This year was a little different than usual.  Aside from seeing my usual batch of comedians and (inadvertently) shooting the creation of a promo for a Fringe Festival show, I came across a event that I’d not heard anything about before; the Format Festival.

Format’s an art festival with a twist; there’s no pomp, no ceremony.  It’s a two week long, artist-run exhibition, displaying their own art and DIY work, with a focus on getting involved.  Of all the scheduled events, the Street Art Art Jam night intrigued me.  Being a photographer-friendly event, I rocked up to see what it was all about.

Given I’m completely useless with a paintbrush, pencil, charcoal, or anything else that may reside in an artist’s box of tricks (hey, I know my limits ), an art event was a bit of a strange place for me, yet they had built a truly fantastic environment to be in.  There was around thirty artists over the course of the few hours I was there; all extremely friendly, extremely talented and more than happy for me to shoot their work to show what they could do.  The majority of art being made on the night were stencils, stickups and the astounding freehand spray murals.  Some of the artists have made street art their life’s work (“the joys of a misspent youth” was mentioned more than once); others, such as Sarah, creator of the green face mural, started a few short months prior.

The full shoot from the night has been published on the ST5K gallery.

Cheers to Simon Loffler and Matt Walker for getting Format up and running, to all the fantastic artists I met there, and the ones before me that left their art behind.

Bring on Format 2010!

Cold.

Dark.

Nowhere to go.

Nothing to do but wait.

… there is no escape.

Taken during a trip to the Old Adelaide Gaol.  Full of stories, full of history.

I’d never want to end up there.

This made-from-scratch pudding was certainly the highlight of the meal; the fire made it more awesome