On Saturday eve my portrait of highly respected Australian artist Tony Clark … made in his tin shed studio at Mission Beach whilst he prepared works for his massive “Unsculpted” exhibition in Melbourne last year … was announced as Runner-Up and ‘Highly Commended’ in the photographic portrait prize. (Top image and third image below.)
The biennial Percival Portrait Prize announcement opening eve at the historic Perc Tucker Gallery was packed to the rafters with invited attendees and a terrific event. The prize has grown massively in stature since its inception way back in 2007 and now attracts art works from Australia’s most talented creatives. The prize is split into three sections … portrait painting, photographic portraiture and animal portraits.
This year the three prizes were judged by very prestigious art experts. The photographic prize was judged by the delightful Serena Bentley … vastly experienced Senior Curator at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra (bottom pic at Saturdays opening). Many Thanks, Serena, for selecting my work “Unsculpted – Australian Artist Tony Clark” to a second place. (It was pleasure being interviewed briefly by Serena during Sunday mornings ‘Judges Talks’.)
The painting prize was judged by renowned art historian, critic and curator Sasha Grishin, who took pains to declare the Percivals painted works more favourable this year than the Archibalds ! Respected art lecturer Ron McBurnie had the fun job of selecting the best of the animal portrait entries.
I also had a further exhibit on the Percival walls. A photographic portrait I’m very fond of featuring friend and subject David Glasheen (who we have sadly recently lost to this World), entitled “Millionaire Castaway”, was also selected as a finalist. (Image 2 below.)
Tasmanian Cassandra McMahon beat me to the $10,000 acquisitive Percival Photographic Portrait Prize with her great work “Empty Vessel”, whilst Elena Churilova collared the painting portrait prize of $40,000 with her work “Smartphonisation”. ‘Animals’ winner was Catherine Stewart with “Eye On The Weather”.
A great and rewarding weekend and well worth the visit to our ‘lesser’ neighbour down the coast 😉 .
Thank you to the Townsville City Council who do an amazing job administering the very special awards … and to the great staff of the Perc Tucker Gallery (special mention for curatorial assistant Chloe Lausen – in 3rd pic below installing the exhibition – from the Townsville Bulletin) … to the judges (in particular photographic judge Serena – bottom pic at the opening) … not forgetting the many artists, friends, family and interested parties who made the weekend so special.
(Oh yes … satisfyingly, it’s now five times in a row that my work has been featured amongst the Percival finalists … and you may see my previous selected portraits here … 2024, 2022, 2020, 2018.)
… delighted to see one of my favourite works once again getting a showing across the other side of the planet … this time in Valencia Spain as part of the “Rostros – The Sea of Cultures” exhibition hosted by Valencia Photo Fest.
‘Alf’ is just one of the forty nine portraits by forty five artists from twenty six countries around the Globe that are now on the walls of two historic beautiful buildings in the centre of Spains third largest city. The exhibition was ‘inaugurated’ in front of large crowds at the two venues on Monday … the October Contemporary Culture Center and the Public Library of Valencia … both wonderful locations.
Very gratified to have my ‘Alf’ image “100 Years & 3 Weeks – Alf Neal OAM” amongst the 49 works chosen from last years massive 270 portraits shown at the Art-Icon “Faces” exhibition in Arles France.
Luckily I have a good photographer friend who moved home to Valencia from the United States fairly recently and he took time out to send me some images of my displayed portrait … Thank You, Michael Robinson Chavez ! ( … he’ll likely tell me orf for this ,,, but he’s won a Pulitzer … twice 😉 ). Curator at ValenciaPhoto, the lovely Vilma Dobilaitė, chipped in with a few images too … and was a pleasure to communicate with.
In case you can’t actually get to Valencia (I can’t 🙁 ) before the exhibition closes on the 1 st of September you can see the entire collection of the 49 portraits here … https://valenciaphoto.es/rostros-el-mar-de-culturas/ (My “100 Years & 3 Weeks – Alf Neal OAM” sits at #8 on the list … and the page does have an English language option :- ) . )
Just returned from a journey to the UK and Europe where a large part of my time was spent exploring the many brilliant exhibitions of photography by some of the planets most accomplished talents, past and present.
So, it was a no brainer to make a little side trip from a journey to the UK to explore Tallinn’s version of ‘Fotografiska’. Once again … ‘Fotografiska’ got it very right … brilliant displays of top photography. The 50 years of work by ‘Anton Corbijn’ portraying many of the World’s greatest musicians and entertainers across the decades, was truly remarkable.
In contrast to the Corbijn work was a stunning emotional exhibition by Swedish photographer Emilia Bergmark-Jiménez ‘To Be Born and to Give Birth’. The very intimate work (oft graphic) provided a wonderful insight into the birth of humans. You may see what most struck me at ‘Fotografiska’ Tallinn in the top four images below … Nick Cave and the Eurythmics by Corbijn, two works by Bergmark-Jiménez and the gallery in the snow.‘ Fotografiska’ now has galleries in Berlin, Stockholm, Shanghai and Tallinn. If you are in the vicinity of any I urge you to visit.
In London a priority was to visit the exhibition ‘Lee Miller ‘ at the Tate Britain and managed to get a ticket for one of the last sessions on closing day. Magnificent …
Well over two hundred works documenting the life and work of Lee Miller … which Tate accurately described as one of the 20th century’s most urgent artistic voices … adorned the walls of the historic gallery. Legend photographer Man Ray played a part in the exhibit with his stunning early photographs of his muse Miller … whilst you discovered her evolution as a photographer though the genres of fashion, portraiture, eroticism, surrealism, landscape, documentary, magazine and eventually hard hitting war photography. Her images from the German concentration camps are particularly confronting and important. Lee Miller was so much more than a photographer sitting in Hitler’s bathtub !
My images from ‘Lee Miller’ are fifth to eighth below … a metres high portrait of Miller greets visitors at the Tate exhibition entrance, my favourite image of Miller by Man Ray (cropped by Miller herself), Millers image of a Burgermeister’s daughter who committed suicide as allied forces approached Leipzig in 1945 and Millers image of the execution of Prime Minister of Hungary Laszlo Bardossy in Budapest 1946.
Onto another legend … New York born photographer Richard Avedon died in 2004 but his portraiture works are timeless. The Gagosian Gallery in London are hosting an amazing exhibition of his portraits ‘Richard Avedon : Facing West’ until early April. The beautiful contemplative gallery in Grosvenor Hill is displaying (and selling if you have the $s) twenty two of Avedon’s portraits not seen since their debut in 1985, curated by his daughter Caroline Avedon. The highly detailed works were made on large format film in the late 1970’s and early 80’s and are spectacular ! Below in places nine and ten below are two of favourites in the show … ‘James Kimberlin, Drifter, New Mexico, 1980’ and ‘James Story, Coal Miner, Colorado, 1979’. Great chance to visit if you are currently in London.
I was very fortunate to catch up with UK photographer friend/colleague, little pocket rocket Jennifer Forward-Hayter, whilst in London. Jen was recently a winner in the prestigious ‘Portrait of Britain’ award and was soon off to Melbourne on another assignment. However we managed to spend a great day together at the Victoria and Albert Museum rummaging through the museums various photography exhibits and libraries.
Main exhibit of several showing was ‘American Photographs’ … over 100 years of images from ‘Merica by photographers including Walker Evans, Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson (how’d he git in there ?) , Cindy Sherman and many more. A very comprehensive collection of Americana. We also scoured the photography library … 20000 books, journals and manuals which members (Jen is one) may access at any time. How good is that ? At image eleven below is a startling self portrait by Cindy Sherman from ‘American Photographs’.
Back to another Gagosian Gallery later in the visit to take in Nan Goldin’s stunning, sometimes confronting, ‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ … all 126 photographs from Goldin’s genre-defining photobook of the same name published forty years ago. The mass of images on the walls makes for a time of study and reflection … very effective. Images below thirteen and fourteen show one of the gallery walls and perhaps my favourite image from the collection.
Now … more Lee Miller ! Strangely the tiny Lyndsey Ingram gallery in London chose to also present an exhibition of Lee Miller’s wonderful work entitled “Lee Miller : Performance of a Lifetime” … thirty four works, which as far as I could see, were also included in the Tate Britain exhibition. However, without the Tate’s crowds the quiet little gallery was much more conducive to the quiet contemplation of Miller’s works. At image fifteen below are two of my favourites on the wall … both made in war damaged locations … ‘Model Elizabeth Cowell 1941’ and ‘Imgard Seefried Opera Singer 1945’.
Phew … sorry this is so long … it would have been longer If I’d had more time!
Images … from top … Nick Cave by Anton Corbijn at Fotografiska Tallinn Estonia, Eurythmics Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart by Anton Corbijn at Fotografiska Tallinn Estonia, two works from “To be Born and to Give Birth” by Emilia Bergmark-Jiménez at Fotografiska Tallinn Estonia, the Fotografiska Gallery in the snow in Tallinn Estonia, two images of Lee Miller from “Lee Miller” at Tate Britain London, two works by Lee Miller from “Lee Miller” at Tate Britain London, two works from Richard Avedon at the Gagosian Gallery, Cindy Sherman self portrait from “American Photographs” at the V&A, two images from Nan Goldin’s “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” at Gagosian and finally, two images from “Lee Miller – Performance of a Lifetime” at the Lyndsey Ingram Gallery.
… just in ! Delighted to learn that two of my portraits have been selected amongst the ‘Finalists’ in the prestigious “Percival Photographic Portrait Prize”.
The biennial prize … held in conjunction with the “Percival Portrait Prize” for painting … is one of the major portrait events in Australia and attracts top artists in both creative expressions from around the country.
All the finalist works will be exhibited on the expansive walls of the stately Perc Tucker Regional Gallery in Townsville, with the exhibition launch eve and announcement of the prize winners on the 23rd of May. In a strange scenario the painting prize winner receives a $40,000 prize whilst the photographic portrait winner only warrants a $10,000 award. (not to be sniffed at though 😉 ). Looks like a little trek to Townsville for the eve …
It’s the fifth time in a row that my work has been selected amongst the Percival finalist mix … and you may see the previous selections here … 2024, 2022, 2020, 2018.
My two selected portraits in this years prize … both of which have received accolades in other awards and you may already be aware of … are “Unsculpted – Australian Artist Tony Clark” (top) and “Millionaire Castaway – David Glasheen”(bottom).
You may view all this years Percival painting and photographs portraiture finalists here.
… really cool to once again be selected as a ’Top 25’ Finalist’ in the International Dodho Photography ‘Fine Art’ Awards … and soon to be published in their wonderful hard cover beautifully produced volume “Fine Art – The Best Photographs”. The work selected in the collection is one I am fond of … “Rain Over Black Mountain” … which I was lucky enough to make a few years back from an aircraft just before landing in Cooktown.
The pic (top) has a little bit of history too …
It was selected as a ‘Finalist’ in the highly prestigious (but now sadly no more) ‘Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize’. It was also a feature of my latest little exhibition “Achromatic” at ‘The Hound’ bar in Edge Hill late last year.
I’m a bit of a fan of Dodho’s support of photographers’ work in their awards and their great books … they seem to attract a really high level of imagery and do a great job of featuring beautiful images from some of the best photographers from around the planet on their website and in their publications. It’s the third time in a row I’ve been fortunate to feature in these ‘Fine Art’ awards and book. The 2024 and 2023 selected images are also here and very different in subject and concept to this years … “Mother Africa – Aurora” (below left) and “Bonn – Asking the Question” (below right).
Currently have nine Dodho volumes containing my images across the variety of Portraiture, Color, Fine Art and Monochrome … and this latest will make it a nice round ‘ten’ 🙂 … Thanks Dodho !
Firstly … the Head On Photo Festival soon arrives in PERTH for the first time. Secondly … one of the featured exhibitions in the new Perth Festival is “Paper Tigers” … the significant exhibition (and book) of the work of Australian based photojournalists co-curated/collected by Head On’s Moshe Rosenvzeig OAM and myself !
Thanks to all our contributing “Paper Tigers” photojournalists … Alex Coppel, Andrew Chapman, Angela Wylie, Ashley Crowther, Barbara McGrady, Ben Bohane, Brendan Beirne, Brian Cassey, Chris Hopkins, Craig Golding, Craig Greenhill, Darrian Traynor, Dave Tacon, David Dare Parker, David Gray, Dean Lewins, Dean Sewell, Delly Carr, Eddie Safarik, Edwina Pickles, Gerrit Fokkema, Glenn Campbell, Glenn Lockitch, Grant Wells, Helga Salwe, Ilana Rose, Jaime Murcia, Jake Nowakowski, Janie Barrett, Jessica Hromas, John Donegan, John French, Justin McManus, Louise Kennerley, Luis Ascui, Mark Crusty Baker, Martine Perret, Max Mason Hubers, Meredith O’Shea, Merv Bishop, Michael Amendolia, Michael Coyne, Moshe Rosenzveig OAM, Nic Walker, Nick Moir, Nicola Bailey, Noel Butcher, Paul Blackmore, Penny Stephens, Peter Solness, Richard Wainwright, Rick Stevens, Rob Maccoll, Robert McFarlane, Simon O’Dwyer, Stephen Dupont, Sylvia Liber, Tim Page, Tobias Titz, Tracey Nearmy.
Then there’s the sad bit 🙁 … I won’t be there ! Have had a trip back to Blighty and Europe planned for some time for the entire month of February !
… lovely to have a couple of images … one new and one old … selected by “Atlas of Humanity” and to be exhibited in Paris later this new year.
“Atlas of Humanity” is an international imaging project based around the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity and uses quality photographs to document cultural and ethnic diversity around the planet.
My two selected images … “Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman – Dominic” – & – “Gama Warrior Woman – Tsumeriyah” … will feature in the event “ImageNation Paris 2026” at the Galerie Joseph Le Palais, one of the most beautiful galleries in the very heart of the Marais quarter central Paris just a few steps from the iconic Centre Pompidou. The exhibition … scheduled during Paris Photo Week in November … will feature my Dominic portrait framed large on the walls … whilst the Tsumeriyah work will be projected and online.
My portrait of Dominic Ngakyunkwokka as he returned to camp from an Aak Puul Ngantam mustering operation out from Aurukun, Cape York Peninsula, was made some years back and won a Head On Portrait Prize.
… my exhibition “Achromatic” sadly ended at The Hound Small Bar Edge Hill a little while ago now … however … only three images from my “Cold War” series, made in the atmospheric little lounge, were able to be featured amongst the dozen black and white works that made up the collected image selection.
So … as a big Thank You to my patient and wonderful “Cold War” talent … fellow photographer Emese Gyalog and Will Davey … I’m taking the opportunity to post more of the work, belatedly, here !
The catalyst for the “Cold War” series of images was the superb work of director Paweł Pawlikowski in the making of the gorgeous black and white Polish film “Cold War” (2018). The photography and light in the film is truly beautiful … and the emotion charged movie is arguably up there as my all time favourite.
In my images paying tribute to the film, Emese elegantly played the part of ‘Zula’ (Polish actress Joanna Kulig) and was supported manfully by Will as lead character ‘Wiktor’.
Thanks once again to Ana, manager at The Hound, who brilliantly facilitated both my “Achromatic”exhibition and a whole evening to make the “Cold War” image set. (Of course, … The Hound is always a wonderful venue for drinks any time !)
A shout out too to Cass from Cass Elmer Makeup, Cairns for her work.
A truly brilliant launch eve at the Bondi Pavilion to open this years festival … great large crowd of attendees and some lovely photography, awards and prizes, fat hot dogs and wine … perfect.
Was in Sydney for the festival in my capacity of featured exhibition exhibitor, award finalist, panelist … and more. This year the festival hosted well over a hundred exhibitions of photography … and I was thrilled and fortunate that one of them was my exhibition of work “Up North – Tropical People”. My featured collection … shown in prime position in the tranquil contemplative beautiful surrounds of the Paddington Reservoir Gardens … consisted of images of many of the characters that make Cairns and the tropical north home. Thanks Head On …
Also in the Reservoir Gardens complex was the collected works selected as ‘Finalists’ in the Head On Exposure Awards … and I was again delighted to be selected amongst their number with my image “Crush of Humanity – Dahi Handi – Mumbai”, made on an Indian adventure some years back.
The quality of the work in all this years Head On Awards … Portrait, Landscape and Exposure … was truly very special. Honoured to be amongst the list.
The winner of the Exposure Award was a remarkable, powerful, tragic and thought provoking image entitled “Faith Amidst Genocide”, made in war torn Gaza by Turkish photographer Abdelrahman Alkahlout.
Bondi Pavilion and the Bondi Promenade hosted many awards and exhibition collections for thousands of beach goers and tourists to take in … including a great exhibition of sport images (by many of my friends and colleagues) to celebrate the Walkley Awards 70th year … “Sporting Moments Through the Lens”. Pretty classic, that one …
One of the less obvious highlights was somewhat of a festival coup … the screening (first in the southern hemisphere) of the film “The Stringer”. Somewhat controversial, the film documents the authorship disputation of the iconic Vietnam war photograph “The Terror of War” (more commonly referred to as “Napalm Girl”). The screening also saw a live appearance by one of the films main characters and ‘witness’ … former Associated Press Vietnam pic editor Carl Robinson … who verbalised his account of the proceeding fifty years ago. Fascinating stuff … but far too complicated to go further into it all here. (“The Stringer” launches on Netflix later this month … ).
Now for a shameless bit of name dropping … just some of the co-panelists, photographers, award nominees, festival attendees and thoroughly nice people that I engaged with over my five days at the festival in Sydney … Dave Gray, John Swainston, Kate Geraghty, Glenn Lockitch, Judith Nangala Crispin, Paul Blackmore, Tegan Sadlier, Michele Aboud, Sebastian Giunta, Tim Levy, Jess Prescott, Bronek Kozka, Pia Jessen, Guy Templeton, Fiona Bowring, Grace Costa, Birgit Neiser, Anastasia Trahanas, Dianne Brooks … and many many more … AND … of course … the Head On crew that made it all happen … Moshe, Anita, Stephen, Paula and all the others involved in keeping the wheels turning. Thank You !
When travelling I do make a point to research any photographic exhibitions showing … and outside of Head On in Sydney I found a couple worth visiting at the State Library of New South Wales … “Merv Bishop: Close Up” (Merv made that iconic image of Vincent Lingiari and Gough Whitlam with red dirt running through his fingers) and “PIX: The Magazine that Changed Everything” (brilliant nostalgic exhibition exploring the fantastic photography in the publication that spanned thirty four years of the twentieth century). Both shows an added bonus to the Sydney visit …
… not my every day work … but very pleased to have a photographic piece on the wall in the important “Sex and Politics” exhibition in Paris France … opening this evening 13th November !
The exhibition description supplied … “Sex and Politics” is a contemporary photography exhibition taking place in Paris from November 13–16, 2025, which coincides with Paris Photo. The show, located at the Bastille Design Center, explores how sexuality, desire, and power intersect in photography. It features artists whose work addresses themes like the political nature of sexuality, the body in culture, and digital intimacy. “Sex and Politics” explores the intersections of sexuality, representation, and power in contemporary photography. The exhibition features artists whose work engages the body, desire, and the cultural ideologies that shape them.
Fortunately I had one image that I felt fitted the bill … and Danila at Art-Icon agreed.
I made the photograph of delightful Cairns girl Bonn Marie a couple of years ago. The rationale was to revisit the impact that the “Red Velvet” images of infamous actress Marilyn Monroe back in 1949 made in a building a sexual revolution in the 50’s.
2022 marked the 60th anniversary of the death at 36 of Marilyn … the planet’s greatest ever sex symbol . There were countless photographs made of her during a far too short career as an actress and centre of massive unrelenting attention. What I aimed to portray was an image of ‘Marilyn’ in the vintage style of the mid last century when she infamously captivated audiences around the World. The image mirrors the work of US photographer Tom Kelley, who originally shot those infamous “Red Velvet” photographs before her acting career took off. Tom’s image didn’t receive much attention until Hugh Hefner selected it as the first centrefold in the very first edition of Playboy Magazine in 1953.
Marilyn Monroe’s Playboy centrefold was historically significant, influencing the portrayal and public acceptance of the female form in a ground breaking way, shattering norms and redefining the place of women in society. The image was a pivotal element in Playboy’s goal to define sex as a socially acceptable subject and provide a new outlet for female sexuality. . Kelley’s image played a key role in shaping 20th century history, spawning a new reality of female sexuality and a sexual revolution, whilst catapulting the subject of feminism into the political arena. Female empowerment was on the march …
Will be eternally grateful to Bonn for her stunning portrayal and interpretation of an historic photograph that changed so much … Massive Thanks, Bonn.
Also like to sincerely thanks Danila and Slavica from Art-Icon for inviting me to exhibit.
… some unabashed self indulgent promotions and, well, recent updates regarding my work :-).
Firstly … … can now reveal the image that was selected as a ‘Finalist’ in the prestigious Perth Centre of Photography portrait “IRIS Award” (see top below). My selected work “Unsculpted – Australian Artist Tony Clark” was kept confidential until last Friday eves exhibition opening event.
It’s the fourth time in a row that I have had works selected and exhibited as a prize finalist in this bi-annual award ( see my earlier ‘finalists’ from 2023, 2021 and 2019 ).
PCP describes the portrait prize thus … “Embracing unrestrained approaches to portraiture, the Award celebrates works of nuance, raw emotion, and personal connection — revealing the essence of human relationships and lived experience, whether in love, joy, desire, distance, or disconnection. We are invited into the shifting constellations of human sentiment, a space for reflection and dialogue on intimacy and identity in contemporary life.”
The PCP “IRIS” exhibition of the thirty finalist portraits runs from the 4th to the 18th October at Cheap Tongue Gallery, Walyalup (Fremantle) Tuesday–Friday 10am–3pm. If you are in ‘The West’ I hope you can take it in … 🙂 .
My latest exhibition in Australia’s premier photography festival … “Up North – Tropical People” … has now been confirmed. The work, pictorially portraying the wonderful inhabitants of the northern tropics of Australia, will grace the tranquil rustic walls of the Paddington Reservoir Gardens, Sydney from the 8th to the 30th November … and is free for everyone who wanders into the unique venue (second from top).
Lastly … this post is getting a bit long … very happy to receive a ‘finalist’ recognition for a black and white version of my “Millionaire Castaway – David Glasheen” image in the ‘People’ category of Australia’s 2025 “Mono Awards” (bottom image below).
Have just had the great pleasure once again … for the tenth year … of judging the annual Trinity Bay High School photographic Portrait Prize … and what a show it was.
In the intervening years I’ve been fascinated and oft times stunned by the photography produced by this schools visual arts students … a testament to their dedicated and enthusiastic teachers. Each year the newest crop of students step up and produce both thoughtful and quality portraits making the winners selections a difficult task. This year was certainly no exception …
Ultimately I selected the work “Hood Rat” (top below) by Tyquon Prasad O’Brien as this years winner … a beautifully composed and produced portrait that spoke of the seeming fragility of being a teenager in today’s world. Tyquorn was presented with a Nikon Z mirrorless camera kindly sponsored by Camera House.
Just behind Tyquon’s work was Sujan Rai’s portrait of subject Paula Moana Schwertfeger channeling “Taylor Swift” … a technically brilliant portrait based on a ‘Swiftie’ album cover. Sujan was presented with a polaroid camera. (More on album covers below … 🙂 ).
Also recognised were two Highly Commended portraits … “Twins” by Nyota Asumani Lufugula and “Motown Vibes” by Keanu Sudiana … great works both. I also found myself drawn to an emotive and different portrait on the wall by Lillian Orr entitled “Our Last Sunrise”. Something resonated with me and it turned out that the back story to the image was both emotional and very personal. It certainly deserves to be recognised.
The new ‘Junior’ category was won by Eva Nomotu for a nice portrait of her mother … ‘Peoples Choice’ went to Ally Payett for the ‘Wolf’ portrait … and the ‘Staff’ winner was Virgil Gill’s work “Kilth”.
Which brings to this years new innovation … a special project posed to the students to visually recreate music album covers ! Using photography and editing software the students created around sixty ‘takes’ on original CD covers … many technically great, some highly amusing and collectively a fantastic show. (see bottom image below for part of it). I selected the diptych by Aniisa Idai as the best in show, but in all honesty all the works were really all highly competent and highly entertaining ! (Especially liked ‘Kiss’, ‘The Group Fire’, ‘Fake it Flowers’ and, of course, ‘Amy Winehouse’ !)
The work presented at the show is a testament to the amazing talents of TBHS visual arts teachers … Janelle Williams, Caroline Mudge, Luke Marsden, Clair Lloyd and Melanie Tuxworth … the students are indeed lucky to have you. Take a bow …
You can view all the TBHS students winning works from the previous nine years by clicking here … 2024 … 2023 … 2022 … 2021 … 2020 … 2019 … 2018 … 2017 … 2016 …
… delighted to announce my new exhibition of photographic works … “Achromatic” … at the beautiful atmospheric surrounds of “The Hound” bar, Edge Hill from the 17th to the 29th September.
The exhibit is my first ever collection of purely black and white photographic works … blending in with the theme of this gorgeous little whiskey/cocktail bar and celebrating its milestone first anniversary.
The definition of the title “Achromatic” … ‘free from extraneous colours, possessing or involving no hue’ … and the collection demonstrates how reducing a photograph to black and white emphasises contrast, form, and texture, allowing viewers to focus on composition and the interplay of light and shadow without the distraction of colour.
The photographs in the collection are varied and include, landscape, portraiture, photojournalism and more … and also includes three images made at “The Hound” as a tribute to the beautiful Paweł Pawlikowski film “Cold War”.
The exhibition is tailored specifically for the “The Hound” in conjunction with the amazing and motivated bar manager Ana Belen Hernalz … and I also owe a massive vote of thanks to fellow photographer Emese Gyalog and Will Davey who played their parts beautifully in the “Cold War” images.
Sadly I’ll be working in the Torres Strait when the exhibition first opens … but on return the plan is to organise a photographers eve and/or a closing event at the “The Hound” … very likely on Thursday 25th September. Put it in your electronic diary !
… fabulous to be part of a major portrait photography exhibition in Arles, France … with my work “100 Years & 3 Weeks – Alf Neal OAM” exhibited over two and a half metres high overlooking the majestic Rhone River bank.
‘Alf’ wasn’t on his own … the river side walls were covered with scores of large images by the best portrait photographers from around the planet which made up the Art-Icon exhibit “Faces” (“Visages”) …. a major draw card in the just concluded 2025 Arles International Photo Festival (Rencontres d’Arles).
Sadly unable to travel to France for the show, It has been my real pleasure to vicariously enjoy it via the many photographers, both “Faces” participants and festival guests, who were lucky enough to ‘be there’ and nice enough to post images of the works very literally ‘on the walls’.
Good friends, Head On Photo Festival director Moshe Rosenzveig OAM and Pulitzer winner Michael Robinson Chávez, were attending the festival in Arles and took time out to make and send me pics of the exhibition and my ‘Alf’ work … whilst many of the “Faces” artists in attendance also splashed images around social media for those unable to get there ( See images below 🙂 ).
There is also a physical pictorial book of the “Faces” portrait exhibition in the works.
Once again I’d like to thank DanilaTkachenko and Slavica Veselinovic (@shavi_veselinovic) from Art-Icon for their tireless work creating this massive exhibition of poraiture and taking it to the World.
… Yay ! Great News … selected as one of three Finalists in the “Kennedy Awards” … “Outstanding Portrait Photography” category. The prestigious awards describe themselves as “a truly independent, national celebration of the best Australian journalism … the Australian media’s night of nights”.
The black tie awards presentation dinner is in the very plush surrounds of the Ballroom, Royal Randwick, Sydney on August 15th.
Sounds very flash … and yeah … will be packing the ‘whistle ’n’ flute’ and winging it down to Sydney for a couple of (likely dangerous) days meeting up with many photographer and journalist friends and colleagues.
You’ve likely seen my selected finalist image before in earlier posts ( here, here and here ) … and it’s described below so I won’t bombard you with it again.
… blimey … FORTY years ago as a young pup I was awarded my first photo prize as the (highly unexpected) winner of the “Australian Sports Photo of the Year” !
Sponsored by Kodak and Adidas in 1985, it was the inaugural edition of the awards celebrating Australia’s best sports images with a very large cash prize, a weeks holiday on the Gold Coast and photo product for the lucky winner … me ! 🙂 .
The announcement and prize presentation was televised from Melbourne as a part of the “Australian Sports Star of the Year” awards. I had to buy a suit and tie (and SHOES) to attend 😉 !
It was a massive shock to win, especially as the other two finalists were staff photographers from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age (who weren’t too pleased that a little ‘nobody’ from tiny Cairns had pipped ‘em ).
The winning pic (below) of gun Cairns skier Steve Hook mid slalom on Trinity Inlet Cairns was made on film with a Nikon FM2 and a squeeze focus Novoflex 200mm lens. (I was long a big fan of the squeezey focus Novoflex glass … 200, 280, 400 & 600mm.)
My win was a catalyst for lots of interest from the news media and picture editors … and, in effect, was the precursor to the expansion of my photography into more challenging and rewarding press work and photojournalism.
Many Thanks to Steve Hook, brother Howard and the others of the Cairns waterski fraternity of the time. Big Thanks also to John Croucher of the Cairns Yacht Club who nagged me incessantly to enter into a photo prize for the first time.
(Nb … if you fancy water skiing on Trinity Inlet in this day and age the crocodiles would make short work of you !)
… SO nice ! … very happy to be announced a winner in the 22nd International Pollux Awards with my image “Millionaire Castaway – David Glasheen”. Fifth year in a row I’ve had the honour of winning the major Pollux gong in People … and each time also awarded extra Honourable Mentions as well :-).
My portrait of 82 year old Restoration Island castaway and former business tycoon David Glasheen will be exhibited on the walls of the new Mediterranean House of Photography (formerly the FotoNostrum Gallery) in Barcelona, Spain in the first quarter 2026.
I made the portrait of David following his discharge from hospital after earlier suffering a heart attack. He plans to return to life on isolated Restoration Island when fully recovered.
Very sadly the exhibition of my work “A Photographer’s Life – Part 3 – Portrait” on the walls of the gorgeous new Mulgrave Gallery on the Cairns Esplanade has now come to an end.
An epic opening eve back in late January followed by the six week run of the exhibition saw scores of viewers and fantastic feedback from visitors from around the planet and Australia (including many from the cruise ships that regularly dock in Cairns).
If you were one that couldn’t/didn’t visit the exhibition during it’s ‘showing’ but are still keen to see what it was all about … or just fancy your own tangible memento of the exhibition … you can still get your hands on your personally signed hard cover limited edition volume featuring all the portraits that were on the walls. The book “A Photographer’s Life – Part Three – Portrait” is now available via the ‘Shop’ on my web site at … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/shop/category/books/ … where you may also find my other Limited Edition signed books available. (HINT: If you are a Cairns ‘local’ or close by please just send me an email () requesting your personalised copy and I’ll hand deliver it to you without any postage/shipping charges saving you $$$’s 🙂 )
Huge Thanks to curator Chris Stannard and the all the rest of the fabulous dedicated team at Cairns Galleries. To Head On Photo Festival director Moshe Rosenzveig OAM who flew from Sydney to open the exhibitions. Amazing ! Also to Collie Jacobs for the image (top) below of the gallery entrance with me spoiling the pic. Second image below is the cover of the book, followed by a couple of pics of the pages inside.
Not an extinct flightless bird, Dodho publishes “Dodho Magazine” … in their words “one of the most influential online contemporary photography magazines, committed to discovering and promoting the best photographers around the world”.
So … was excellent to again be selected in the “Dodho Fine Art” awards and see one of my favourite images … “Mother Africa – Aurora” … grace the wonderful Dodho large format hard cover fine art awards book.
This was only the second edition of the fine art awards and pleased to say that another of my images … “Bonn – Asking the Question” … was selected in the inaugural awards last year (see second image below). Dodho now also hosts other awards each year … and I also have had work selected … twice each … in their “Portrait Awards” and “Color Awards”. Getting quite a nice little collection of fine award photo books !
Dodho really do do a fine job of promoting a great variety of International photography. Do look out for them …
… pretty stoked that my image “Aurukun – Generations” has been selected and listed for sale by the prestigious Duncan Miller Gallery in the United States.
The gallery and their web portal Your Daily Photograph (https://www.yourdailyphotograph.com) specialises in the sale of “important classic and contemporary photographic works of art” … and are the owner of the largest collection of vintage photographs on the West Coast of America. They have subscribers and potential purchasers in 75 countries.
You may see the work on their YDP site here … http://eepurl.com/i829Xw My work is apparently in very good company … in the recent past images by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andreas Gursky, Richard Misrach, Andre Kertesz, Edward Burtynsky and other photography legends have been offered for sale on YourDailyPhotograph.
The portrait of Aurukun Wik elders Silas and Rebecca Wolmby with their great grand children Shalona and Keola was made outside their house in the Cape York Peninsula indigenous community. It has featured numerous times in awards across the last few years … arguably the most stella being ‘sent into space’ and projected above the planet courtesy of the British Journal of Photography “Portrait of Humanity” awards … and published in the book collection of the same name.
My first sale at Duncan Miller Gallery was back in 2012 with my “Rajasthan Dancers” photograph, made in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India in 2011 (image below).
It was a brilliant and amazingly well attended evening.
Moshe Rosenzveig flew up from Sydney to perform the official exhibition openings under the evenings very threatening skies … and also joined me the following day hosting our artist/curators talks.
It is the first time that “Paper Tigers” has been shown outside of Sydney … and it was a real pleasure to see the sixty works by Australia’s wonderful photojournalist community on the expansive walls of the Court House Gallery … including my 2016 Nikon Walkley Portrait Prize winner “Abdullatif – Beaten Asylum Seeker” (pic 5 below 🙂 ). Was a real (lengthy and sometimes complicated) pleasure to work with Moshe to put this significant collection together. The exhibition includes many examples of Australian photojournalism that are historic and helped shaped the face of the country. VERY well worth a visit and a long long look.
My exhibition of ‘Portraits’ is a logical extension of my two earlier exhibitions … A Photographer’s Life Parts 1 & 2. Part One was exhibited in The Tanks Arts Centre in 2017 … and Part Two in the Court House Gallery in 2021. Together they documented not only my involvement in photography from a very early age and across the decades, but also the changes in photojournalism and the media environment. Part Three demonstrates the move more to portraiture from the more traditional and difficult to obtain (and more expensive) pure photojournalism. It also contains several of my fondest and most emotional images. Great to see some of the images projected the size of a house too !
“Word on the Street” is the product of my connections over the years with Trinity Bay High School and their visual arts students and teachers. I have judged and presented their annual photographic portrait prize for near a decade and have many times provided the students with class room talks and street walks where we explored photography and photojournalism. The catalyst for this particular exhibit was a chat with Cairns Galleries curator Chris Stannard (left in image 4). We mentored the students in photojournalism and encouraged them to produce work whilst charging young cadet journalist Isaac Colman with the task of writing their stories. A very rewarding and successful exercise …
Must, must … hugely thank Chris Stannard and all at the galleries staff (Andy, Narelle, Jilara, Laurence etc etc) who worked so hard to put these exhibitions together … Moshe for his time, expertise, words, camaraderie and attendance … the visual arts students and teachers from TBHS … my wonderful subjects (Vale Alf, George S, George C and Desley) … and all who taken the time out to be there on the opening eve or have subsequently walked through the gallery doors !
Also grateful to Charlie McKillop at ABC Radio who very nicely interviewed me on exhibition opening morning for her ‘Drive’ segment. You may listen to that interview here if you have ten minutes and forty seconds to spare.
I do hope to have some fascinating ‘360 degree’ videos of the exhibitions very soon.
In pics below … Mulgrave Gallery entry to “A Photographer’s Life – Part 3 – Portraits” and “Word on the Street” during an accompanying musical event – featuring my image “The Kids of Ali Curung” … my exhibit image “George at the Bus Stop” projected at dusk … some of my portraits on the walls of the Mulgrave Gallery … Cairns Galleries Chris Stannard at the Court House entry to “Paper Tigers” … my work :Abdullatif – Beaten Asylum Seeker” in the Court House Gallery “Paper Tigers” collection … projection of my work “Veronica – Where Home Brew Kills” late on opening evening … lastly, Head On’s Moshe Rosenzveig (right), myself (left – a VERY rare pic), friends from the Cairns photographic community Shaz Spannenburg, Peter Rossi, Charmaine Heyer, Polly Fenton with (rear) Robert Gray from Brisbane … at the Conservatory Bar ‘after launch’ ‘do.
Was a Friday lunch time when I saw a distinguished man sitting quietly at the Cairns Central bus stop. Said ‘Hi’ … we exchanged pleasantries and I asked ‘George’ how far away his bus was … the board said eight minutes … and if I may make a quick portrait. George was fine with that so I raced back to my car a block away to grab a decent camera. We chatted very briefly whilst I made a few frames and it turns out that George was, in fact, Yirrganydji Elder Dr George Skeene OAM.
Of course, the bus arrived early and George told me his info was on the web … and off he went. Our interaction lasted a very pleasant six or seven minutes …
Fascinating to find Dr George on the web and learn the details of his stellar career. George grew up in Aboriginal reserves in Cairns and made it his life’s work to document his Yirrganydji cultural heritage.
I presented him with a print of his portrait whilst he was undergoing treatment at Cairns Hospital late last year. That same portrait also features in my new exhibition opening next Friday at the Mulgrave Gallery. George joins others on that exhibition wall that are no longer with us … and I will pay tribute to all of them at the opening. It will be emotional …
Don’t think I’ll ever forget that memorable fleeting bus stop meeting with George … and was devastated to hear of his demise from his daughter just over a week ago. Thank You George … you will be very sorely missed.
Bill & Michell’s emotional image post Cyclone Jasper flooding was selected for the Bronze Award in the Editorial category of the Budapest International Foto Awards … and also in the top images list of the Documentary category of the Capture Awards and featuring in the new Summer edition of the print magazine.
Also in the Budapest awards, it was really gratifying to also see “Little Tuna” get a mention (an Honourable one – spelt here with a ‘u’ 😉 ) … the first time my portrait of “Little Tuna” proprietor Kate Lamason with one of her ‘family’, has been recognised in awards. The portrait was made in the office of Kate’s highly successful Australian caught tuna business in Cairns and producing the pic left her work place more than a little damp.
Accompanying Bill & Michelle in the Capture Awards were two of my images “George at the Bus Stop” (George Skeene OAM) and “Bubblegum & Voices” (Kythie Yunkaporta discovering bubbles in Aurukun) in the People & Portrait category. Both have been mentioned in previous awards.
Then … on Christmas eve the beautiful new Dodho book “Color” arrived in my post office box. The hard cover, large format, nicely printed volume showcases the winners and top works from the 2024 “Color Awards” … and included my portrait “Generations- Aurukun” of Aurukun Elders Silas and Rebecca Wolmby with their great grand children Shalona and Keola. Dodho do do lovely books 😉 .
So … what does one do on a Tuesday night in November ? Last Tuesday I made a flying 30 hour visit back to Sydney to attend the media industries ‘night of nights’ … The Walkley Awards … at the International Convention Centre (ICC).
The catalyst for the lightening short visit was the inclusion of my work (stills, video and drone) in the Courier/Sunday Mail team documentary production “Prayed Upon: A Real Life Hand Maid’s Tale” which was selected as a Finalist in the ‘News – Current Affairs – Short Film’ category of the awards.
Our team … comprising Kate Kyriacou, Greg Stolz, Rhylea Millar, Natalie Gregg, Melanie Pilling, Anna Caldwell and myself … were up against works in the category by co-finalists 60 Minutes and the ABC. Our teams work told the story of a frightening ‘cult’ based on the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland.
Was the first time I’ve had the privilege to be a finalist in the Walkley Awards outside of the pure ‘photojournalism’ Nikon-Walkley categories side of things … so that was a little different.
Very kindly, Nikon Australia’s marketing manager Kylie Dredge arranged a seat at the Nikon tables for myself alongside my photography friends and colleagues and the Nikon crew. That was a blast !
Obviously there was much ‘celebrating’ to do. The Nikon team led by Kylie duly obliged and made sure we did so well into the next morning. Congrats to all my mates and colleagues … winners and finalists … the Walkley’s and the MEAA … and thanks to all at Nikon. (It’s been a pleasure to use Nikon’s fabulous products for many decades … they really do so much to support the photojournalists in the industry.)
Oh Yes !! Back to our ‘Current Affairs’ finalist selection. Sadly we were beaten to the pen nib winners trophy by the ’60 Minutes’ entry, but that didn’t stop our Queensland team celebrating just being in Sydney for a fabulous eve amongst the very best of Australia’s media.
(NB … it’s not often my dinner suit gets an airing 😉 )
