Exhibition: Traces - Chris Bell (Launceston, Tasmania 20 September 2025 15 February 2026)

[mdarragh]

Traces is a major exhibition featuring the work of Tasmanian photographer Chris Bell at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania. The photographs are drawn from Chris' archive of large-format photographs, along with more recent digital work, covering both Tasmania and the Australian mainland.

A limited-edition book has also been produced to accompany the exhibition.

Traces: Chris Bell

Through striking images and deep reverence for nature, Chris Bell’s photography reveals the beauty and fragility of Tasmania’s wild places. Art Gallery at Royal Park | Free

www.qvmag.tas.gov.au

Exhibition: Traces – Chris Bell - View Camera Australia

Exhibition of Chris Bell's photographs.

viewcameraaustralia.org

 

[Peter Schrager]

good to see that analogue photography is alive and well in Australia!

 

[mshchem]

Looks amazing.

 

[koraks]

I once picked up "Primal Places" in a bookstore somewhere. Lovely work.

good to see that analogue photography is alive and well in Australia!

I get the impression that Bell moved on to digital and that the film-based work shown is from his archives. Indeed, there's very little about his work that I feel would compel him to work on film instead of digital; in fact, probably the opposite.

 

[benderscameracorner]

Just saw his exhibition on my lunch break today - some lovely work there. Very much blurs the line between landscape/nature photography and abstract art.

Nice to see the 4x5 transparencies holding their own against the modern medium format digital work.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

I once picked up "Primal Places" in a bookstore somewhere. Lovely work.


I get the impression that Bell moved on to digital and that the film-based work shown is from his archives. Indeed, there's very little about his work that I feel would compel him to work on film instead of digital; in fact, probably the opposite.

Processing facilities and indeed broader supplies for analogue photographers dried up from Tasmania (Hobart, Launceston) years ago. Bell, like environmentalist Rob Blakers and several other luminaries still involved and wilderness, landscape or activism photography, moved on to digital, so in a way the exhibition is a retrospective of his voluminous analogue work from several decades ago, plus the digital work that is more recent. There is nothing to suggest Bell's eye has become any less discerning or selective in the choice or identification of subject matter or compositional metrics that so very beautifully defines his oeuvre. Very well worth seeing, as are all exhibitions held by Tasmanian photographers — acknowledged masters landscape in all of its wild and unblemished grandeur.

 

[benderscameracorner]

There's still quite a few of us (pro and enthusiast) shooting film here within the landscape/nature space, though how much of it is forming actual professional output that makes folding money is debatable ;-) Still, some of us still like taking heavy impractical (and recently, light leak-prone - grrr) cameras into the wilderness. I know a few younger guys taking 4x5 cameras out, which is awesome.



But yeah, there's not a great deal of local support these days... Stallards/Camera House sell a bit of 35/120 film (albeit at a premium) and can still process C41 35mm at both stores (minilab) and 120 down in Hobart only, but E6 and everything else has to be sent off interstate. I think there's a few of us kicking around doing all our own development. Chems etc all have to be bought online - Stallards don't bother stocking it anymore.

Walch Optics disappeared a few years ago, at least the camera side of the business. There used to be a printer/framer in Launceston who still ran a darkroom for B&W prints 5-10 years ago but I think that's shut down now too.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

But yeah, there's not a great deal of local support these days... Stallards/Camera House sell a bit of 35/120 film (albeit at a premium) and can still process C41 35mm at both stores (minilab) and 120 down in Hobart only, but E6 and everything else has to be sent off interstate. I think there's a few of us kicking around doing all our own development. Chems etc all have to be bought online - Stallards don't bother stocking it anymore.

Walch Optics disappeared a few years ago, at least the camera side of the business. There used to be a printer/framer in Launceston who still ran a darkroom for B&W prints 5-10 years ago but I think that's shut down now too.

'Tis a sad situation that time has wrought upon us.
I remember Stallards! Good people. They processed 8 rolls of Kodachrome 200 (yes! remember Kodachrome!? ) for me back in 2005, and that was I think toward the last (if not the last) last time I saw them, not for want of any improvement in processing quality or efficiency, just that I provisioned everything I needed for subsequent trips to Tassie. Ah, I did lose a filter at Tarn Shelf in Mount Field NP in November of '05 had me scurrying quickly to Hobart for a replacement. Then quickly again north to Devonport for the ferry home! What I got for my troubles on that return trip was a shattered windscreen in that bleak, fog-shrouded Great Lakes area. Drrrft.

Some Tassie photographers are sending their E6 to Victoria — VanBar and Walkens, where I have mine processed when I return fortnightly from QLD. I grieve to relate the extreme cost of a single roll of 120 film...Oh God... (saw a few days ago a single roll of Ektachrome 100 in 135 was $50.99!), then add processing cost, and then add postage out and postage back!

Sometimes, in the quiet of night, I wonder what Peter Dombrovkis (30th anniversary of his passing next year...) would think about the current state of analogue photography and the diminished availability of processing means. In PD's day, film was cheap, abundant and easy to process, and he kept fridges stacked with forby Velvia. I reckon if he was still walking amongst us, digital would have swept him up with the same ease of enthusiasm and expediency — the release of burden and anxiety that shadows us darkly as film photographers, just as it did with so many others down there. Alas, that would mean less penny in da pocket of print supremo Rodney Poole though, who's exquisite mastery of analogue to print remains legendary.

 

[mdarragh]

For anyone interested Harry Nankin has written a review of the book, Traces, that accompanies the exhibition on View Camera Australia.

Book Review: Traces - Chris Bell by Harry Nankin - View Camera Australia

Harry Nankin's review of Chris Bell's book Traces.

viewcameraaustralia.org

Harry is a highly respected large format and alternate process photographer based in Castlemain, Victoria.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

Harry is a highly respected large format and alternate process photographer based in Melbourne, Victoria.

Castlemaine, actually, c. 4km from me!

 

[benderscameracorner]

I remember Stallards! Good people. They processed 8 rolls of Kodachrome 200 (yes! remember Kodachrome!? ) for me back in 2005

Apologies for going off-topic (even more) but did Australia still local Kodachrome processing facilities by then? My understanding is we both made and processed Kodachrome locally, for a time.

I remember looking at the prices of Kodachrome around the time I first started dabbling in colour positives and thinking "yeah... nah!". I think it was around twice the price of buying, developing and mounting a roll of EliteChrome, plus the faff of having to mail off the film back to Kodak rather than drop it off to your favourite lab around the corner. Of course I have regrets now not trying it while I could, but along with the lack of speed (ISO64) it wasn't a terribly compelling option at the time.

Some Tassie photographers are sending their E6 to Victoria — VanBar and Walkens, where I have mine processed when I return fortnightly from QLD. I grieve to relate the extreme cost of a single roll of 120 film...Oh God... (saw a few days ago a single roll of Ektachrome 100 in 135 was $50.99!), then add processing cost, and then add postage out and postage back!

I've managed to acquire fresh Velvia at non-dumb prices in recent times - always a crapshoot for availability though - but current Ektachrome pricing in either 120 or especially 35mm is bat---t insane. I swear Kodak don't actually want to sell the stuff. If someone has tabs on a 400ft roll and wants to split it, sing out ;-)

In PD's day, film was cheap, abundant and easy to process, and he kept fridges stacked with forby Velvia.

Abundant and easier to get processed, for sure. But cheap(er)? I'm not always so sure... I've been thumbing through old issues of Darkroom Techniques magazine between the early '80s and early 2000s and it's fascinating to see the ads from B&H et. al. and the prices for gear and film back in the day. I'll have to take a scan and post it up. But, the interesting thing is, when you plug those prices into an inflation calculator, it's often not so far off today's prices. At least for 35mm and 120, I know options in sheet film are limited, hard to come buy and selling to a tiny market.

Which is kinda fair given the overall market is what, a few percent of what it was film was the only game in town.

I think a lot of it is actually psychological... us older folks remember what stuff cost 20-30 years ago, when Gold 100 or 400 could be bought for pocket change at a pharmacy or supermarket and pro packs of the good stuff didn't require a second mortgage. There's also a lot of other inflationary pressures these days grabbing at people's wallets. I remember spending quite a bit on film and processing back in the early 2000s, but I also wasn't spending 30-50% of my salary on rent at the time either.

What's definitely not up for debate is that we get royally screwed here in Australia for film in general. Currently on B&H a roll of 35mm E100 will cost you US$21, that's AUD$32ish or AUD$35 with GST incl. So yeah, those $50 rolls of Ektachrome are a sign of someone milking it.

 

[gbroadbridge]

What's definitely not up for debate is that we get royally screwed here in Australia for film in general. Currently on B&H a roll of 35mm E100 will cost you US$21, that's AUD$32ish or AUD$35 with GST incl. So yeah, those $50 rolls of Ektachrome are a sign of someone milking it.

LCL freight is expensive, and no one would order an FCL of film for the Oz market - it would expire before being sold.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

Apologies for going off-topic (even more) but did Australia still local Kodachrome processing facilities by then? My understanding is we both made and processed Kodachrome locally, for a time.

I remember looking at the prices of Kodachrome around the time I first started dabbling in colour positives and thinking "yeah... nah!". I think it was around twice the price of buying, developing and mounting a roll of EliteChrome, plus the faff of having to mail off the film back to Kodak rather than drop it off to your favourite lab around the corner. Of course I have regrets now not trying it while I could, but along with the lack of speed (ISO64) it wasn't a terribly compelling option at the time.

Yes. VisionGraphics, in Sydney, Stallards in Hobart (what about Launy? Who did it there??) and Kodak in Collins Street Melbourne and (long ago defunct) LaTrobe Colour (was in South Melbourne). The Lighthouse lab in Sydney also processed Kodachrome. Post PKL-era and he also experimented with processing the film by alternate means, albeit at prohibitive cost.

And yes, there is the persistent story that Kodachrome was, for a time, made in Coburg for the Australian market at their factory. I suspect this was the 60s and 70s to early 80s? Maybe our US/North American compatriots can shed more light on this (eugh, I thinks I hath punned...).

Tid-bit: Kodachrome was often subbed-in as a substitute for the problems associated with getting chromes of Velvia containing a lot of red (and variations of that channel) correct when printing to Ilfochrome Classic ('Ciba'); we often recommended Kodachrome where red fidelity was a requirement. Velvia's strength is not really in the reds or blues, but in the vast library of green.

Chris Bell's book could well be the next purchase I make for my (overloaded) coffee table, joining PD's various epic tomes.

 

[munz6869]

I'm hoping to pop down to Tasmania with my Wista next year, to do some amateur Dombrovkis-ing!! It does seem like Melbourne/Victoria is Australia's analogue hotspot. We also have the best coffee... coincidence?

Marc!

 

[benderscameracorner]

Pretty sure what's now Launceston Camera House was a Stallards as well up until one point. Seems unlikely they'd have two K14 processing lines in a state of <500,000, especially when bussing negs between Launceston and Hobart was cheap and easy (oh Redline Buses, how we miss you).

My press photographer grandfather only ever seemed to play with black and white, which he of course developed and printed himself. Colour didn't come to our newspapers until after he retired and the digital revolution was well underway. I highly doubt he shot much if any Kodachrome, maybe a few slides for his orchids. Much of his photography is of course with The Mercury (who have since turned it over to the State Archives)... unfortunately much of his own work has become damaged/rotted due to lack of care in storage. (Photography was a job for him, not a passion.)

Tid-bit: Kodachrome was often subbed-in as a substitute for the problems associated with getting chromes of Velvia containing a lot of red (and variations of that channel) correct when printing to Ilfochrome Classic ('Ciba'); we often recommended Kodachrome where red fidelity
was a requirement. Velvia's strength is not really in the reds or blues, but in the vast library of green.

Interesting. I've only just been learning about Cibachrome/Ilfochrome after being given some developing kit and tools in a big lot of darkroom gear. Apparently it was an amazing archival format, albeit with limited dynamic range. The gentleman was clearly big into both Cibachrome and the Agfa equivalent, based on all the empty bottles I found in his darkroom. Really rather bummed direct positive-to-positive paper and processes have disappeared completely, though I guess we should be grateful to still have RA-4 in any capacity...

Not sure if you were able to see the Olegas Truchanas This Vanishing World exhibit at QVMAG last year/earlier this year (highly recommend getting the associated book, images originally published in The World Of... have far better reproduction, as you'd expect). Many of the colour prints exhibited were Cibachromes, from either Kodachrome or Agfachrome slides.

Celebrating the legacy of Olegas Truchanas

Image: Olegas Truchanas, Range upon range of mountains, south west Tasmania, c.1968. QVMAG Collection.Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of photographer, conservationist and adventurer Olegas Truchanas.Truchanas was born in Lithuania, and became a displaced person...

www.qvmag.tas.gov.au

We also have the best coffee... coincidence?

Eh, these days Hobart and Launceston would give Melbourne a run for its money regarding coffee. We take it no less seriously here ;-)
Surprising number of people getting around with film cameras too.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

Really rather bummed direct positive-to-positive paper and processes have disappeared completely, though I guess we should be grateful to still have RA-4 in any capacity...

Ah, we don't actually.

RA4 in pro-level/commercial labs is out the door, replaced by wide-gamut giclée and an even wider inventory of media. Giclée (aka StinkJet!) good, but nothing like the ultra-high gloss of Ilfochrome prints (and without the intensive labour!). RA4 begin its demise when the old dinosaurs of machines could not be repaired — no parts to speak of as spares.


My last RA4 prints (on Kodak Endura Metallic media) were produced 18+ months ago in Melbourne. I have about 800 raw, matted and framed Ilfochrome Classic prints in storage, produced at ChromaColour in Kent Town, South Australia from 1994 to 2010 when they closed down, commensurate with the cessation of material from Switzerland, but also because photographers bucked at the persistent price rises and toward the end, faulty media. Also in the collection are a few early RA4 (darkroom-produced) prints from 1993, just in light tissue sleeves and looking as truly, madly, deeply, bloody marvellous as they day they were dropped in front of me.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

Eh, these days Hobart and Launceston would give Melbourne a run for its money regarding coffee. We take it no less seriously here ;-)

Objection!

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

Not sure if you were able to see the Olegas Truchanas This Vanishing World exhibit at QVMAG last year/earlier this year (highly recommend getting the associated book, images originally published in The World Of... have far better reproduction, as you'd expect). Many of the colour prints exhibited were Cibachromes, from either Kodachrome or Agfachrome slides

NO, I have not seen his original images, but would like to! I am captivated and cheered by early scenes that can be found online of remoteness and wildness that Olegas so easily photographed at Lake Pedder. An era that has passed into distant history, but the photos remain as silent witnesses to the sublime beauty that existed before hydro moved in.

Meanwhile, on a characteristically wet, cold and windy outing at Cradle Mountain in early 1997, I bumped into Liz Dombrovskis and Melva Truchanas enjoying the non-view from Dove Lake/Cradle Mountain! LD was very downcast and strained at the time, as you could imagine. Melva? She was a livewire to talk to with a surprisingly coherent grasp of photography, particularly talking of Olegas' 'in his moment' documenting remote walks at Lake Pedder. LD just listened on pretty much impassively. But things did pick up in later years when we communicated and met up.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Traces is a major exhibition featuring the work of Tasmanian photographer Chris Bell at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania. The photographs are drawn from Chris' archive of large-format photographs, along with more recent digital work, covering both Tasmania and the Australian mainland.

A limited-edition book has also been produced to accompany the exhibition.

Thanks for mentioning the book.

A copy arrived today.
Stunning photographs in that collection.

A good reminder to look around and not just walk.

 

[mdarragh]

Thanks for mentioning the book.

A copy arrived today.
Stunning photographs in that collection.

A good reminder to look around and not just walk.

Great to hear you got a copy of the book. It's a beautiful retrospective of Chris's work over the last forty years.

For anyone interested, here are a few images of the exhibition. iPhone snaps don't even begin to do the prints justice, so get along to see it in person.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

This much talked about exhibition is on my to-visit list when I sail over to Tassie on 5th January, on the Good Ship Spirit II. Around that time also is when I should know if I have a rainforest Residency (Art for Takayna) with the Bob Brown Foundation in April.

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

Great to hear you got a copy of the book. It's a beautiful retrospective of Chris's work over the last forty years.

For anyone interested, here are a few images of the exhibition. iPhone snaps don't even begin to do the prints justice, so get along to see it in person.

What are the prints? RA4, giclée? Looks like one of the central images, if not all of them, have reflective glass (?)

 

[mdarragh]

What are the prints? RA4, giclée? Looks like one of the central images, if not all of them, have reflective glass (?)

The prints are all inkjet, or giclée if you prefer. The four large prints in the exhibition are mounted on dibond, the rest framed with some type of museum glass.

I didn't count exactly but good proportion are older material shot on 4x5 film with slightly more recent digital work. At least one of the photographs labelled as digital was shot on two 4x5 sheets of Provia and merged digitally. I've included a link to the article Chris wrote about the image in question for Large Format Photography Australia (now View Camera Australia) back in 2013.

The Photograph Explained: Sandbird by Chris Bell

web.archive.org

According to the bio at the exhibition, Chris works with a 5x5 camera too!