KVT – Getting into the Momentum of the River’s Flow

Australian photographer, Les Horvat, is a master in the use of digital manipulation and the photographs on show at the Bui Gallery make for interesting viewing. He is also a master in the incorporation of theatrical effects and the use of light.

Most amateur photographers will drool with envy as they wander the exhibition. So many of the landscape images are exactly like the ones they have tried to capture in that fleeting moment of ‘what a shot!’ focusing the camera and pressing the button. But no matter how hard they try it is impossible to attain the intricacies and style that Horvat adds with post production techniques and manipulations.

But then, Horvat is not aiming to get just any landscape photo. His purpose is to form a narrative within the landscape that adds an artistic and philosophic quotient. The photographs at Bui are fascinating reads and those who are purposeful wanderers through Vietnamese culture and landscapes will add their own texts of recognition. The actual geographical location of some images can be interchangeable with places from your own experiences and, until you read the title, you say, ‘hey, that’s part of my story.’

I can’t say that I was totally engrossed with the exhibition, perhaps because the scope was so large and the metaphoric river had a few too many tributaries to maintain its momentum, but those moments of recognition made it very worthwhile and a lot of the images are really wonderful and worth a wander to the Bui.

Horvat states that ‘landscape is anchored in human existence’ and his certainly are.