He’s Everywhere … Name is Dominic … !

Dominic Ngakyunkwokka …

Hot of the heels of Dominic’s starring role as the ‘hero’ image on the poster for my “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” Exhibition now showing at The Tanks Arts Centre Cairns (see previous post below) … he’s now also the headline act in two further publications.

Dominic’s image graces the whole front page of the 160th and current edition of the glossy Brisbane magazine “MAP”  (Motivated Australian People) – a great mag published by “purveyors of pop culture”. The same pic also graces the top half of page 15 above an article “A Series of Immortalised Moments” on the subject of the Brisbane Powerhouse exhibition of the “Nikon Walkley Press Photography Exhibition”.

The “Head On Photo Festival’ crew are also using the same Dominic image – once again full page – to promote the just announced “2014 Head On Photographic Prizes”.

The image has really been good for me … and I’m extremely grateful for the patience and understanding shown by Dominic – and,  indeed, the rest of the APN mustering crew – when I rocked up out of nowhere and chose to take their individual portraits as well as the pics of the guys and gals working out bush. I thank them all …

Would dearly like to take the exhibition up ‘home’ to Aurukun where Dominic and all the rest of the crew can take it in … but freely admit that this does present some logistical problems.

My photo of Dominic was also judged a winner in the “2013 Head On Portrait Prize”, a winner in the “2013 Queensland Multi Media Awards” in the “Best Editorial Image/Photograph” category, a finalist in the “2013 Fremantle International Portrait Prize“… and was part of my portfolio that made one of three finalists in the “2013 Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year”.

Below are ‘grabs’ of the MAP mag cover and the Head On ‘Call for Entries’ … (Sincerely hope you’re not that bored with the image yet!!)

Image of  Dominic Ngakyunkwokka  © Brian Cassey

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Wet But Fine Exhibition Opening …

It was raining of course … it is the wet season after all. But that didn’t stop people turning up in droves to the launch of my “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” exhibition at The Tanks Arts Centre in Cairns on Friday evening.

It was brilliant to see so many friends, colleagues, fellow photographers (many of whom I don’t catch up with often enough!), new acquaintances and faces from years long past, brave the elements to attend, share stories and down the odd drink.
Many Thanks must also go to charismatic indigenous leader Bruce Martin who took time out from his manic schedule to open the exhibition.

The Tanks exhibition space is expansive, full of character, versatile … and  wonderful. In addition The Tanks crew of curator Chris Stannard, Olivia, Gio, Belinda and Lisa – have done a wonderful job of curating, hanging and letting the world know about my work.

Spread around the huge space are my thirty two images – fourteen large portraits of the Aak Puul Ngantam crew each on their own floating wall and eighteen prints of the APN mustering operation. It all looks fantastic.

The images in the exhibition were made at the Cape York Peninsula mustering operation whilst working on a story for ‘The Australian’ … and have since, gratifyingly, received some critical acclaim and awards.

If you did miss the opening night ‘launch’ the exhibition will run till March 2nd in tank 4 of The Tanks Arts complex Cairns.

Below are three images of the exhibit at The Tanks – the top two show the character of the space with some of my prints in place, whilst the third is from the opening night celebrations.

ABC Radio was just one of several media outlets to publicise the exhibition and opening eve and you can listen to Fiona Sewell’s great work in interviewing yours truly on the ‘Play’ page of my web site – or alternatively here below …

 

Images © Brian Cassey – Audio courtesy ABC Far North ©

The Tanks APN Exhibition

The Tanks APN Exhibition

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“Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year” …

It’s very hard to pace yourself at a glittering free alcohol media event over five long hours (not including the obligatory ‘after party’) … but that’s “The Walkley’s” for you!

Thursday night at the Royal International Convention Centre in Brisbane was the setting for this years Walkley Awards black tie media extravaganza … and if you weren’t lucky enough to score a ‘rare as hens teeth’ invitation in person it was screened live on ABC TV.

I was fortunate to be selected to attend as one of the three finalists in the “Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year” award … indeed an honour to be so selected from Australia’s fantastically talented press photographer contingent. My contenders for the major photographic award of the evening were the extremely talented Quinn Rooney from Getty Images and Kate Geraghty from Fairfax. I would like to say that I really enjoyed the entire show… but that would be stretching it!  In truth the stress of waiting, waiting, waiting for several hours for the relevant “Press Photographer of the Year” result to be announced wasn’t pleasant … despite the good humoured attention and support of all the Nikon Australia crew – Kylie, Julie, Steve, Andrew et al – at our table. (They even let me play with a brand new Nikon Df to take my mind of it all – very nice camera !)

The end result ? … you can find out ALL the finalists and winners and watch the entire Walkley event on ABC’s iview here at http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/program/78313946 … I’m still far too ‘stressed’!

The fantastic work of all the Nikon Walkley photographic finalists was arrayed strategically around the dining and awards venue for all to see and comment on. Indeed, broadcaster and journalist Mike Carlton (@MikeCarlton01) was moved enough on the night to ‘tweet’ thus – “Australian photographers are brilliant. Tragic that newspapers have punted so many of them”. Political journalist Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) also waded in on #walkleys with her ‘tweet’ – “Seriously media companies – invest in photographers. They reach people our words can’t or don’t. And my iPhone shots are shit.”

If you weren’t there on the big night all the Finalists images can also be found here at http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkleyfoundation/sets/ and my nominated  “Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year” portfolio is here at http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkleyfoundation/sets/72157636407740096/ .

Below is a screen shot of my Finalist portfolio from the Nikon Walkley Press Photography Flickr web site.

The Nikon Walkley Press Photography Exhibition hits the road over the next 6 months or so … and you will be able to catch my work and the brilliant work of all the other finalists at shows in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle and Brisbane … see here for dates and venues … http://www.walkleys.com/photography-events

Images © Brian Cassey

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QMMA’s …

A very enjoyable and bitter sweet evening last Saturday at the QMMA’s  – the “2013 Queensland Multi Media Awards” – which honours the work of members of the media and advertising community from (almost) all of the State of Queensland.

I was fortunate indeed to come away from the evening at Pullman Reef Casino Hotel with two wins (in “Best Sports Photograph” and “Best Editorial Image/Photograph”) – but the highlight was the posthumous induction into the inaugural  “Hall of Fame” of my old mate and advertising legend Bob Hale. Son and friend Ben Hale made a touching acceptance speech … and the memories – and drinks – flowed. Great to share the evening with fine friends and colleagues … and thanks for the hard working event organising committee, judges and sponsors.

All the results from the evening can be found here at http://www.queenslandmultimediaawards.com/winners-2013 (Click on ‘Photography’ etc …)

Below are my selected successful images – “A Win At Last – On Siren” (Best Sports Photograph) and “Stockman” (Best Editorial Image/Photograph). Three of my other images also made the finalist cut in “Best News Photograph” and “Best Photographic Image”.

Images © Brian Cassey

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Wow … Walkley News … !

Completely stunned and shocked but bloody happy to receive the news last evening that my work has been selected as one of three finalists in the 2013 “Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year Award”.

The news was announced in simultaneous Walkley events in Sydney and Melbourne whilst I was watching the tele back home in Cairns … gawd bless Twitter !

Feel humble to have been chosen alongside the other two finalists – and with With Kate Geraghty and Quinn Rooney the competition I’ll happily leave it at that!!

My portfolio consists of ten images and they can be found here at … http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkleyfoundation/sets/72157636407740096/ … whilst all the Nikon-Walkley photographic finalists work may be found here at … http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkleyfoundation/sets/

Many Thanks to the Walkley Foundation and Nikon – and I’m looking forward to the big night Walkley ‘bash’ in Brisbane town on November 28th.

Below is just one image from my  finalist portfolio of ten. Bim Atkinson allowed me to make this image in his home. As a young schoolboy he was serially raped by the head master of his school – a man who continued to abuse children throughout his high profile career in the church up until his death a few years ago. The photograph was made to accompany a story in “The Australian”.

Image © Brian Cassey 2013

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Fremantle Portrait Prize …

Had the pleasure on the weekend of being a guest at the opening eve of the ‘2013 Fremantle International Portrait Prize’ at the Moore’s Contemporary Art Gallery in … uuumm … Fremantle.

An excellent array of the finest examples of photographic portraiture, I was indeed fortunate to have two of my images amongst the 2013 collection – “Stockman” and “Carol – Burns Survivor”.

Enjoyed the evening’s events with photographic colleagues David Dare Parker, Richard Wainwright, Peter Ramshaw and others as we were entertained by a string quartet (nice touch!).

The exhibited work was of an exceptional standard and a testament to the organisers of the Prize which is in only it’s second year. Work from thirty countries around the Planet were amongst the entries which totalled near two thousand and, indeed, the winning photographer hailed from Croatia! The exhibition runs at Moore’s until September 1st. The next ‘Fremantle International Portrait Prize’ will be in 2015.

Below are pics of the Moore’s gallery space and my two images as they were hung – “Stockman” and “Carol – Burns Survivor” (©Brian Cassey).

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Cairns to Sydney to Kuala Lumpur …

An event filled week ! Travelled back to Sydney to take in more of this years ‘Head On Photo Festival’, a bit of the ‘Reportage Photography Festival’, the first ‘Walkley Slide Night’ of 2013 … and … the opening at Global Gallery Paddington of my exhibition “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman”. 

Straight after exhibition opening eve it was off to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia for the exhibition and winners announcement at Galeri Petronas of the “2013 Kuala Lumpur International Portrait Awards”.

“The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” exhibition was obviously a highlight … and Global Gallery was chockers with media photographer colleagues, friends and many others enjoying the ‘hospitality’. Moshe Rosenzveig from Head On kindly arrived to give the opening address.

The exhibition comprised fourteen near metre high prints of the entire mustering crew of the indigenous operated APN Cape York operation … including stockmen young and old, helicopter pilot, cook, junior Jillaroos, teacher … even newcomer stockman journalist Michel McKenna (who made the trip from Brisbane for the opening to admire his ‘visage’ !)

The “2013 Kuala Lumpur International Portrait Awards” was also a fantastic exhibition … well worth the effort and some fantastic work adorning the walls of Galeri Petronas under the twin towers … including my selected finalist image “Roustabout” of APN’s versatile do-it-all guy Perry Ward.

Printed almost two metres high on beautiful canvas and displayed spotlighted on a massive black wall, “Roustabout” certainly had the ‘wow’ factor as you entered the gallery! (see image below). Unfortunately it wasn’t selected as a top three winner. The winning image of a street band certainly was a very special image. Not so sure about second and third selected images tho’!

Below is a pic of the “Roustabout” image as it was displayed in KL … and a couple of pics from the Global Gallery  APN exhibition opening eve in Paddington.

© images Brian Cassey

Ex Cairns Australia pic by Brian CasseyPic by Brian Cassey

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Head On Festival and Portrait Prize …

Travelled down to Sydney for the launch of the five week long “Head On Photo Festival” and the announcement of the 2013 “Head On Portrait Prize” winners.

The Turner Hall at Sydney TAFE Institute was packed to it’s (very beautiful) rafters for the Festival launch, the “Head On Portrait Prize” winners announcement and also the announcements of the new “Head Off Landscape Prize” and the “Head On Momento Photobook Awards”.

Absolutely thrilled when Head On director Moshe Rosenzveig announced that I was ‘Winner of Second Prize’ in the portrait award for my image “Stockman”. I was joined up on stage by Jonathan May who made the amazing winning image and third place winner Matthew Reed.

“Stockman” (Dominic Ngakyunkwokka) is just one image from the series “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” originally made for a story by ‘The Australian’ journalist Michael McKenna (who also features in the series). You can see the entire “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” collection of prints at the Global Gallery in Paddington Sydney from the 29th May till the 9th June, as a “Head On Festival” featured exhibition. Please come along for opening night celebrations and a drink or two from 6pm.

The day after the Global Gallery exhibition launch I’m orf to Kuala Lumpur where another image from “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” – “Roustabout (Perry Ward) – is a finalist in the “2013 Kuala Lumpur International Photography Awards” and will be exhibited at “Galeri Petronas” in the Petronas Towers KL from the 23rd May till 23rd June. Winners announcement is 5pm June 1st.

The exhibition of the “Head On Portrait Prize” winning images and thirty seven other Portrait Prize Finalists can be seen at the State Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney until the 23rd June.

There are galleries of winning and finalist images from the Portrait, Landscape and Book Prizes on the web here at ‘TimeOut’ ,  here at “Fairfax News” and here at “Photojournalism Now”

Here (below) is how my “Stockman” image is displayed in the State Library of NSW – image © Brian Cassey

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“Vignette” Exposure …

One of my images from a past trip to the Torres Strait has been selected to currently feature as the ‘Vignette’ magazine “Photo of the Week” … pretty pleased with that !

‘Vignette’ magazine is an International quarterly focusing on photographic practice from all around the planet. The aim of the mag is to ‘Inspire International Imagery’ and it features work from a diverse range of photographic disciplines by  some of the Worlds most prestigious and talented photographers.

The image is of a young girl – Hedda – the daughter of a performer, backstage at the indigenous ‘Hidden Republic’ concert on Thursday Island off the tip of Cape York. It had previously been selected as a Finalist in the ‘Moran Photographic Prize’.

Below is a grab of the ‘Vignette’ web site page featuring the image.

Image © Brian Cassey

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“Roustabout” Selected in KL …

Very pleasant news that one of my “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” portrait series has been selected as a Finalist in the prestigious “5th Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards”. The selected Finalist image is a portrait of Perry Ward – the “Roustabout” of the APN Cape York crew that are mustering thousands of head of stock out from the indigenous township of Aurukun, northern Australia.

The announcement of the Winner and place getters will be made at Galeri Petronas, KLCC,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday 1st June 2013, from 5pm – and all the finalist images will be exhibited at the gallery from 23rd May to 23rd June.

Indeed an honour to be involved in such an enterprise … and I’m also pleased for the great and accommodating members of APN Cape York who allowed me to make the image.

Below is the Finalist image – small size – of Perry, the “Roustabout” – the entire “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” portrait essay can be found here.

image ©Brian Cassey

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6th Photography Masters Cup …

Just been advised that one of my images “Homeless in Seoul” won an ‘Honorable Mention’ in the ‘Photojournalism’ category of the “International Color Awards – 6th Photography Masters Cup”.

Nice …

The image was made at Seoul Railway Station South Korea and shows a child peering at a homeless man preparing his cardboard box bed for the night in an underpass at the station. The homeless at the station are embroiled in a battle with state owned railway operator Korail who have evicted several hundred homeless from the railway precinct.

Two of my other images – “Chook” (an image of Kowanyama elder ‘Chook’ with his grand children) and “The Seventh Second” (an image of indigenous rodeo rider Elroy Josiah eating the dirt) – were also Nominess in the ‘People’ and ‘Sport’ categories.

The complete list of winners and nominees can be found here at http://www.thecolorawards.com/6thphotoshow/index.php

The winning and nominated images are also shown below …

© Images Brian Cassey

Soulless in Seoul - © pic by Brian Cassey

Australia - Kowanyama - 07/06/11.

NPPA “Best of Photojournalism” Win …

About this time last year – on a whim, a wing and a prayer – I sent a couple of images into the US based ‘National Press Photographers Association’ – “Best of Photojournalism” awards … and promptly forgot about it. As you do …

No ‘you’re a winner’ (or even ‘placegetter’) email arrived so you just get on with life …

Then … just last week I got a Facebook message from photojournalist colleague Ted Mcdonnell who had arrived back from a gig in Timor Leste and gone through his pile of mail where he found his new copy of the NPPA mag “News Photographer”. There gracing the inside cover (see below) he found my portrait of beautiful burns survivor Carol Mayer and the news (to me) that it had WON the “Portrait” category for ‘A single photograph that captures a unique aspect of a local figure’€™s character and personality. This should not be a public figure who is regularly covered in the news, but rather a local heroine, hero, or community member’.

Carol certainly falls easily into that category … !  (and the nicest part is she gets as excited as I do with the successes her portrait has achieved – Nikon Walkley, Kellicutt International US, International Photography Awards (IPA), Head On Portrait Prize, International Color Awards, International Loupe Awards, Queensland Multi Media Awards etc … )

Pretty stunned about the news .. despite the fact it was announced a few months ago … but, if I’m honest, a bit miffed that I wasn’t told at the announcements. I emailed NPPA and a reply from Thomas Kenniff reckons I should have got an email as all Winners did.

The moral is ? Try and remember to check awards and competition results … just in case!

Below is the inside cover page of the NPPA magazine “News Photographer” with the result – a click on that will take you to the NPPA site.

Carol Mayer image © Brian Cassey

 

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United Nations Media Peace Awards …

… announced yesterday … a selection of my work from “Life in a Coffin: Hong Kong” has been chosen as one of the three Finalists in the  “2012 United Nations Media Peace Awards” for Photojournalism. The other two finalists in the photojournalism category are Stuart McEvoy from Melbourne and Lee Giriffiths from Western Australia.

The Winners will be announced at a presentation dinner attended by United Nations big wigs and media in Melbourne on October 26th to coincide (almost) with United Nations Day (Oct 24).

Really excellent to be selected in the final three … although Stuart and Lee’s work will both provide tough competition for the prize.

One of my selected images is shown below … whilst the entire “Life in a Coffin: Hong Kong” essay … and the story … can be found on the site of my photojournalism collective ‘fotostrada’ here.

© Image Brian Cassey

News from Sweden …

Good news from Sweden. In a post a few weeks ago I mentioned that one of my images was selected to represent Australia in the “2012 World IFAJ Star Prize for Photo Excellence” (grand title isn’t it!) to be announced in Stockholm.

The news just in is that the image – of Atherton Tablelands grazier Shane O’Brien of Kinrara Station in the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi and published in The Australian on the 14th February 2011 – was ajudged the Winner of the ‘People’ category of the awards which focus on images of agriculture. Excellent news …

The image first won the  ‘People’ category Queensland State selection … then the Australia wide selection … and now it has come out tops from images from around the planet. Judges included US Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Mary Chind. (Thanks Mary!)

I have to be brutally honest and say that the standard of overall entries wasn’t that great … but I’ll take it!!

The overall winner over the three categories of ‘People’, ‘Production’ and ‘Nature’ was an image of a bouncing spring lamb by a photographer from Ireland.

My ‘People’ category winning image of grazier Shane O’Brien is shown (again) below ©Brian Cassey

“The Seventh Second” at the Clarions …

Queensland’s media congregated at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre last Saturday eve to recognise their collective achievements over the past twelve months … courtesy of the MEAA and The Walkley Foundation.

Approximately 300 attended “The Clarions” and celebrated awards across the spectrum of the states media – TV, radio, online and print. As is usually the case when the media congregate – the drinks flowed rather well.

Half way through the evening I was summoned to the stage to collect the award for “Best Sports Photograph” for the image I made last year at the Mareeba Rodeo – “The Seventh Second”.  A little pleased about that!!!

Here’s the caption for the image –

“It’s The shortest ride in sport. Eight seconds is all it takes to record a ‘ride’ in the rodeo saddle bronco event.

Indigenous Bull riding specialist Elroy Josiah was a fraction of a second from ‘scoring a ride’ at the Mareeba Rodeo in far north Queensland when … at the 7 second mark … he gave his mount ‘Arrow’ a little too much respect and rein !

It was all that ‘Arrow’ needed and … sporting an dastardly evil grin … ‘Arrow’ dispatched Elroy and he was eating the Mareeba dirt.

For Elroy, who hadn’t been on a horse for 5 years as he usually is content to just ride bulls, you’d think it would have been a salutary warning. But Elroy is ‘hooked’ on the pain! “I love the riding,” he says, and adds, “I love feeling the pain, too. I’m not just saying that. Pain is my middle name.”

Then Elroy couldn’t wait to jump back on a bull … ”

The image was published as a double page spread in The Australian Weekend Magazine “Heart of a Nation” feature section with great text by journalist Ross Bilton.

The “The Seventh Second” image (© Brian Cassey) is below …

 

Nikon Walkley Slide Win …

Took a quick trip to Brisbane on Tuesday to attend the Nikon Walkley Photographers Slide Night at the Powerhouse.

An excellent evening was made even more so when my slide piece “Life in a Coffin: Hong Kong” was voted by the majority of the assembled throng (which numbered about 70) as the Winning Entry.

The event attracted twenty multimedia movie entries from a talented bunch of photojournalists on a diverse range of subjects including ‘seagulls ‘n’ chips’, ‘disaster in Bangladesh’, ‘Anzacs’, ‘trawlermen’, ‘actors’ and ‘Shanghai fashion week’ … so to be selected as the best by one’s peers is, indeed, an honour.

Thanks to Nikon I left with a prize of a Nikon 1 V1 camera and a couple of lenses.

“Life in a Coffin: Hong Kong” consists of a collection of still images from my recent visit to Hong Kong to document the plight of the twenty percent and rapidly increasing poor in a city that is arguably the richest on the planet.

You can see the complete Winning presentation below .. albeit at a lower resolution than the original.

Images and Movie © Brian Cassey

Finalist in the Clarions …

In gratifying news just announced two of my entries have been selected as Finalists in the “2012 Clarion Awards” – Queensland’s prestigious annual awards for the media industry.

The Finalist entries are “The Seventh Second” in the ‘Sports Photography’ category and “Soulless in Seoul” in the ‘Photographic Essay’ category.

“The Seventh Second” is an image (below) made at the Mareeba Rodeo in north Queensland, whilst “Soulless in Seoul” documents the plight of homeless in Seoul the capital of South Korea (one image from the set is shown below).

Winners of all the various categories across the media spectrum will be announced at a spectacular dinner event, organised by the Queensland MEAA, at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on the night of Saturday the 25th of August.

Images © Brian Cassey

A Win … and a Third … in the US …

Just received the great news that TWO of my images featured in last nights presentation of awards at the “2012 Kellicutt International Juried Photo Show” in California. My image of Carol Mayer – “Carol – Burns Survivor” – was judged the overall Winner (very gratifying!), whilst my image from Udaipur India – “Rajasthan Dancers” gained a Third place!!!

The theme of this years show was “Vibrant” and it is indeed an honour to have two images selected by the judges from a large contingent of amazingly vibrant and accomplished works from around the World.

The jurors made some very nice comments in regards to my images … and I will ensure that Carol gets to see the comments made about the image of her below …

From juror Kate Jordahl – “Difficult to look at, but as the eyes are the windows to the soul, we see a soul strong and loving, sad and knowing. We are drawn into the tragedy and triumph of this women’s life. The photographer truly connected with Carol and allows us to see her with empathy and understanding.”

From juror Scott Atkinson – “At first I looked away from this print, but it’s impossible to escape the spirit in those eyes! The face, like a windswept landscape, is now burnished to a swirling patina by both time and the camera’s selective focus. The slightly smudged lipstick adds a touch of normal. But it’s those eyes, those sharply focused blue eyes, that show the vibrant world that lives behind the skin. They’ll follow you throughout the gallery.”

From juror Michael Collopy – “The deep blue calm of her eyes accented by her red lips provides the viewer a direct connection to her apparent triumph over tragedy that is written in her textured face. Her eyes follow you throughout the room. This is a visually arresting photograph that is beautifully and simply achieved. It has a profound result. I liked the fact the photographer chose natural light to illuminate this beautiful portrait. It is a tight crop that continues the honest, revealing and direct dialogue between the photographer and subject. The stunning result conveys the trust and connection that the photographer has achieved.”

Kate Jordahl also commented on the Rajasthan pic – “Movement and color join in a literal dance of light and life. This image captures the swirling dancers at the peak moment of this event showing us as only as photography can what we can feel but not actually see with our eyes.”

Seems like I get a very nice trophy (image below) and a little cheque … and the exhibition of the 45 Finalist images will continue at the Coastal Arts League Gallery in Half Moon Bay CA  before the exhibition moves to the Calumet Gallery in San Francisco in August.

Would have been very nice to have been at the awards presentation in the U S of A on Saturday night … c’est la vie …

Below the pic of the trophy are my Winning and Third placed images – “Carol – Burns Survivor” and “Rajasthan Dancers” – © Brian Cassey

 

Off to Sweden …

Unfortunately its not me off to Sweden but one of my images! Several posts ago on this blog I mentioned one of my images was selected as the winner of the ‘People’ category of the “2012 Queensland Rural Press Photography Awards”. Since then the image has gone on to represent Queensland in the Nation wide “2012 Australian Star Prize for Rural Photography” where it also won the “People” category. Cool.

The image will now whisk it’s way to Sweden to represent Australia (along with two other Aussie representatives in the “Production” and “Nature/Landscape” categories) in the “2012 IFAJ WORLD Star Prize for Photo Excellence”. (I kid you not – Grand Title!)

Winners will be announced in August at the ‘International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress’ at Lake Mälaren just outside of Stockholm.

Lucky Image … !

It was made in the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi at a cattle property on the Atherton Tablelands and features stockman Shane O’Brien attempting to clear felled trees (that killed many of his cattle) from his farm. The Australian published the image on the 14th February 2011 and the text of the story can be found here.

Below is another look at the winning image …

© Brian Cassey

Sam and Chook Make Semis …

Well … certainly not the hundred grand first prize (arguably the Worlds’ richest photographic prize) … nor even the two thousand buck runners up cheque like last year – but – just a leetle pat on the back in the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize.

Two of my images – “Sam the Barber” and “The Legacy of Chook” – have just been selected as semi-finalists in the prestigious awards this year. Not up to the standard of the past two years with consecutive finalist selections – but rewarding nevertheless.

The Moran is an immense and most sought after award and it attracts a monumental amount of entries of a stunning standard on the theme “Contemporary Life in Australia” with an emphasis on Australians going about their day-to-day lives within their environment.

I wish the finalists all the best and look forward to the announcement of the winning $100,000 recipient in Sydney mid July.

My two selected semi-finalists entries – “Sam the Barber” and “The Legacy of Chook”- are reproduced below …

© images Brian Cassey

 

Two in Show …

Just received the news that two of my images – “Rajasthan Dancers” and “Carol – Burns Survivor” – have been selected as ‘Finalists’ in the United States based “2012 Kellicutt International Juried Photo Show – Through A Lens: Vibrant!”.

My images, along with other finalists from the US, the UK, Australia, India, Hong Kong, Canada and Puerto Rico, are part of the hanging exhibition that will be shown in galleries around California.

Prize winners will be announced during an awards ceremony at the Coastal Arts League Gallery in Half Moon Bay CA on July 7th before the exhibition moves to the Calumet Gallery in San Francisco in August.

You can see all the selected finalists images at … http://www.coastalartsleague.com/kellicutt/2012/HangingInShow/index.html … and I’m in some very good company. The selected photographs seem to cross almost all photographic disciplines and styles and will provide a fascinating exhibition.  Just a pity I probably won’t be there to see it!

Below I’ve posted the two images selected as ‘Finalists’ – “Rajasthan Dancers” and “Carol – Burns Survivor”

Images © Brian Cassey

Rural Press Awards …

… not a biggie – but gratifying nevertheless. Received the news that an image I made in the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi has been selected as the winner of the ‘People’ category of the “2012 Queensland Rural Press Photography Awards”. It will now be a Queensland representative in the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists “2012 Australian Star Prize for Rural Photography” and if successful there it will be an Australian entry in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Photography Awards.

The image (below) of Atherton Tablelands farmer Shane O’Brien was made at the end of a day of clearing trees felled by Yasi’s power. Falling trees killed hundreds of head of Shane’s stock and the felled trunks made traversing and operating his cattle farm impossible. Despite the quick response to cyclone damage on the coastal strip of north Queensland, farmers inland from the coast on the Tablelands received little or no support.

It was published in The Australian newspaper on February 14th 2011 … full text of the story here.

Image © Brian Cassey 2011

 

Nikon-Walkley Comes to ‘Brissie’ …

Thanks to the Walkley Foundation, the MEAA and – not least of all – Nikon Australia, I travelled ‘down south’ to Brisbane last week to attend the opening of the 2011/2012 Nikon-Walkley Photographic exhibition at the Powerhouse – and the Australian Institute of Professional Photography “Hair of the Dog” conference.

It was excellent to attend the Nikon-Walkley opening eve and to catch up with colleagues and friends – and an honour to give the opening floor talk and to receive an embarrassingly over the top introduction by MEAA Federal Secretary Chris Warren ! Thanks Chris!

It was also an honour to have my image “Carol – Burns Survivor” exhibited amongst some truly fantastic work from Australia’s best press photographers.

(Something I was not so excited about was the ABC radio and TV interviews I was required to do – a learning curve.)

The Powerhouse is a fantastic exhibition space oozing character, all the works were all very well lit … and the staff were super attentive and efficient.

The exhibition runs to February 27th and is very well worth a visit.

Below is an iPhone pic of my image nestled in the Powerhouse’s beautiful exhibition space.

Image © Brian Cassey 2012

 

A Little Chat at the Walkley Media Conference …

Last week I was fortunate (and honoured) to be invited to be a part of the Walkley Media Conference – “What’s the Story? Inventing the Future” – in Brisbane. Felt rather humble to be part of a great list of speakers that included the ABC’s Mark Scott, Greg Hywood (CEO of Fairfax Media), well known humourist and journalist Wendy Harmer – and many distinguished others – all of whom, I’m sure, had more experience in this ‘speaking’ lark than I !

My session was scheduled for three and a half hours … (and went for four! – didn’t realise I could talk that long!) and touched on the changes in media photography over the last decades, the state of play today, how to handle the difficulties encountered and what we may expect in the future. A mix of about two dozen journalists, photographers and students patiently listened and asked a myriad of thoughtful questions over the session. I thank them for their attention ! (‘Thanks’ is also due to Nikon’s Quentin Visentin who demonstrated the new Nikon 1 kit to the audience.)

My congratulations and ‘Thanks’ also to the MEAA and the Walkley Foundation for a fantastic conference!

Of course … my highlight of the Brisbane visit was the 2011 Walkley Awards presentation at the Convention & Exhibition Centre on Sunday eve. A brilliant night to be a part of – very gratified to receive the recognition of the Nikon Walkley Best Portrait Award for my image  ‘Carol – Burns Survivor’ – and to share the evening with talented press photographers Glenn Campbell,  Craig Greenhill, Stuart McEvoy, Rob Maccoll, Nev Madsen, the Getty guys, 2011 Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year Phil Hillyard … as well as many journalist and industry colleagues. Great Night!

Whilst searching for material for my conference session I came across one of the very first photographs I ever took … at the age of about ten or eleven … and my first ever camera that made that image – a bakelite VP Twin camera that was bought (begrudgingly by my parents) from Woolworths in the Isle of Wight for two shillings and six pence ! (about fifty cents). I’m NOT telling anybody how long ago that actually WAS … but below I’ve posted the image (of the Cunard liner “RMS Queen Elizabeth” in the Solent UK – I was a boy into ships and trains at that stage!) and a pic of the camera. I used both images at the commencement of the Walkley Conference session.

© Image by Brian Cassey (a little while ago!)