James Rush’s first encounter with a camera was as a 15-year-old, when he got his first point and shoot.
“Within a few months I signed up for a night time photography class and was in the dark room printing away,” he says.
After graduating from the School of Art at ANU, the Australian photographer and DJ ventured to the USA and started a career which has seens his work published in Germany, Mexico, USA and across Australia.
Rush’s first solo photography exhibition, One Shot, features 400 Polaroids photographed in Canberra, Sydney and Los Angeles between February and May 2011. The shots document people of diverse ethnicities and life experience, and through their style, body language and body art capture expressions of their individuality.
“I was in Los Angeles at the start of the year where I got my first Polaroid camera and happened to be staying with a mate who had a constant influx of visitors to his apartment,” says Rush.
“The majority of these guests were African American. I was fascinated with their tattoos, gold teeth and fashion so I started taking Polaroids of everyone who came over.
“After two weeks I realized I was onto something and kept shooting once back in Canberra. 400 Polaroids later you have One Shot.”
Rush lists, “the rawness and unpredictability of the shots, having images that are not Photoshopped to death, the thrill you get while watching the photo develop in your hand, the look of the camera and layering of text on the photographs,” as his reasons for loving Polaroids.
For the collection, each subject was given one opportunity to be photographed – one shot. Unlike images taken with digital cameras, the Polaroid image cannot be edited.
Rush’s collection features a wide range of big names including Deadmau5, Skrillex, Naughty By Nature, Bone Thugs & Harmony and Ajax to name a few, and he finds it hard to pick a favourite.
“I came across many characters in LA. I had some great moments capturing people in nightclubs, randoms in Kings Cross, grabbing shots at Warehouse. I have numerous favorites from Fairfield in Sydney and of course the faces of Canberra. You will have to come and choose your favourite at the exhibition!”
The One Shot exhibition will run at The Front gallery between June 16 – June 27.
