Sydney Harbour from 16 000 feet
1966
This photograph highlights Moore's life-long interest in Sydney Harbour. It was a subject he directed his lens towards throughout his career, and in this iconic work he has viewed it from an aerial perspective. Looking down at the land and water, just as the light was sweeping across the scene in a way that allowed him to capture the shimmering harbour in high contrast black and white. The high contrast and elevated perspective help to disorient viewers and render the familiar Australian scene almost unrecognisable. The work expresses Moore's sense of design, composition and form, as well as his interest in abstraction and the potential for ambiguity in photographic images.
(2023)
Gelatin silver prints are black-and-white photographic prints that have been created using papers coated with an emulsion of gelatin and light-sensitive silver salts. After the papers are briefly exposed to light (usually through a negative), a chemical developer renders the latent image as reduced silver, which is then fixed and washed. This technique was first introduced in the 1870s and is still used today. Most twentieth-century black-and-white photographs are gelatin silver prints. They are known for being highly detailed and sharply defined prints with a distinguishable smooth, even image surface.
