| Brian Cassey Photographer Cairns Australia

Head On … Remarkable Photo Fest …

November 14, 2025November 13, 2025

... just returned from a fabulous (and full on) few days in Sydney at the 2025 Head On Photo Festival.

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 …

Images … from top … “Up North – Tropical People” in the Reservoir Gardens (top two), Exposure Award finalist “Crush of Humanity – Dahi Handi – Mumbai” in Reservoir Gardens, Walkley 70th Anniversary Sport imagery exhibit on Bondi Beach, “The Stringer” and former AP pic editor Carl Robinson. All images © Brian Cassey except “The Stringer” imagery © Associated Press.

2025 Head On Photo Festival - exhibition "Up North - Tropical People" by Brian Cassey at Paddington Reservoir Gardens Sydney 8th to the 30th November 2025

2025 Head On Photo Festival - "Crush of Humanity - Dahi Handi - Mumbai" - finalist in the Head On Exposure Awards exhibited at Paddington Reservoir Gardens - finalist image by © Brian Cassey. Exhibition open 8th to the 30th November 2025

2025 Head On Photo Festival - Head On exhibition '𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘯𝘴', an exhibition celebrating seven decades of the Walkley Awards for excellence in Australian journalism - - at Bondi Beach Sydney 7th November 2025 Image © by Brian Cassey

2025 Head On Photo Festival - screening of the film "The Stringer" - first in the southern hemisphere - at the festival, Bondi Pavilion Sydney 9th November 2025 — “Terror of War” image (top) ©Associated Press

2025 Head On Photo Festival -screening of the film "The Stringer" - first in the southern hemisphere - at the festival . Main character and witness in the film former AP picture editor Carl Robinson is hugged by a member of photographer Nguyen Thành Nghe's family.Image © by Brian Cassey - at Bondi Pavilion Sydney 9th November 2025

IRIS, Head On, Prix de la Photographie, Analog Sparks & Mono … Awards and Exhibitions …

October 11, 2025October 7, 2025

… 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 overall winner announced on Friday was ‘Sisterhood’ by Su Cassiano. Congrats Su !

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 … 🙂 .

On to November and the Head On Photo Festival for two pieces of nice news …

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).

The judges at Head On have also selected one of my works … (that has to remain anonymous for now) … as a ‘Finalist’ in the festivals “Exposure Awards”. My selected photo will be in the ‘Exposure’ exhibition also displayed at Paddington Reservoir Gardens from the 8th to the 30th November and also free. All the award winners will be announced at a gala awards presentation at the Bondi Beach Pavilion on the eve of Friday the 7th. It’s always a really great event … !

Huge thanks to Moshe Rosenzveig OAM and the Head On Photo Festival team.

On to overseas now … and the news that TWO of my photographs were awarded ‘Bronze’ awards in the prestigious Paris based 2025 “Prix de la Photographie” (PX3). The awarded works are … “Millionaire Castaway – David Glasheen” (Press/People) and “Kids of Ali Curung” (Portrait) … (both below).

Exciting … but arguably more exciting was the recent announcement that an image I made several decades ago was selected as a ‘Silver’ award winner in the 2025 “Analog Sparks International Film Photography Awards” (fifth image down). The black and white film photograph of slalom water skier Steve Hook “On the Edge” last won me an award … the “Kodak Adidas Australian Sports Photograph of the Year” … exactly forty years ago in 1985 when I was almost a baby ! 🙂 . Pretty happy with that 🙂 .

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).

You may find more details of these on my website at … www.briancasseyphotographer.com/awards .

Images © Brian Cassey

IRIS, Head On, Prix de la Photographie, Analog Sparks & Mono … Awards and Exhibitions … … some unabashed self indulgent promotions and, well, recent updates regarding my work :-). Images © by Brian Cassey

Dahi Handi & Australian Photography Magazine …

July 31, 2023March 5, 2020

It’s taken a while to happen … but finally very pleased to see a double page spread in the latest edition of Australian Photography magazine showcasing an image I made at a Hindu Dahi Handi event in Mumbai … and my story of how this image came about.

The pic was made back in September ’18 on a working visit to Mumbai which coincided with the annual festival of Krishna Janmashtami … one of the most important festivals in India which celebrates the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna, one of the most widely revered gods of Hinduism.

At once a religious celebration and a sport (it was classified by the government as an adventure sport in 2014), Dahi Handi is performed the day after Lord Krishna’s birthday every year on what seems like almost every street in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Teams of up to a hundred young ‘Govindas’ form human pyramids in an attempt to reach and smash a pot … the ‘Handi’ … filled with yoghurt and suspended tens of metres above them. The event is based on the legend that a baby Lord Krishna used creative ways to steal milky treats which were supposedly hung high out of reach.

Two India based good friends … S Anand Singh from Varanasi and Mumbai based former pic ed Srienivas Akella … thankfully joined me as we navigated Mumbai’s manic rail system across town to one of the best Dahi Handi venues. The pyramid building (bottom image) was breathtaking and not without incident … but I kept coming back to an image I made of a ritual performed by one of the teams. One of the Mumbai media photographers passed on a tip to watch out for this ritual performance of togetherness and team work before commencement of their pyramid build. The image was made from the fourth floor balcony of an adjoining residential block. Many teams around the surrounding streets got into serious pyramid building and pot smashing … but only one team seemed to perform this ritual.

The full story and the image itself across the fold can be seen in the Australian Photography March edition available at newsagents across the land … (or you may be able to just about make out the words on the magazine pages grab below 🙂 )

My Thanks to Australian Photography editor Mike O’Connor for the run.

Images © Brian Cassey, & publication Australian Photography magazine

Image of Dahi Handi in Mumbai published Australian Photography magazine - 'Behind the Lens' ... image by Brian Cassey

Dahi Handi - Hindu festival image made in Mumbai by Brian Cassey, Cairns Australia based photographer

Happenings in Perth, India … and the UK …

July 31, 2023November 14, 2019

A lot of ‘goings on’ recently with exhibition openings in Perth, a rewarding ‘road trip’ in India, a bit of recognition from ‘Budapest’ … and an image on the walls at the Royal Photographic Society in England.

Travelled to Perth (and Fremantle) last month for two exhibition openings at two events … the ‘Fremantle International Portrait Prize’ (FIPP) one week and the ‘IRIS Portrait Awards’ at the Perth Centre for Photography the next.

Satisfyingly, both included personal works … ‘Tomotaro on the Block’ and ‘Generations- Aurukun’ in the ‘FIPP’ … and just ‘Generations – Aurukun’ in the ‘IRIS’. Both great opening eves … first time for me in the ‘IRIS’ collection, but third time in the mix for the ‘FIPP’. Nice also to have a good opportunity to spend a little time in the West and catch up with photographer colleagues Richard Wainwright, Roger Garwood, Johannes Reinhart, Peter Ramshaw and Justin Ma… and also sparkling Nikon rep Julie Kimpton.

From Perth it was four flights to Mumbai (including a quick overnight stopover in Little India Singapore) where I met up with friend and former photo editor at the Indian Express, director of Solaris Images … and all round good bloke Srienivas Akella. ‘Srini’ had organised flights for the two of us to Raipur in the state of Chhattisgarh where I had identified one story in particular that I was keen to work on.

Srini has extensive knowledge of his home country and had also searched out a few other possible pic stories to fill any ‘blanks’ in covering my main objective. As it turned out we managed three stories over six days … my main story (which stretched over three days and involved twenty four hours of driving through Chhattisgarh – all will be revealed when the story and pics are placed and published) … pics of two (apparently of five) of the surviving full body tattooed ‘Ramnami’ – a low caste sect that once endured having the name of their god Rama etched over their entire bodies … and a continuation of my earlier ‘Typewriter Wallahs’ pic essay (this time in the city of Raipur) on the men (and woman) of India who persist in working with (and repairing) ancient manual typewriters.

The weeks work culminated back in Mumbai on a big Diwali celebration night of fireworks, colour and food with Srini, his family and his very pleasant community. Thanks Srini !

Also received great news … an email from ‘Portrait Salon’ stating … “Dear Brian, We are delighted to tell you that our judge, Peter Dench, has selected the attached image (‘Tomotaro on the Block’ … yeah that one again) to be included in this year’s Portrait Salon selection. This year, ‘Portrait Salon’ will be exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society in Bristol, from 21 – 28 November. It will then travel up to Harrogate to be part of the Photo North Festival, from 30 November – 2 December. The images will be presented both as a slideshow, and in print.”

Of course … I am stoked …

UK based ‘Portrait Salon’ is a sort of a ‘Salon des Refusés’ and solicits work that doesn’t make the winners cut of the monumental National Portrait Gallery (London) ‘Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize’ each year. Now in it’s 9th annual edition ‘Portrait Salon’ arguably shows more interesting work than the ‘Taylor Wessing’.

‘Tomotaro’ certainly has been good for me … as well as the ‘Portrait Salon’ and ‘FIPP’ mentioned above, it has also been recognised in the Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA), the Moscow International Foto Awards (MIFA), The Australian Photography Awards (APA) and the 12th International Color Awards.

Not far behind, ‘Generations – Aurukun’ has featured in the ‘IRIS’ and ‘FIPP’ mentioned and also the 2019 Portrait of Humanity and The Australian Photography Awards (APA).

Also at the end of October both of these images were announced ‘Winners’ in their respective categories (Editorial Sports and People) in the inaugural 2019 Budapest International Foto Awards (BIFA). Nice news to arrive home in Cairns to …

Images below © Brian Cassey … as follows from top … ‘Ramnami’ Maherttar Ram Tandon at his home in Churella Village, Chhattisgarh, India. Maherttar is covered all over his body with tattoos repeating the name of his God Rama … D. N. Verma amongst old manual typewriters that he is repairing at his Chhattisgarh Typewriter Works company in Raipur … my ‘Generations – Aurukun’ work at the ‘IRIS Awards‘, Perth Centre for Photography … ‘Tomotaro on the Block’ on the wall of the ‘Fremantle International Portrait Prize’, Moore’s Gallery, Fremantle (the same pic as selected for the ‘Portrait Salon’ in the UK’) … ‘Generations – Aurukun’ at the ‘Fremantle International Portrait Prize’, Moore’s Gallery, Fremantle.

D. N. Verma - typewriter technician and owner of Chhattisgarh Typewriter Works in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India - image © Brian Cassey

Mumbai … India …

August 1, 2023September 25, 2018

Not long back from a very rewarding stint in Mumbai … India’s pulse …

Worked on a few potential photo stories … some with more success than others … and formed friendships with two great experienced Indian photographers.

S Anand Singh … freelance photojournalist and ‘Mr Varanasi’ … made the long trek from Benares to act as my invaluable fixer. Anand introduced me to Mumbai photojournalist legend Srienivas Akella (Srini for short!). Srini is a former associate photo editor at the Indian Express and was the driving force behind the Solaris Images picture agency. The two of ’em introduced me to members of the Mumbai media photo community …. some of which I found I had ‘connections’ to … and the delights of the Mumbai Press Club. They were also tireless in working through our pretty packed picture agenda.

Anand and Srini guided me through the complexities of the amazing Mumbai urban train system (which it is said moves approximately 9 million people every day) as we traversed the mega city to venues that I may never have discovered.

As I havn’t yet managed to edit all the work that I made in a hectic but thoroughly enjoyable visit … I’ve posted below just a few images from some of those stories we worked on. There’s a pic (bottom) from a far too short, minutes long, visit to a Kushti (Indian wrestling) akhara (would have liked much more time to document properly … despite the fact that many photographers have worked on this before), an image (second from top) from the Dahi Handi festival celebrating a young Lord Krishna, one from a set on dabbawallahs (the men who deliver the cities lunches) … and just one (top) from a pic essay I am very fond of … “The Typewriter Wallahs of Mumbai” … which I’ll post on my web site soon. There will be more at a later date …

Thank You Anand and Srini for making it all possible . Really looking forward to working with you again in the future …

(Stop Press … Srini is planning to use his vast experience of India to organise photo tours for photographers to visit the subcontinent from Australia . Stay tuned for more news on that … )

"Typewriter Wallahs of Mumbai - pic essay by Brian Cassey photographer Cairns Australia

Dabba Wallahs - Mumbai India - images by Brian Cassey photographer Cairns Australia