About Anne Bentley
The decision to become a practicing artist came into my head most likely as a mechanism to stop me from going completely crazy in pay-the-rent jobs.
Always one to dabble in taking photos, one day a friend said, "I like what you see..." and suggested I do a course to understand my camera as a tool so I could get on with creating images. I did a single weekend workshop that showed me the concept of black & white photography, using a manual SLR, hand-processing film and darkroom printing. One weekend was enough to prompt me into self learning and practice.
I work partly with traditional film and digital photography. I am not currently printing in the darkroom, mostly due to the water shortage in Australia - even with an 'eco' archival print washer, darkroom printing uses more water than I am comfortable with but I still hand process black and white film.
I have worked in many jobs in my adult life, beginning by on the job learning how to restore antiques & polish reproductions. I've been a builders labourer, gardener & rubbish remover (more fun than it sounds), a shop girl and office worker. I dabbled in music journalism & briefly managed a band. I wrote some truly corny short stories but managed to have them published - obscurely.
Now I am beginning to work more and more for myself in an area I have chosen independently rather than circumstantially or out of necessity.
Solo Exhibitions:
other pages at: lomography.com; myspace.com; blogspot.com