buy, buy, buy

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buy! buy! buy!shopping & shooting from the

hip, a small essay on the joys of

being a consumer in the 21st

century.

photography and text by

Stuart Murdoch

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ContentsIntroduction 9

The Images 13

Bunnings, Melbourne 14

David Jones, Melbourne 16

Myer, Melbourne 18

Vietnamese Restaurant, Melbourne 20

Mei & Picchi, Melbourne 22

‘The Warehouse’, Melbourne 24

A ‘7-11’ Store, Melbourne 26

Antique/Second Hand Store, Melbourne 28

Melbourne 30

Dimmeys Footscray, Melbourne 32

Dangerfield, Melbourne 34

Myer, Melbourne ‘back of store’ 36

Myer, Melbourne 38

Ikea, Melbourne 40

Second Hand Store [Inner West], Melbourne 42

Antique/Second Hand Store, Melbourne 44

Myer, Melbourne 46

‘Back of Store’, Melbourne 48

Savers, Melbourne 50

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Antique/Second Hand Store, Melbourne 52

Noodle Box St.Kilda, Melbourne 54

Fishmonger, Melbourne 58

Children’s Store, Melbourne 60

Dangerfield, Melbourne 62

Mei & Pikki Store, Melbourne 64

Supermarket Exterior, Melbourne 66

Warehouse Store, Melbourne 70

Music Store, Melbourne 72

Chainstore, Melbourne 74

‘Warehouse’, Melbourne 76

Melbourne Central, Melbourne 78

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8

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Shopping in the 21st Century has

become more than a necessity, it’s

a past time, a validation of one’s

existence.

Subtle psychology is used to entice,

cajole and subdue the modern

shopper into parting with their hard

cold cash.... sorry credit.

Shooting from the hip has a

long tradition in photography

in both fine art circles and with

photojournalists

Many retail outlets are reluctant to

allow photography inside. Given

the pleasing displays put in place

by the retailers these make for very

tempting photographic fodder.

Digital cameras have lowered costs

for photographers extensively in

the past 10 years, the combination

of cheap cameras, and general

paranoia in retail outlets led me

to use a camera as unobtrusively

as possible while examining the

shopping experience in the 21st

century.

Introduction

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10

This project evolved over several

years as I lugged around a small

digital camera. Working exclusively

by shooting from the hip.

This is the result of that project,

spanning approximately 3 years.

The project itself actually evolved

a year or so after I purchased the

camera. The speed and ease of

digital was something that was

difficult to come to terms with at

the time. I knew of course that

I was never going to get large

enough files from this camera to

produce much beyond a 5 x 7 inch

print, but what to do with all these

files I was generating? For a while

I toyed with ideas of a mulit-media

presentation, and even have

uploaded some to flickr.

The images as a consequence

gathered dust, and in fact have

seen several major, changes in

computing technology, floppy disks,

zip disks, and eventually the arrival

of CD roms.

The camera used was a Kodak

DC260, not a highly regarded

camera in it’s time, but small

enough to remain fairly unobtrusive,

and able to produce large enough

files to make a small publication

such as this.

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12

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The Images

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14

Bunnings, Melbourne

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16

David Jones, Melbourne

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18

Myer, Melbourne

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20

Vietnamese Restaurant, Melbourne

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22

Mei & Picchi, Melbourne

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24

‘The Warehouse’, Melbourne

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26

A ‘7-11’ Store, Melbourne

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28

Antique/Second Hand Store, Melbourne

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30

Melbourne

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32

Dimmeys Footscray, Melbourne

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34

Dangerfield, Melbourne

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Myer, Melbourne ‘back of store’

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Myer, Melbourne

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40

Ikea, Melbourne

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42

Second Hand Store [Inner West], Melbourne

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44

Antique/Second Hand Store, Melbourne

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46

Myer, Melbourne

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48

‘Back of Store’, Melbourne

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50

Savers, Melbourne

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52

Antique/Second Hand Store, Melbourne

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54

Noodle Box St.Kilda, Melbourne

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56

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Fishmonger, Melbourne

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60

Children’s Store, Melbourne

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62

Dangerfield, Melbourne

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64

Mei & Pikki Store, Melbourne

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66

Supermarket Exterior, Melbourne

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Warehouse Store, Melbourne

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Music Store, Melbourne

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74

Chainstore, Melbourne

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76

‘Warehouse’, Melbourne

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Melbourne Central, Melbourne

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80

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This book uses Joint by Pizza Dude

font, & Frutiger Light Condensed, &

Frutiger Bold Condensed.

Layout was put together using

Adobe Indesign™.

This work is published under the

Creative Commons Attribution-

NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0

License.

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82

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