Rene and Meg came to stay with us. We were really sad they had to go back home. Rene is a photographer from Sydney who takes some of the photo’s I like most from Australasia. He just finished a show in Auckland, New Zealand and a little book with a Sydney based publisher (currently sold out and called ‘Thumbs Down’ – good name). I think it’s hard to be contemporary but restrained and knowing enough to rein in passing trends for something more timeless; especially in something as crassly aesthetic as photography. A lot of photographers now seem to have gotten a bit drunk on the romantic nostalgia generated by those who photographed for Purple Journal – i’m a victim myself. Rene has found ways to escape those seductive clutches for something a little less obvious by drawing a line from Japanese photographers who emerged during the 90′s, pre-00′s skate photography and classic reportage style photography from the 60′s – 80′s. He generates a deep and charged stillness; honest images, with photography’s inherent artifice and gesture deliberately acknowledged or suitably dulled. He also shares my love of romance reggae, which is notable. Peacock haired portrait of Rene in an abandoned theme park, moments before falling into a decade old stagnant pond.