A Day in Footscray

So looking forward to today, catching the V-line train in. I spent a lot of my childhood in Footscray having grandparents living in the area. Often as a child I would watch the grey haired folk cut roses from their gardens or push their jeep full of fresh fruit and veggies down the street. I remember heading to Forges with my mum and grandmother and the streets bustle with locals stopping to chat or just a friendly greet.

What a disturbingly shocking surprise! Gone are the safe streets I once walked as a child. Instinctively I push my camera deeper into my pocket and pull my beanie  lower. Survival skills almost kick in, I need to blend in as much as I can. I have committed to photographing colours for today's task so I head to the market. My camera is small and fits quiet nicely in my pocket easily hidden but to focus and get a clear shot proves to be difficult. The lady at the fruit and veg stall stops me to question my motives. Clearly, she is not impressed. I take some more shots before I move off. Heading through the market I emerge at the shops. Filthy, dirty and so horribly run down. Some of the most beautiful architecture and history has been left to deteriorate and rot. The streets are consumed with Asians and they are not welcoming. The odd white person walks the street either self mutilated with piercings or wasted. I continue my journey to photograph colours. In my self absorbed mode I find myself amongst small weatherboard houses in an alley way, I'm focusing in on a boarded  up window with barbed wire strung across it. The lighting isn't to good so it takes some time to adjust. It has been raining and there is a strong stench in the air. It is almost eerily quiet. Happy with the shot I lower my camera to see a young white boy standing a few feet away from me pulling a strap tight across his arm while he injects his choice of drug. I look straight into his eyes they are looking back at me but distant. I back up slowly and when I feel farther enough away I run for my life.

Shit! I'm lost. Aimlessly I wander the streets disheartened at the deterioration that I see around me. Although I am intrigued and still see some beauty that once was and still can be. I photograph doors that once were beautiful with history untold. Lane ways that hold secrets of the unforrbidden and untold stories. I am an intruder in this area and the residents are making it known with unforgiving stares and side way glances of distaste that I am photographing their territory, their untold secrets.

The photos are not easy the challenge is high, I am learning the ropes with my camera. Everything I see I see some potential as a photograph. The object is to photograph the object as discreetly as I can.

As I ventured on, all this was forgotten as I climbed through fences and scaled fences to get view or lighting I needed. My first few shots of colour were safe, shots of fruit at the market. Through fear, lack of direction maybe, or just sheer curiosity my journey of photographing colour led me to photograph places and objects that I would have never seen before nor have dared go alone.

My task was complete 8 pictures of blue, red, yellow, orange, green, purple, brown and black in ways I would never have imagined before.