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‘Hazelhurst Gallery Exhibition, March 2010’ This new image taken on the last moon-cycle is called ‘Splendid Rock, 2010’ and is featured in my new show at the Hazelhurst Gallery in Gymea, called ‘The Secret Garden’. This image continues my fascination with the storybook-type landscapes that linger in our own backyard (if you live in Sydney) The exhibition features a selection of images taken in the past 12 months, exclusively within the boundaries of the Royal National Park. The exhibition is my tribute to this wonderful region and serves as an opportunity to share with the local community of the Sutherland Shire, my enthusiasm and love for this place. Over the past 25 years as a working/traveling photographer, I have been to many parts of the world, but this region remains a favorite of mine. The show will only be up or 10 days so be quick! Details are: THE SECRET GARDEN exhibition opens Saturday March 6th 2010 and runs until Tuesday March 16th in the Community Gallery space. Open daily from 10.00am to 5.00pm. Opening drinks is between 2pm and 4pm Saturday March 6th. RSVP to Peter Solness ph: 0413 304 889 or peter@solness.com.au Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre 782 Kingsway Gymea 2227 Tel: 61 2 8536 5700  I couldn’t go past this image for a bit of ‘Australiana’ 2009 Christmas cheer. This image was featured in a show called ‘Nocturnal’ which consisted of lightbox-mounted images depicting landscape photographs taken after dark, using simple torchlight as the primary light source. The exhibition ran all summer at Customs House, Circular Quay, Sydney. It was a huge success in visitor numbers, publicity and the amount of positive feedback. The organisers had to reprint the postcards and catalogues that went with the exhibition as they ran out of stock due to public demand, halfway though the show.  ‘Shoot for 350.org Project, October 2009’ This image was taken as a part of the 350.org ‘International Day of Climate Action’ event, which was a global action to highlight the importance of keeping the world’s carbon emissions content down to 350 parts per million as being the scientific ‘plimsol line’ – beyond which the globe is traveling through troubled waters. A friend Barbara Schaffer organized around 200 people to gather on the shores of Clovelly on the night of 24th October to create this one-off event. I was asked to be the official photographer due to my nocturnal obsessions. I selected a long exposure and via megaphone got the mass of people to walk around a chalk line of numbers to get the resultant energetic effect of light traveling through space. It was a great night of community action. The final application of the image for the 350 org site can be viewed at http://www.350.org/home?page=8 The bikini-clad girls in the foreground were a last minute inspiration. As this was a global shoot and I had no obvious ‘iconic’ landmark to work with these girls were casual spectators so I asked them to position themselves on the rock in the foreground. They remind me of the famous sculptured mermaids on the rock off Ben Buckler at Bondi Beach, which were very much a part of my childhood growing up in Bondi in the 1960’s. They have since gone. Anyway a friend, Chris Gleisner did fantastic torch work to light them.  The November 2008 issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly profiled the newly appointed Governor General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, undertaking the first leg of her inaugural trip, which was into Australia’s rural heart. Her first port of call was Bourke, a town struggling to stay viable under the adverse conditions now affecting the Murray-Darling Basin System. It was a case of finding an archetypal location to tell the story and I found it on the edge of town at the old wharf overlooking the Darling River. It was an honour to meet her. She brings a whole new style to the office, with a great compassion for children’s welfare. I had five minutes to weave my magic and get the shot. She is a very elegant and thin and the way she poised herself resembled the elegance of the limbs of the gum trees behind her. I made mention of that, which made her smile and relax into a comfortable pose – just what I was wanting. Needless to say I blazed away on the Nikon D3, and quickly got the shot I was looking for.  Terri Irwin Portrait– October 2008 The October 2008 issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly profiled Terri Irwin, the 47-year-old widow of famed crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin. I traveled to the remote Wenlock River near the tip of Cape York to photograph Terri ‘in action’ catching saltwater crocodiles in the wild. Like most assignments things never go according to plan. Her team of experts were catching a crocodile a day for the past four weeks - but on our arrival things went quiet. The lack of crocs became a positive thing in a way. It challenged me to plan a portrait that could stand on its own. I suggested we needed something ‘Amazonian’. Fortunately Terri was happy to oblige. So we found lots of mud and waist deep water. The rest came down to Terri’s great sense of purpose and strength, which gave the portrait the required gravity, and hence a successful shot.  The other day I was trawling my photo files for a summer image to put on the site. It was one of those 43 degree January days and I couldn’t go past this refreshing old favorite, shot in 1977. My first ever published image was a double-page spread in Surfing World magazine in 1975. For several years I became a regular contributor to Australian surfing magazines including Tracks and Surfing World and people (mostly ex-surfies) still remember my name from that era. In those days you were lucky to get your original colour transparencies back from the printers after the magazine had published them. I think it was an old-fashioned way of ensuring exclusive-usage of the image. Even if the published photos did turn up in an old envelope in the mailbox, many looked like they had ‘accidentally’ slipped under the heavily soiled boots of someone in a printing shop’s back room. This old pic from Shark Island defied the odds and today lives again, 30 years later.  My son Tuomo Solness is named after his Finnish great-grandfather. Apparently Finland is also the ‘true’ home of Santa Claus, who has his own village, post office, hotel and even theme park, situated in the far north of the country. There are a lot of reindeers and snowy landscapes up there at this time of the year, which is a far-cry from sunny Heffron Park in Maroubra, where young Tuomo was snapped recently. Tuomo used to push this cart for hundreds of metres up and down hills as he developed his now impressive walking skills. A true candidate for one of Santa’s little helpers, I would have thought.  Paralympian Cyclist Jayme Paris – September 2008 Jayme Paris was featured in the September edition of the Australian Women’s Weekly. It was one of a series of portraits I was commissioned to do for the magazine to coincide with the Paralympic Games in Beijing. (Jayme went on to win Bronze in the 500m Time Trial event.) It was a friendly shoot with Mum and Dad giving me a hand to hold lights and keep Jayme chatting – which wasn’t too hard to do. Jayme wasn’t able to talk or walk after a horrific birth, which left her with a form of cerebral palsy, but that didn’t stop her from pursuing her dreams. Her advice to others is, “Never be afraid to change course in your life and there is no such word as ‘can’t’.”  Pacific Islander Footy– August 2008 The September 8th issue of TIME magazine featured an article by staff writer Daniel Williams about the revolution of Maori and Pacific Islanders on Australasia’s most popular football codes. (mostly sons of poor Tongan and Samoan immigrants) These groups form just one two-hundreth of the Australian population, yet occupy a massive one-quarter of the NRL ranks. They have electrified the game with players such as Sony Bill Williams, Willie Mason and Wycliff Palu. The Polynesian influx have also transformed traditional junior league matches in the suburbs, as Polynesian kids grow much faster than Aussie kids. A league administrator says “it breaks my heart to see a kid weighing 35 kg get flattened by an opponent who weighs 80 kg.” In Sydney’s west I came across a very pleased looking Zac Dalton (centre) who plays on the same under 10 year old team as William Lee Namulauulu (left) and Henry Nafoi.  Robert McFarlane – Portrait 2008 I first met Robert in 1984 – he strolled into my workplace at the old National Times newspaper office for a chat and mentioned his interest in writing. “I’ve been a bit of a scribe,” he announced. I had no idea what a great scribe he was to go on and become. (not to mention his fine contribution to as an observant and important photographer of our times) Institutions such as the Art Gallery of NSW introduce Robert as, ‘the eminent Australian photographer, writer and photography critic’. Indeed Robert’s output as a writer has been prolific and tireless ever since that mid-winter’s day back in 1984, most notably as the photography critic for the Sydney Morning Herald. I bumped into Robert recently at an opening at the Museum of Sydney and was struck by his mane of silver hair. It was a spontaneous thing but I felt I should photograph it – and of course the man himself. I’m glad he agreed. We met in an inner-city terrace recently and he patiently sat in a darkened room while I sought to weave my magic with a torch in my hand. I think I caught something? I’m glad I did. The hair had grown long as a result of a medical procedure and he was now weary of it. It’s being cut off this week. Thank goodness for photographs I say. Some things deserve to be recorded and I’m pleased to have recorded Robert.  credits | photos | cont@ct | current projects | illuminated landscape | curriculum vitae | home |