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Cork Oak Spring
Stephen Tester
Stephen Tester
Lanjanuc
15 April to 16 May 2010
Home of the Dja Dja Wurrung people - in what is now known as Mt Alexander in Victoria - Lanjanuc is full of feelings that will still be there in a million years if we leave it alone. And alone is what Steve likes to be to savour the quietness and richness of the light and the land there, especially when it arrives under cover of the trees. At all times of day there is some remanence of the past carried by the grass, the trees, the rocks and the air - a very Australian place.
These photographs - executed in hand-coated palladium or palladium/platinum - bring Lanjanuc to life in the most delicate and respectful way possible. The gentleness of the medium is a key agent in this but it is strongly supported by Steve’s ability to understand Lanjanuc’s essential simplicity. Acacia and Spring Shadows are shown here below.
Steve lives in Castlemaine, Victoria and works with an 8x10 view camera to create these contact photographs in the same way that Edward Weston did in the 1940s at Point Lobos in America. Times and countries change but the essence of the land and mans’s relationship with it continues. The cult of the ‘new’ misses this point all too often and it is wonderful to have artists
inspired by permanence. It will always be so as we struggle to keep the
constants in our lives. This work makes its contribution to our health, well-being and enjoyment. For the quiet moments.