Perth Voice Interactive

HIGHGATE photographer Alan Pead has taken photos all around the world but his first exhibition was taken entirely in his local neighbourhood.

“That’s part of my message: We walk past beautiful things every day and we don’t take notice,” he says.

“There’s an infinite possibility when I walk out the door and walk down the street.

“That’s the inspiration that drew me. It’s literally ‘stopping to smell the flowers’.”

Turning 65 in January, he’s been taking photos for decades but this collection of macro images (extreme close-ups) of local flowers will be his first exhibition.

“It’s taken me a long time to get to this point. I’m at a stage in my life where I feel comfortable and confident enough… it’s my first exhibition, but it won’t be my last.”

Having started his career as a photo engraver in his teens, his trade disappeared with the advent of digital and the progress of printing technology, but he’s remained interested in photography as a hobby.

“I’ve had a camera by my side, especially when I travel, for the past 40 years.”

Mr Pead says he doesn’t set out to take pretty pictures—that’s a side-effect. His main goal is to lay bare the dichotomy between the micro and macro, and show how abstract flowers can appear when looked at on a different scale.

And for the past two years that’s all he’s taken photos of: “I don’t take pictures of people, I don’t take landscapes. My burning theme for the past two years has been these images.

“I might go in another direction after this, [but] I’ve got to get it out of my system.”

His first show, Silent Passions, is open for a month at Five Bar on Beaufort Street.

by DAVID BELL