Way, WAY back in the late 80’s a handful of disenchanted The Cairns Post staff and contributors changed editorial track and published a new Cairns newspaper specifically catering to the northern beach suburbs communities.
The weekly ‘Northern Beachcomber’ became a reality in 1989 produced by the tiny team of Geoff Cooke (Editor), wife Rhonda Cooke (Reception & Admin), Pam Cooke (Typesetter), journalists Cat Atkins (Lindsay) and later Margo Nugent (Zlotkowski) … with myself producing all the photography. (NB … back in those days I was a shy young pup and all my photographs were published under my by-line ‘Sport ‘n’ Life Pictures’ ! )
For three years the ‘Beachcomber’ … Initially printed in Port Douglas … became an integral part of the beaches community and regularly broke stories regarding the colourful residents of the Cairns northern beach suburbs and anything specific to the area.
A thorn in the side of the Cairns Post until in 1992 News Ltd chose to ‘buy’ the ’Northern Beachcomber’ to nullify the opposition. The Post then ran the ‘Northern Beachcomber’ for a short while before closing it.
I must have known something back in those days as I carefully hoarded TWO copies of each edition in boxes under the house ! Coming across them a little while ago I offered a complete set of the newspaper to the Cairns Historical Society, who gladly snapped them up for historical reference and preservation ! They can now be accessed on request (I believe) at the Cairns Museum in the School of Arts building, corner of Lake and Shields Streets.
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.
… 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 !
… this past week I had the very real privilege and pleasure to meet … and photograph … little twenty month old Tobias and his family.
The story of Tobias is heart breaking and, at the same time, miraculous and inspiring. In August 2024 at age of four months he was struck by the meningococcal disease. Within hours of the onset he had been flown from Cairns to Townsville Paediatric Hospital by helicopter, had lost both arms, both legs and twice, very nearly, his life. Paediatric surgeon Dr Harry Stalewski said he had never seen a meningococcal case so severe.
I learnt of the terrible plight and journey of Tobias from a photographer colleague and family acquaintance. A couple of weeks ago Renee Ping arranged an introduction to little Tobias and his delightful mother Katie to discuss the possibility of documenting the heart-rending story. After conferring with husband Steven the couple came to the decision that ‘it was time’. I put them in touch with health specialist journalist Jackie Sinnerton and arranged to make the images to accompany Jackie’s eventual piece.
The ztory has now been published in today’s print edition of The Sunday Mail and also online accompanied by some of the many images I made of Tobias and his family during our photo sessions.
I was fascinated to watch and interact with Tobias to make those many images … and it was truly inspiring to see how he was developing and learning to adapt without the use of limbs. Tobias can now gently grasp a ball, can burst a bubble, loves splashing in water, can sit upright unaided … and more. Most impressive was seeing his obvious thought processes on how to try and make things work.
To say I have a huge soft spot for Tobias is a great understatement !
Mother Katie, father Steven and Tobias’s siblings Zakoa, Hunter and Baylee form a remarkable team, brilliantly guiding and nurturing their little son and brother along a most difficult path. I am in awe …
The top photo is the image that I am most fond of from the hundreds I made of Tobias. However, the paper preferred to go with the other pic that you may see on the screen grabs below of pages 1, 4 and 5.
Oh Yes … the family have to make frequent road trips from Cairns to Townsville for Tobias’s treatment … but their vehicle is too small for all of them. The FNQ Youth Assistance Fund is organising fund raising to finance a larger vehicle. If you can help please donate at … https://www.fnqyaf.org.au/youth-support/donations/ … by selecting ‘Wheels for Tobias’ under ‘Donation Type*’. Thanks !!
… 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 …
… honestly didn’t expect this … great evening at the Sofitel in Brisbane Saturday … made even better by the very welcome announcements that I actually won both the major photography prizes in the 30th anniversary “Clarion Awards” (Queensland’s journalism awards).
However, the eve was tinged with sadness too …
My set of pictures of the life of friend and recently sadly passed away subject … “Millionaire Castaway David Glasheen” … was judged the winner of ‘Best Photographic Essay’, whilst my portrait of David recovering from his heart attack earlier this year won ‘Best News Photograph’. The work was published perfectly and respectfully in the Courier Mail with words by gun scribe Michael Madigan … many thanks for that CM !
Here are the ‘judges comments’ on my work …
Best Metropolitan News Photo … “Brian showed dogged determination to track down castaway David Glasheen after he had suffered a heart attack. Using good old fashioned news sense Brian found his friend David recovering in the Red Cross Rehabilitation Centre in Cairns. The photograph is a strong example of using available resources to capture a portrait. A clever use of light, painting a haunting image of the subject in his frail state.”
Best Photographic Essay … “Brian’s photographic essay of David Glasheen, the millionaire castaway, perfectly captures the unique, and dream-like nature of the man’s life. From taking a mannequin down a tropical island in a wheelbarrow, to beautiful portrait shots that show the impacts of time, the series clearly tells the story of how this man lived and the scars he carries. Brian’s exquisite technical skill, and his storytelling ability is clearly on display in this essay.”
I admit to having reservations when seeing my images of ‘Resto Dave’ … is was a terrible shock to talk to him on the phone in early July, just a couple of days before he succumbed in a Brisbane hospital to the effects of that February heart attack and other complications. He was a truly fascinating genuine character armed with humour, compassion and a zest for life. I recommend a read of his best selling book “The Millionaire Castaway”.
However, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable evening at the Sofitel … a fitting venue to commemorate thirty years of the media awards that celebrate the best of Queensland journalism. This year the event was organised by the Queensland branch of the MEAA … and everyone did a stellar job. Fantastic to make the pilgrimage again to the ‘big smoke’ of Brisbane and enjoy the company of many journalists, photographers and other media colleagues.
Huge congrats to all the ‘Clarion’ finalists and winners … in particular the photography finalist contingent of Adam Head, Annette Dew, Glenn Hampson, Matt Dennien, Kenji Sato and Cairns based Brendan Radke. Below are the images that comprised my winning entries … and David, you are very very sorely missed.
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 …
AAP Magazine has published a beautifully produced magazine featuring the “Portrait” award winning works of 25 portrait photographers from around the planet … from the USA, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, China, Israel, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Italy … and two from Australia … myself … and friend Carole Mills Noronha whose work graces the magazine cover.
My winning image … “100 Years and 3 Weeks – Alf Neal OAM” was accompanied in the publication by two other of my portraits “Millionaire Castaway – David Glasheen” and “Neville Henry – Kowanyama”, under the title “Australians” over a two page spread (see top below).
The hard copy publication really feels more like a book than a magazine … stout card cover and ultra heavy weight paper throughout the 96 pages … beautiful simple layout showing the work at it’s finest … and no advertising whatsoever. A pure pleasure to be included …
… 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 !)
… very happy to be featured nattering to Podcaster and former journalist/photographer Issac McCarthy for … whoa … an hour and twenty odd minutes about photojournalism and my pictorial work over the last several decades. Isaac hosts “How Good Are Humans” podcasts available on Spotify, Buzzsprout and Apple etc … and my little natter with him is his 54th Episode since beginning in 2020.
Isaac entitled this episode “Getting the Shot in Brothels, Refugee Camps and Disaster Zones | Photojournalism | Brian Cassey” … and it can be listened to right here …
Isaac is a terrific talented compere, extremely knowledgable about the media and certainly completes pain staking research on his subjects. In our hour and twenty four minutes and 32 seconds chat Isaac and I touch on the ethics of photojournalism, working and making images in hostile environments, gaining the trust of pictorial subjects, telling stories that inform the planet and ‘keeping the bastards honest’, the stories around several of my favourite images, the future of photojournalism … and much more …
If have you any interest about what I’ve been up to for the last few decades and curious about the ‘realities’ of photojournalism and media photography … pull up a comfy chair (and a couple of glasses of Shiraz or similar) … and relax for near an hour and a half.
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.
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.
… utterly chuffed to win the two major photography prizes at last eves “The Clarion Awards” (Queenslands Media Awards) in Brisbane … Best News Photo for “Alive – Bill & Michell’s Miraculous Escape From Jasper” … & … Best Photographic Essay for “Jasper Brings Once in a Century Flooding”. A terrific evening amongst many media colleagues and friends old and some new. Well worth the trip from the tropics to the big city ;-).
The night really was a reminder that the media industry is still alive and kicking …. the work of the category winners was a real credit to all … and I was extremely gratified to be just a part of it.
Thank You to the MEAA (especially the Queensland branch) for continuing to organise such a great media event.
First image below is my winning Best News Photo … a work that is very close to my heart. Thank You Bill and Michelle from Degarra who put up with me at an extremely fragile time of their lives … to The Australian pic editors Michael Bilbe-Taylor and Milan Scepanovic who entrusted me with a very difficult and complicated assignment … and to gun journo Michael McKenna who did a great job of crafting the story via a very crackly phone line.
The following twelve images is my winning photo essay … made from when Jasper first reared it’s destructive head, through the record breaking rain falls and on to the start of ‘recovery’.
Oh yeah … the judges comments are there too at the bottom.
(Must also mention my medical mate Dr Richard Jackman who managed to get me back out working during the cyclone event after a busted vertebrae incurred during a rain sodden stair fall 🙂 )
Twenty one portraits from around the world were awarded … four winners and seventeen ‘Honorable Mentions’, including an HM for my work “The Yarrick Family of Kunhanhaa”, made on Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The Artist Gallery suggests that their awards “Showcase the photographers ability to turn fleeting moments into timeless works of art. The winners and honourable mentions who have masterfully turned their lenses toward the soul, creating images that inspire, move, and remind us of the stories behind every face.”
The 21 selected winners and honourable mention portraits originated from Australia, Italy, UK, Malta, Spain, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Norway, Germany, Israel, United Arab Emirates, USA, Austria, Mexico and The Netherlands.
Australia was represented three times … congrats to the other Aussie based artist Andrea Francolini who had two in the selection, with my image “The Yarrick Family of Kunhanhaa” being the third.
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 😉 )
Without doubt, the biggest drawcard in Australia for the photographic community is the ‘Head On Photo Festival’ in Sydney.
The annual festival features numerous exhibitions selected from around Australia and the planet … and I’ve been fortunate enough for the last few years to be part of the selection panel that ploughs through several hundred collections of fabulous photographic works to decide what actually ends up on the exhibition walls (or fences!) of Bondi Pavilion and the beach front, Paddington Reservoir Gardens and other venues around Sydney.
The festival also hosts the Head On Photo Awards (Portrait, Landscape and a new one – Exposure), which attracted entries this year from as far afield as Bulgaria, Malta, Greece and Slovenia, to name just four of many.
(NB … I must confess to a little bit of bias … have been a Head On Award winner in the past, a finalist lots of times and an exhibitor on numerous occasions.)
This years collection of exhibition works on display was one of the best I’ve seen. It was excellent to see the work that we agonised to select on a computer screen way back in March, exhibited in the best locations at Bondi, Paddington and more. The same can be said for this years awards … the finalists in Head On Portrait Prize in particular were absolutely brilliant this year.
Head On, however, is not just about awards and exhibitions … it’s the coming together of talented (and newby) photographers from around the world to engage, discuss, swap ideas, learn, celebrate the photographic image and perhaps share a drink or three. Was excellent to catch up with imaging colleagues and friends at a splendid Bondi Pavilion opening eve and across the five days that I could afford to stay … amongst them Mark “Crusty” Baker (who kindly provided luxurious accomodation), Stephen Dupont and the delightful Martina Reys (great Rwanda show you two!), Michael Coyne, Peter Solness, Max Pam, Barbara McGrady, Diana Lui, Marta Soul, Donna Squire, Mike Magee, Simon Harnest, Katherine Griffiths, John Swainston, Max Mason-Hubers, Glenn Porter, Diane Brooks (thanks for the rides !) … and two ‘first time’ Cairns based photographers … the lovely talented Emese Gyalog and new to our city landscape photographer Danielle Jayde. (My apologies to those I may have missed mentioning !)
Of course, all this would not be possible without the amazing tiny Head On team who move mountains to put the festival together … Festival Director Moshe Rosenzveig OAM, Anita Schwartz, Stephen Godfrey, Callum Boland, Charles Mackean and volunteers. Brilliant …
Cairns photographers recognised for their work in the festival this year were the afore mentioned Emese Gyalog and Danielle Jayde, Marc Steiner … and … a certain Brian Cassey 🙂 (no great big deal … this time it was just a semi-finalist in the ‘Exposure’ category with ‘Marilyn Monroe 60 Years On – Bonn‘ 😉 … shown at the festival bottom below.)
To say my 2016 image of asylum seeker “Abdullatif” in detention on Papua New Guinea is good enough to be in the amazing company of the work in this collection is a vast overstatement ( I think that’s right 😉 ).
The collection is chock a block full of truly historic and iconic photographs … images that are embedded in most peoples memories … Nick Ut’s napalm girl ‘The Terror of War”(1972), Joe Rosenthal’s “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima” (1945), Robert Capa’s “Falling Soldier (1936), Malcolm Browne’s “Burning Monk” (1963), Thomas Hoepker’s brilliant “9/11” (2001), David Scherman’s “Lee Miller in Hitlers Bath” (1945) … and … without listing them all … other legendary works by current International legends … Ben Lowy, Ron Haviv, Paula Bronstein, Lynsey Addario and Australian’s Merv Bishop, Stephen Dupont and Kate Geraghty. You can see them all here … https://headon.org.au/magazine/16-photos-that-changed-the-way-we-see-the-world
Then … and it was the shock of my life … at number four … between Ben Lowy and Nick Ut’s startling work … was my pic and the story of “Abdullatif”. Head On described the rationale for the complete set thus … “Photojournalists have captured images that have continued to shape our world to this very day. We are highlighting some of the most impactful of these images, showcasing their history and investigating their continuing legacy.”
One of the nicest surprises of my decades wielding cameras. (If I had been sitting on a chair I would have fallen off it !).
Please don’t miss seeing this amazing collection of fabulous unforgettable photojournalism (even though you likely know them all anyway 😉 ). Thank You Head On Foundation !
I’ve said it eight times before … and now year number 9 !
Under the tutelage of the visual arts teachers at Trinity Bay High School, Cairns … these teen photography students are amazing.
For the past eight years of judging I’ve been fascinated and oft times stunned by the effort and creativity that these high school students put into their annual photographic portrait prize entries.
This year was definitely no exception … and the rivalry and quality of their works were closer than ever. The 58 images they produced ranged from sultry classical black and white portraits to seriously colourful photographic abstract representations … and just about everything in between. Great to see that almost everyone had moved away from the ‘snap’ shot and constructed their entries with great thought, a story line and a connection to their subject … with a dose of photographic skill mixed in.
It took me overnight to make the judging decision … and separating the top three contenders was a torturous task. Eventually I settled on these (below … from top then left to right).
Overall Winner – Jesse Boyle with ‘Lostin’ ‘ … 2nd Prize – Antonia Kaufmann with ‘Shadows of Thoughts’ … 3rd Prize – Zane Thaddeus MacFarlane with ‘Bro Sobbing’ … Highly Commended X 3 – Azuma Said with ‘Echoes of Emptiness’, Maddalena Scalco with ’The Smile of 90 Years of Happiness’ and Jean Paul itembaya with ‘Past Reflections’. The Peoples Choice Award went to Theris Vakaruru with ‘Dallas’.
Jesse’s enigmatic subtle winning portrait caught the eye … and just clung on to it … and he was deservedly presented with a Canon 1500D DSLR with a 18-55mm lens sponsored by Garricks Camera House. (Of note was Maddalena’s ‘The Smile of 90 Years of Happiness’ work. Despite lacking some technicality and compositional skill it was an image that couldn’t help but make you smile 🙂 )
I’ll let you make up your own mind about these great portraits (below) created by the talented Trinity Bay High School students.
You can view all the TBHS students winning works from the past eight years by clicking here…2023 … 2022 … 2021 … 2020 … 2019 … 2018 … 2017 … 2016 …
… very welcome news from Barcelona this morning regarding the 21st Pollux Awards … the prestigious International photography prize hosted by famed Spanish based FotoNostrum Magazine. Even better is that the news involves three of my (at the moment) lesser known works.
“The Last Image of Alf … Alf Neal OAM” has, up to now, been somewhat overshadowed by another earlier image I made of Alf on his hundredth birthday with his great great grandson Kailan … “100 Years & 3 Weeks … Alf Neal OAM” … which has been recognised numerous times around the planet and in Australia.
So it was a gratifying experience to see the portrait of my old mate Alf … made on the verandah of his Yarrabah home in the last days of his one hundred and first and final year … selected as the ‘Winner’ of Pollux ‘People’ category. I know that Alf, if he was still around, would be immensely proud … and I’m sure that his Yarrabah family will be too.
The ‘icing on the cake’ is that two of my so far ‘unsung’ images … “Voices & Bubblegum … Aurukun” & “Surviving Cyclone Jasper … Bill & Michelle” … were both awarded ‘Honorable Mentions’ in the same ‘People’ category … a nice ‘triple’ 🙂 . The ‘Bubblegum’ pic was made at ‘Indigenous Voice to Parliament’ referendum pre-polling in Aurukun, when young Kythie Yunkaporta was more enthralled with the bubblegum skills of Shuntay Marpoodin. The image of Bill and Michelle Dunn was made as they told their harrowing story of survival at their Degarra (Bloomfield) home destroyed in the massive flooding that followed Cyclone Jasper.
The Pollux Awards have been good to me over the years … and this is the fourth year in a row that I’ve been fortunate to be selected as ‘Winner’ of the ‘People’ category (earlier ‘wins’ … 20th Edition here19th Edition here, 18th Edition here ).
One of the nicest things about the Pollux Awards is that the winners works do end up as physical framed photographs on a wall … the very prestigious walls of the FotoNostrum Gallery, Mediterranean House of Photography, in Barcelona, Spain. That will happen from July 2025 … (a nice time to be in Barcelona and Spain 😉 ? ).
Very nice also to be in the good company of my US photojournalist mate and Pulitzer Prize winner, Michael Robinson Chavez, whose work was selected in the Pollux ‘Documentary & Reportage’ category.
You may find all of this years Pollux Awards winners in a special edition FotoNostrum Magazine here … https://www.fotonostrummag.com/21-pollux … my work is on pages 64 & 65, whilst Michael Robinson Chavez’s works are on page 116.
… a really different place and opportunity to share the story of my several decades hefting cameras around various parts of the planet to tell the odd story or two.
My first … (and likely my last 🙂 ) … appearance on a theatre stage, was yesterday when I had the privilege of taking a small part in the Perseverance Street Theatre Company production of the play “Grit” at the JUTE theatre in Cairns.
The premise of the theatrical and musical production is to highlight and tell stories of resilience, determination, regret, positivity … and ‘grit’. It is performed by four talented members … storyteller Fletcher Colfs accompanied by cast members Abby Bowyer, Ben Adams and Sarah Harvey.
My part was to relate the story (with the pre show input of JUTE creative producer Kathryn Ash) of basically my entire life … both pre and post my first ever two shillings and sixpence camera … to tell the stories of the amazing people I have met and photographed over the decades, many in the midst of unfathomable hardship and suffering . Some had triumphed over adversity … others didn’t …
One who did ‘triumph’ was burns survivor and my pictorial subject Carol Mayer (inset in promotional poster below) … whose bravery and fortitude taught me much in the time I knew her before her untimely so so sad death.
All this was voiced with lead actor Fletcher as a prelude to the rest of the show.
The six scenarios during the play were a beautiful mixture of humour and pathos … poignant, uplifting, thought provoking, enlightening, moving and more. A great way to spend an hour and a half …
The show continues it’s travels around Queensland (without my input) next week to Rockhampton and Bundaberg.
