Parlour Fifty-One / Discuss

Leslie Vernon    says:

Today's Spotlight on the Patrons is on Steffen Tuck!
Please drop by their photostream and leave them some comments.


What name or nickname would you like PFO to know you by?

Steffen Tuck

Where do you live, and what kind of photographic opportunities and/or challenges does that place present?

I live in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia on the eastern coast. This is a mild climatic environment, where the weather does not swing between extremes, but glides through in a temperate fashion.

I live with my husband and two daughters in a renovated Queenslander house; a typical timber framed and elevated building style with layers of external battening for privacy, ventilation and sun control. As we are both architects, we extended our house with a contemporary addition, and this juxtaposition of styles, volumes, details and layering creates many opportunities for shots of light, shadow, edges and macro detailing.

I am interested in how light and shade can change our perception of space and objects. I am particularly interested in developing a style of capturing views which are more than what we can see or believe we can see. Degrees of perceptibility, ambiguity and inference are important to me in capturing and offering more to the viewer. I am aiming to show the image not just as it is perceived in reality, but more, through mystery and depth.

I am drawn to repeat forms, particularly horizontal and vertical lines, surrounded at home in the many layers of battens, adjustable glass louvres and metal sun screening, it is easy to see these layers as control mechanisms to view and light conditions, inside and out.

Where can you usually be found on Flickr?

Under my name Steffen Tuck, although I have recently started a new and separate account for my other creative pursuit in handmade stationary- 3GIRLS and a goat.

Choose one of your favourite photos from your stream and give us a little background about it.


This image was taken a home in our bathroom. It shows the chrome towel rail on a tiled wall, however the angle and closeness creates a dynamic graphic which belies its true nature. It is was it is- a towel rail, however it goes beyond by presenting a different view.

Tell us a little about something important to you in your daily life

I work from home as an architect and interior designer, however as these often involve long periods of time to get from beginning to end, I enjoy having other more immediate creative pursuits. This is where photography comes in, as does my handmade stationary, my printing with screen and lino for paper and fabric, sewing (not enough of late), art classes and I love cooking. These all requiring inputs from various levels, degrees and frequencies.

Photography is a relatively new thing, having purchased a Nikon D90 SLR with standard lens and a dedicated macro in July 2009. I started taking photos about twenty five years ago on a manual Nikon when I first started architecture; however this was undertaken merely as a mechanism for recording information. The passion was sparked about two years ago, when I brought about a discipline of re-introduction to using the camera daily from a creative perspective. Initially this meant taking shots around the house or outings, anything to force use of the camera.

What is it about photography that is special for you?

For me, photography allows the opportunity to immediately pursue a level of creativity beyond the real. It can record information as we see it, however I prefer to use it to re-tell a story in a way that is more focused or directed than real circumstances would or may allow.

Perhaps in doing so this is to re-invent a new tale by animate those circumstances- real or imaginary, to create a mystery, and allure, something beguiling or something beyond.

To me an interesting photograph is not what you see, but how you see. It should be about challenging the viewer by giving them a slightly different view, so that they double-take and realise something is different, perhaps ever so slightly than their assumed real view. It should be about what you feel in your head and heart - it should move you in some way.

A photographer, who can make this magic happen, has me intrigued and entwined.


Here are a few of the great photos in Steffen's stream:










Originally posted at 7:18PM, 1 March 2010 PDT (permalink)
Leslie Vernon edited this topic 27 months ago.