Major Assignment #2.

Location Documentary - for Folio.

(19/3/2012)

This should prove to be a good challenge for us as photographers. I had at least (7) initial concepts, but after further thought i felt i needed to single-out the ones with more of a story to tell. So the following information is a selection of possible stories/subject matter for this assignment:

1. Life of a Greens-keeper.

This is a story i have always wanted to learn about. In my time i have played a fair bit of golf and have always admired how the greens-keepers manage to continually maintain the course after all those divots, lost balls, un-raked bunkers and people's attempts to drive their golf-buggy like they're were on Mt Panorama :)

Perhaps i'm weird, but i take an interest in what most people find uninteresting. What does a greens-keeper get up to each day at work? What keeps them coming back to mow grass and re-position that little hole so many of us struggle to fill with a golf ball? etc etc

They work at hours most people only experience whilst waiting in line for a cab after a night out on the town. They also deal with constant changes in weather and unlike the yards in Canberra (for those who have one), their task is on a grand scale.

I would like to portrait the contrast of working as part of a team, working alone and working for the big boss. I imagine they are quite multi-skilled within their role. Combining a knowledge and understand in horticulture, plumbing, machining, automotive and electrical trades. Surely there is also a bit of the "aussie-bloke" cliche with some quirky little things in and around their work-shed - perhaps there is even a gender equality.

Without sounding vein, I feel my previous professions have given me a strong set of people skills that allow me to adapt to my environment and let people warm to me quite quickly (gotta get some better jokes though) add to this solid communication, and i feel i may get some very natural photographs - resulting in stronger results.


I feel this is my strongest idea, with the most photo opportunities. See how i go... perhaps i could even photograph greens-keepers from more than one course here in Canberra to see if they share a similar attitude to their role, who knows right now, but i am excited by this project and do hope that the people i pitch my story to understand it :)


I plan to approach:
The Royal Canberra Golf Course
Federal Golf Course






Reference & Research
What is a Greenskeeper - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenskeeper

Shot Ideas:

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2. KungFu master.
A young man i worked with at Woolworths got talking to me one shift about his involvement in martial arts, in particular KungFu. I myself have done many years of Karate and a short stint in KungFu. For a while there it took over my life and totally changed my way of thinking - i still say for the better.


Anyway, he continued to tell me about his master. From what he mentioned, this master of his was something special and someone who had to be been seen to be believed. So i of course pursued this matter further and was informed that at this year's multicultural festival his master and his students would be performing a demonstration for the crowds. Further to this, his master would be making an attempt to break his own Guinness World Record. What the?!?!? He just got a whole lot more interesting.


So, i attended the recent Canberra Multicultural Festival (huge event) and was fortunate enough to see the performance put on by my work-mate and his dojo. I met his master and was instantly impressed by his bone-crunching hand-shake. The performance was great and topped of by a solo sword demonstration by his master before he then demonstrated how to break a very thick slab of concrete!


However, there was more to the story, because the following day their dojo would again put on a performance/display for the crowd and in addition to that, the master would make his world record attempt to lay on a bed of nails with up to 700kg of weight baring down on him. Crazy stuff!!



Ok, so... with all of my prior exposure to martial arts and still practising and reading about it in my spare time, i would like to capture the life of this incredible man to portrait his hard and soft sides, his mental and physical toughness etc etc and who knows, perhaps he has a real interesting other side to his daily life away from KungFu.


I have made contact with my old work-mate to try make contact with his master (who's name i have forgotten) to see if he will allow me to photograph his life.




Reference & Research:
Kung Fu website - http://www.firedragon.com.au/




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3. Re-using the Un-used.
In our wasteful modern-day society i often wonder - does anyone still re-use things? The answer is yes and although it is a small percentage of us, it certainly continues to remain functional - otherwise it might get "thrown in the bin.


Perhaps it's just me, but i see more and more useless people getting around. If the item they are using stops working or isn't quite right - they ditch it (throw it away), because it's much easier to just go out and buy a new one at the shop or even better, purchase online and have it delivered to your door.


There is a real admirable quality to those who can see another mans' trash and make it re-usable. Not only this, but it can be seen as smart shopping in some instances. There is still a lot of perfectly usable "junk" out there if you have the right frame of mind.


It used to be a habit of old "funny-duddies" with a limited income and understanding of hygiene and social skills that would make use of this advantage, but (just maybe) it seems to be on a bit of a rise within society as we become better educated and more aware of this culture.




Reference & Research:
The Tiny Green Shed - more information.
Recyclery - more information.






Lets hope one of these goes ahead :)












D.