Trip to the Dump

This is an extract from a "didactic" written for my soon to open exhibition at Pinnacles gallery (more about that in a later post). Basically it was time to stop holding onto so many images in my collection.

I recently went through my 35+ year archive of photographs taken from student days through to a full blown professional career. More specifically I went through the pre digital years 1980 - 2003. I decided that unless an image in my collection had significant meaning to me, historical significance or some other merit then it had to go. The local tip is now groaning under the weight of over 100,000 of my images on slide film, black and white negatives and a few dozen prints. Years of corporate headshots, product shots, overs from more exciting ventures and hundreds of clip tests from slide film demanding an exact exposure all now buried in the ground. I must confess that I don't have a clue about the environmental impact of my recent spring clean. I had no idea what else to do with it all. On the way home from the tip I stopped by my Post Office and collected all the prints for my new "Townscape Exhibition" - that felt good. Out with the old and into the new and unexplored future.

Sadly it was also time to get rid of my much loved surfboards. Time to admit to myself that there is no surf in Townsville. Well actually to tell you the truth there is a ridable fun wave on Magnetic Island when the South Easterlies blow. And of course on the back end of cyclones a swell usually runs for a day or so. After cyclone Larry in 2006 I paddled out into some nasty barreling shore breaks at Radical Bay. In no time flat I was tossed head first into the sand and ended up with a broken neck and spent next two months in bed with some mind bending pain killers. The boards were quickly scooped up by the tip shop people so I hope they bring much joy to their new owners.