Ross Miles may be unknown to some of our newer members but he is a stalwart of the club and a former president. As a retired teacher and with the patience of a saint, Ross has made enormous contributions to Queensland Camera Group, teaching us about Photoshop, In Camera Movement and the importance of staying true to yourself photographically. Read on to learn a little more about this humble, talented photog:
Thank you Anne for inviting me. I was a little puzzled as I have been notable by my absences from QCG in recent years. I am beholden though to Martin Reilly who encouraged me to be more active last year by inviting me to the Focus Group on a couple of occasions. I was also beholden to David Bullock who informed me that it was my turn as a past President to do the judging for Three Related Images at the AGM and to Anne Pappalardo for agreeing to tag team me at that task. I really enjoyed the on-line meeting last night (Thursday 2 April) and feel that I might exceed my meeting attendances while this situation continues. Congratulations to the team who have got this all up and running so quickly.
When I retired my, daughter Karen asked why I don’t join QCG and do photography. What do I want to do that for, I replied, and the rest is history as the saying goes. People often say how their photographic interest was started when they were quite young. Mine started after I retired and 99% plus of the photos I’ve ever taken in my life, have been taken after I joined QCG in 2004. I had done more videoing at school as a teacher than I had done still photography.
What is your pet’s name?
When I retired and our dog finally succumbed to old age, we decided not to have another pet so as to give us the freedom to travel. However, time and circumstances changed that. One of our three daughters was based with Border Force in Carnarvon in Western Australia. She had a dog but also took in a cat which was a rescue animal from a local community over there. Her name is Disney and she’s a pretty little cat. Her name comes from the fact that this daughter is a Disney fan and the cat is black and white with markings on her hind quarters which are reminiscent of Mickey Mouse’s head and ears. Hence, the name Disney. This daughter received a transfer to Norfolk Island with Border Force for a couple of years. Owing to the environmental concerns of a cat on Norfolk Island, Disney came to live with us in 2016, and she hasn’t left here.
‘Disney’ with Mickey and his mouse ears on her flank.
What gear do I use?
I was an avid Canon user only because my daughter Karen, who joined QCG first, was a Canon user. I bought a Canon 350D, upgraded to a 5D and then when that broke, went to a 5D2. I had a pile of lenses including five L series pro lenses. In 2015 Irene and I did a trip to Canada and Alaska. The Canon and just the one general lens was a struggle to carry around so I vowed to downsize when I got home. I bought a Fuji off Zameal from QCG and he gave me another Fuji and so now I have a brace of Fujis. With Canon, I had one camera and a pile of lenses. It meant taking a heavy camera bag everywhere. With Fuji I changed tack. Instead of buying one camera and a pile of lenses, I have bought three cameras for different purposes. One a Fuji XPro2 is an interchangeable lens camera and I have just 4 lenses to go with it. I have two smaller fixed lens compacts one for travel (X100F) and the other (X70) goes in my pocket when I’m with the family. For two months in the UK and Ireland a couple of years ago, the X100F was all I had with the X70 as a back-up. Nowadays I go around with a small handbag size camera bag with two cameras and three lens and seemingly less weight and space as one Canon and one lens. For street shoots I only use the X100F which has the same sensor as the XPro2 in any case but just a fixed 23mm lens (35mm equivalent). The only thing I’m disappointed with is that I can’t take my distinctive fireworks photos with the Fuji gear as it’s all electronic and I need a manual focus mechanism to do them with. At least I can use my old canon 5D2 as I gave it to my daughter-in-law and I just borrow it back for the occasion.
Preferred genre/style of photography.
Aaaah! Now it gets tricky. Some people would say that I have a ‘wave the camera all over the place’ style. When I started with QCG, I was told that I would develop a style. No, no, no, I said, I don’t want to develop a style. I want my style to be eclectic. It seems though that I have developed a style. Probably the easiest description is ICM (In Camera Movement). I actually object to this description. If moving the camera is ICM why aren’t photos taken on a tripod called NCM (Non Camera Movement). Anyway, my own description of my style is serendipitous opportunism. I studied art at high school and my favourite period was the impressionist era. ICM often produces images which have that same feel about them so I sometimes describe my style to people as impressionistic. Teaching language at school, one of the sub skills of reading is Visual Closure in which the brain completes something we briefly see. That’s why we can read a passage with with a double up of words and barely notice. To me ICM images have the capacity to make the brain work just that little harder to interpret the image and thus hold the viewer’s attention for just a little longer. At least, that’s my theory.
Serendipitous opportunism is attractive to me as a name for my style as I love pushing the envelope trying to provoke unexpected outcomes that the camera can see but my eyes can’t. I am inclined to view my camera as some sort of electronic paintbrush. I’m not strong on storytelling. I see photography as a visual medium and therefore am looking for visual interest rather than a story to interpret. Horses for courses I guess.
The photo below was a happenstance. I was photographing with a couple of QCG people on the pedestrian bridge at Indooroopilly. These bike riders came by and I started panning but realised they were going to be too close and hit the camera. I swung the camera away just as I clicked. I looked at the image ready to scrap it. When I saw it, I thought “Wow”. I wondered what I’d done, and how could I do it again. So I’ve have been experimenting ever since. What I love in images are the swirls, shapes, patterns and colours. Some people are uncomfortable if they can’t understand what they’re looking at. Usually, the more I don’t understand it, the more attractive I find it. This particular image is one of the first I took, and remains my favourite image, other than images of my kids and grand kids.
‘Ride Like the Wind’ (2005) by Ross Miles.
Best holiday I ever had.
I don’t know about the best holiday, but I do know my favourite place for a holiday and that’s Norfolk Island. We had a holiday there once and then, when our daughter was based there we spent four months total on Norfolk in the one twelve month period. As a photographer I love the scenery, the old convict ruins and the bird life there. I love the weather as we’re having about now. I can’t believe that I can walk outside to a beautiful day but sense this black cloud hanging over everything. Back to Norfolk, I wanted somewhere in the world where the weather was much like this all year round. Norfolk Island seems to me to come closest. It’s a combination of its latitude and marine environment moderating the temperatures.
Favourite song.
I don’t know that I have a favourite song but I like country, and ballads in particular, as I do like my songs to tell a story. I always wanted to play a musical instrument. Missing a few fingers on one hand tends to limit the number of instruments I could play. At school as a teacher I used an Autoharp and played that for sing songs in the classroom. The trumpet always interested me and only needs one hand for the notes but I never quite got around to learning how to play one. I like instrumental music. The first record I ever bought was in Queen Street when I was a teenager. I was walking past a record shop and heard this instrumental music being played. I stopped, went in and bought the record which was Bert Kaempfert’s ‘A Swinging Safari’. My favourite track on this is ‘Happy Trumpeter’.
Favourite image by a QCG photographer.
I looked at the current crop of images which appear on QCG albums. I miss lots of meetings and so don’t see the all the images at the judging but, those images I do see, have been blowing me away. Every grade is producing great stuff. I have admired the old stalwarts, Ken Butler’s way of seeing, MaxBiddlestone’s landscapes, Ray Shorter’s black and whites, Gaye’s portraits but also images from newer members like both Martin and Elizabeth Riley and Joy Melchiori. Tony FitzGerald and Anne Pappalardo have also developed into wonderful photographers and I admire their infectious enthusiasm which I think filters right through the club. However, even though I don’t have a favourite image, I do have a favourite photographer. Rodney Nancarrow has been my favourite for some time. I like nearly everything that Rodney produces. I like his thought processes, his willingness to experiment, his sense of colour shape and pattern and his ability to take quite common household things and turn them into thought provoking images that dazzle the eye and mind. Well, mine anyway. Rodney is my inspiration to get back inside during these times to do some ‘table photography’ as Rodney calls it.
One of Rodney’s images which inspires Ross.
What am I doing during the Covid 19 crisis?
My days seem to be very full. I am very involved in my church St David’s Anglican Church at Chelmer, and that takes me most of every morning maintaining phone contact with parishioners, admin meetings and searching for appropriate images for the Rector to use in the on-line worship services. That’s been a bit of a trip down my photographic memory lane trolling through all my images. I’m finding images that I had totally forgotten about. The rest of the day is taken up catching up with family and friends, with DIY projects, yard work and our daily walk around the block. I am just starting an eight week on-line pulmonary rehabilitation program for my Pulmonary Fibrosis which will take up six hours of my week on-line plus off-line exercises. This photo is of me at my computer finding images. What I’m not getting time for is taking photos so, this week, my goal is to take a photo every day. Now I find myself envious of the home studio that Gaye E. has, and the beaut light box Ken Butler has for his still life images.
Preparing images for online church services
Take care and stay safe.
Ross Miles