Shire Chairman, Queensland

[Maris]

Shire Chairman, Queensland.
Gelatin-silver photograph on Agfa Classic VC FB photographic paper, image size 21.5cm X 16.3cm,
from a 4x5 Kodak TXP negative exposed in a Linhof Technika camera fitted with a Schneider Symmar-S 150mm f5.6 lens.

It was an tryingly hot day way out west where the black soil plains grade into red dust. But a straight up portrait of the local chief imposed its own special discomforts and accoutrements. That not-too-well fitting formal suit may be the burden a dignitary assumes for affirming the augustness of political office.
A local sample of the "black stump" was a convenient prop to keep the subject from wandering out of frame while I fussed with exposure and focus.

[Mick Fagan]

Quite a striking picture, especially if one knows the type of area and weather conditions and the distinct lack of suits that normally go with the area.

Having your subject lean onto the metaphorical black stump, has given him something solid to hold him steady, great idea.

Would that be the Barcoo Hotel in Blackall? If so, I know it reasonably well having stayed there on the odd night here and there. The kind of hotel where you bought a bed for the night, but not a room. One never knew what kind of snoring companion one would wake up alongside in the morning; this was half a century ago and things have surely changed from then.

[Maris]

Yes Mick the background in this picture is the Barcoo Hotel. It's a good cave for a cold beer on a sunny day but the accommodation is, er, basic.
I stayed at the Blackall Cultural Association round the corner and up the road. The BCA offers cheap rooms for artists and me, with a large format camera in hand, definitely fancied myself as one.

The pub was a problem by making the background too bright. I should have used a reflector to better light the Chairman but I hate using it single-handed without an assistant. A puff of wind and things can get out of control. And I hate the reflector anyway. It's the kind where you have to strong-arm all the folds perfectly to get it back into its little round bag.