Ally, Ballet

If any reader happens to be in Ballarat for either "Invitation to the Dance", South Street or the "Take a Bow" shows leave a note or say hello after the demo.


Politics

"Big Red" Gillard has re-vamped the oppositions' policy on offshore processing of asylum seekers and making it more draconian ... but at least she hasn't yet deported or locked up Australian citizens as did the Liarbrils' last Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone.

Egalitarian Australia?  Now there's a nice myth.

"The Australian" newspaper is running a new campaign against Gillard ... and it  reminds me of the sustained attacks on Whitlam and his ministers back in '74-'75.
I was living as an Art student in a share house in '76  and on the anniversary of "The Dismissal" one of the household brought out his folio collection of "The Australian's" daily front pages that dated from 74 - 75. It was extraordinary. It was like reading a piece of music; the rise and fall of invective, innuendo and half truths, the selective reporting, the adding of another "scoop" each week and watching it all reach a crescendo by the Saturday edition. By the time Whitlam's mob were devastated in the election it was positively orgasmic in its vileness.
It was shameful stuff and it still is. "Mr Rabbit" and his rabble are still using the same tactics.
They have few policy's, just tactics.
"Mr Rabbit" thinks private schools are hard done by and that public education should be payed less to balance it all out. Some private schools actually make a profit and overall cater to only 35% of school population.

Egalitarian Australia? 

Funniest moment: The Coot with queer ideas from the IPA was utterly silenced t'other day on radio by a comedic football commentator!
Football commentator did what a decent journo should have done long ago and called Coot's bluff by asking why he was always trying to mislead the public and literally telling him he talked "merde"!
The unusually long silence emmanating from the Coot with queer ideas made for surreal radio. Lovely stuff.
Cheers Echidna's,
Shane