12/9/2010 Under 18 01a present: Hosier Lane, Melbourne

ID: 20699
Photographer: Billy Gibney
Copyright: library does not own image (image not on public access)
Org ID: Snapped01apres

Description:

Winner, Under 18 category of the Snapped: Melbourne past and present photography competition 2010.

Please contact Melbourne Library Service if you would like to enquire about obtaining permission to reproduce this photograph.

Judges' comments:
It's a gritty place, Hosier Lane. A perspective from the gutter. Blue stone, still wet after the rain. Lights burning in the windows - who knows what life beyond. Stark graffiti shining with assertive pride. On the footpath, a Vespa, that symbol of smart chic. A Vespa and a Mini-Minor, connecting over fifty years.

Billy's comments:
I first became interested in photography about two years ago; I would look through my mum's Gregory Crewdson book over and over. I was drawn in by the way people could make a single photograph tell a whole story. About a year ago my parents bought me a Nikon D40. My mum had been interested in photography for a while and so we would go to the city regularly searching through the unknown alleys and shadow-filled parks. I was informed about the Melbourne Library Service Snapped: Melbourne Past and Present photography competition by a half-torn flyer I found on the ground while in the city. So I did my research on it and next time I went to the city I had intentions to come home with a photograph to enter.

I always knew I would do an alley way because of how much they have changed over the years, with bursts of colour and quaint shops. I walked past Hosier and saw the way the light bounced off the graffiti and then reflected on the wet blue stones, how vibrant the first restaurant looked and the Vespa in place of the mini-minor from the original. I didn't want to take a straight-on photograph; I wanted it to have a different perspective, so instead I focused on the dominant coarse gutter.

I wanted my photo to say what words could not. I wanted it to be different to the original and interpreted according to what each viewer sees in it.

Please Contact:

Melbourne Library Service

Image held by Melbourne Library Service
Phone: (03)9658 9700
Email: library@melbourne.vic.gov.au
Website: Melbourne Library Service