Stories

Photo Review discovered Mark Higgins after running an informal photography contest on the fine arts website www.redbubble.com

Given his particular fondness for the sweeping landscape, it’s not surprising that he also has a favourite photo community site devoted to the aforementioned genre. Called naturephotographers.net, Yoon says ‘it’s basically a Who’s Who of landscape photographers. Pick up any international landscape or outdoor photography magazine, and you’ll see many familiar names from NPN. A couple months ago I actually joined the staff as a moderator on that site, so I’ll be doing even more critiqueing.’

Generations of Australian fliers began their careers by clambering into the forward cockpit of a Tiger Moth. Back in the days when the aircraft were used for training, the student was closest to the engine while the instructor sat in the aft cockpit. There aren’t too many Tiger Moths left, but there are still a few lovingly-restored models plying the skies of rural Australia. It is one such machine that photographer Jackie Ranken and her pilot father have been using for some time as a picture-taking platform.

Some years ago, a stand-up comedian asked me to take some publicity shots of him. We agreed to do it straight after a pub gig and I went along early to watch him inspire hilarity in a capacity audience. It was the standard arrangement: a spot-lit microphone in front of a red curtain. He was very expressive, contorting his face and body to enhance the gags, and I thought, ‘This’ll be a breeze’.

When Jesse Marlow was eight or nine his mother would encourage his early interest in picture-taking by driving him around Melbourne to photograph graffiti walls.

From Mozambique to the remote and icy shores of Norway, Ted Grambeau has created his own brand of surfing photography.

Step through the door of the quiet suburban cottage Lewis Morley shares with Pat, his wife of 54 years, and you enter a long hallway lined with picture frames, boxes of prints and shelves stacked neatly with portfolios and books. The Morley sittingroom is a wonder. Interesting African artifacts share shelves with sculpture, prints and paintings. Some of the latter are Lewis’s own work, but many more are items he’s collected or been given. And there is shelf upon shelf of books on art and photography. The atmosphere is relaxed, genteel and bohemian.

Perth art photographer Louise Mann began the interview for this story with a plain yet quietly triumphal statement: ‘This is how I make my living now.’

To achieve his win as Press Photographer of the Year, Nick Moir has not only had to know how to take a decent news photo, but embark upon a deep study of weather, and undergo training as a fire-fighter.

‘As soon as I finished school, I went overseas’, says Jess Brown. In 1998 at the tender age of 18, she was off to Europe. ‘I was using film and not shooting digital. I took a pack of film with me overseas and travelled around Europe. I just travelled and took photos for a year, which was great. I wouldn’t really walk around in my own city and take lots of photos, so it was good to be in a foriegn country where you didn’t have any inhibitions. I really started shooting.’