More For The Awards Page …

… just about recovering from personal euphoria following my exhibition opening at the Court House Gallery and the Nikon Walkley Portrait Prize win (Thanks to all for your comments, likes etc etc !) … whilst in the meantime these items about some other very pleasant ‘recognitions’ and ‘mentions in dispatches’ have also arrived … for the record as follows …

Head On Portrait Prize Semi Finalist  … “The Yarrick Family of Kunhahaa” … screening at the Head On Portrait Prize exhibition now showing at Paddington Reservoir Gardens, Sydney.

Australian Photography Awards … Two Shortlisted in ‘Documentary’ … “The Yarrick Family of Kunhahaa” & “Tears For George Floyd – 8 Minutes & 46 Seconds”.  Winners will be announced over the five days between November 29th and December 3rd.

Fotonostrum International Portrait Award – ‘Jury’s Special Selection’ by Art Streiber – “Tears For George Floyd – 8 Minutes & 46 Seconds”, “Kate – Waiting For Her New Breasts II” & “The Yarrick Family Of Kunhanhaa”.

International Photography Awards (IPA) – Highly Commended X 2 – ‘People’ – “The Yarrick Family Of Kunhanhaa” – ‘Editorial’ – “Tears For George Floyd – 8 Minutes & 46 Seconds”.

Black & White Spider Awards 16th Edition – Finalist Nominee X 4 in ‘Silhouette’ – “Charlie & the Pandemic”, ‘Portrait’ – “Ramnami” & “The Skin I’m In II’, ‘Photojournalism’ – “Tears For George Floyd – 8 Minutes & 46 Seconds”.

Very pleased about that. The complete list of ‘Awards’ … (shameless self promotion) … can be found here … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/awards/

Some will be aware that lots of these images (above) have been previously recognised in other awards and splashed around a lot lately … so … here’s two from the list (Black & White Spyder Awards) that havn’t 🙂 … for  “Charlie & the Pandemic” it’s a ‘first’ … and for “Ramnami” it’s a fourth gong (but I like it 😉  … below)

Images © Brian Cassey

Black & White Spyder Awards -Nominee - Silhouette - "Charlie & the Pandemic" by Brian Cassey

Black & White Spyder Awards - Nominee - Portrait - "Ramnami" by Brian Cassey

‘A Photographer’s Life – Part Two’ at The Court House Gallery …

Now just over two weeks since the doors opened on my latest exhibition … ‘A Photographer’s Life – Part Two’ … and one week since a brilliant official opening eve event at the beautiful venue, the heritage listed Court House Gallery.

Following on from ‘A Photographer’s Life – Part One’ … exhibited at the Head On Photo Festival in Sydney and The Tanks Arts Centre in Cairns in 2017 … there was always going to be a ‘Part Two’.

Essentially a ‘Retrospective’, the ‘Part One’ exhibition featured work selected from my archives … negatives from long forgotten boxes and numerous disk drives … that charted the progression from my first roll of film as a pre-teen, through my first paid media work in London town as a teen and onto my career across the decades producing press work that was published around the planet..

‘Part Two’ is a fundamentally different exhibition of work. It contains a few images that didn’t quite make the space cut for ‘Part One’ – but most of the work is new and made from 2016 up until today. Whilst ‘Part One’ was almost exclusively ‘assigned’ media work the ‘Part Two’ images are much less so. The decline in media work and the lack of media opportunity and funding has meant that much of the new work was made independently, often self funded and sometimes just purely personally observational. The photographs emanated from India, China, Sri Lanka, the United States, Papua New Guinea, the UK … and around Australia, 

An integral part of the new exhibition is the ‘story behind the images’. Each work is accompanied by text explaining how the image came about and why. Many of them are quite personal. Feedback from exhibition visitors so far is that the ‘stories’ added a depth and dimension to the images. Gratifying 🙂

The opening eve event on November 5th was a thoroughly enjoyable big success. An individual exhibition opening record crowd of over a hundred and twenty five crammed ‘standing room only’ in the ‘Court Room’ to witness ABC Radio’s Fiona Sewell ‘grill’ me nicely about eight of the thirty seven exhibition images for about forty five minutes. Many Thanks for hosting the event Fiona.  Great to see friends and colleagues past and present .. many I hadn’t seen in years … turn up for the occasion. Thanks all …

Also launched at the event was the large format high definition limited edition collectors book ‘A Photographer’s Life – Part One & Part Two’ … containing … yes … all the images (85 in all over 88 pages) from both ‘Part One’ and ‘Part Two’. All those who order a copy during the exhibition period (till 11th December) with have their names and an acknowledgment printed in the book … and my scrawled as best I can signature too 😉 . Order at the Court House Gallery office or phone either Dayle on 07 40326621 or the office on 07 40326620.

Greatest respect and massive thanks to Curator Chris Stannard , Dayle Jordon, Megan O’Rourke and the rest of the council team who did a brilliant job hanging and presenting the exhibition. 

The exhibition continues until the 11th December Tuesdays to Saturdays 10am to 4pm … another four weeks to take it in. (If anyone would like a ‘personalised’ tour of the work I will be happy to try and do just that … just contact me.)

Below are images … (impossible in small pics to do justice to the exhibition, the work and the gallery) … of the works on the wall, the opening eve event and the book.

Images © Brian Cassey (4), Brendan Radke (2) & Stacey Carrick (1) (Many Thanks Brendan and Stacey)

 

'A Photographer's Life - Part Two' Exhibition at The Court House Gallery Cairns - by Brian Cassey

'A Photographer's Life - Part Two' Exhibition at The Court House Gallery Cairns - by Brian Cassey

'A Photographer's Life - Part Two' Exhibition at The Court House Gallery Cairns - by Brian Cassey

'A Photographer's Life - Part Two' Exhibition at The Court House Gallery Cairns - by Brian Cassey

'A Photographer's Life - Part Two' Exhibition at The Court House Gallery Cairns - by Brian Cassey

'A Photographer's Life - Part Two' Exhibition at The Court House Gallery Cairns - by Brian Cassey

'A Photographer's Life - Part Two' Exhibition at The Court House Gallery Cairns - by Brian Cassey

 

 

 

 

 

 

… They Did It ! Pics in Space X 3 …

… PICS IN SPACE! … They did it (and included THREE of my portraits !)
Released overnight as promised by the British Journal of Photography (1854 Media) with the help of ‘Sent Into Space‘ … the film of the ‘Portrait of Humanity’ (2019 & 2020 projects) shortlisted images and their screening twenty four and a half miles ABOVE the planet in the stratosphere with the backdrop of space.

VERY pleased to have three portraits screened … ‘Aurukun – Generations’ (selected in the 2019 POH), ‘The Skin I’m In’ and ‘Ramnami’ (both selected in the 2020 POH) … as planet Earth rotates in the blackness of space. All the photographs were also transmitted out across the Universe and beyond as binary files … just in case there is anyone/anything ‘out there’ wondering about life on our little blue planet .

Here is a short video of my three portraits ‘in space’ with a few introductory pars from ‘Portraits of Humanity’ on broadcasting a message of peace and unity from humankind onto, well … infinity.
You can watch the entire 42 minute film of the exhibition of 400 images as the earth turns below … and how they did it … here … https://access.bjpsubs.com/portrait-of-humanity-sent-into-space/

Images X 3 © Brian Cassey, film © Portrait of Humanity & 1854 Media

TV, Radio … and More … !

An amazing couple of weeks …

It seems that the ‘Portrait of Humanity’ award and projection in ‘space’ of two of my pics hit ‘the spot’ with a variety of media … and I’ve spent some time on interviews with various TV, radio and other media outlets talking about it rather than making new images 🙂

First off the rank was ABC Far North correspondent  Sharnie Kim who did a great job on her ‘Portrait of Humanity’ story for publication on the ABC web site at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-12/carol-mayer-photograph-shortlisted-in-portrait-of-humanity/12335282 . Sharnie not only went into the back story of my two selected images … ‘The Skin I’m In’ and ‘Ramnami’ … but also sourced several other ‘short listed’ pics from other photographers.

Didn’t take long for radio to get in on the act … Sarah Speller interviewed myself ‘live’ on ABC Breakfast Far North (at not the best time very early on a Saturday morn) … and then followed that with another recorded segment on her ‘Sarah’s Spot’ on Cairns Radio 4CA a few days later. If you fancy … here (below) are Sarah’s two radio interviews (roughly near six minutes each).

ABC Breakfast Far North – Radio Interview ‘Portrait of Humanity’ – 5.50

 

Sarah’s Spot – 4CA – Radio Interview ‘Portrait of Humanity’ – 5:52

 

The biggest buzz, however, was the piece on the top rating Channel Ten news program ‘The Project’. Really pleased that the program centred on the my amazing subject, burns survivor Carol Mayer, her strength and her story following the fire tragedy when she was a young mum. Lisa Wilkinson opened The Project’ with the news of the selection of my pic of Carol in the 2020  ‘Portrait of Humanity’ … and I later made a little cameo telling of how the pic came about and our relationship. Carol was amazing throughout the interview … and the comments at the end of the segment by show host Lisa Wilkinson were worth watching alone. The show featured a total of nine of my images of Carol … including, of course, the one chosen for ‘Portrait of Humanity’.

The show ran for 6:28 and can be watched here …

Carol Mayer on ‘The Project’

 

Whilst all this was going on I was also asked to be involved and interviewed for the State Library of Queensland’s ‘Behind the Lens’ series as part of their current exhibition ‘TWENTY – Two Decades of Queensland Photography’. Five of the many photographers who have contributed to SLQ’s headline exhibition were each asked to feature in a series of twenty minute interviews over the next few weeks … and mine was first off the rank. Had a nice long chat with SLQ’s Anna Thurgood … the piece of us chatting was also interspersed with my exhibition images made during Cyclones Winifred, Yasi, Larry, Ita and Ului … and the result was broadcast online last Thursday along with a Q&A. However, you can still catch the entire twenty minute interview here below (sadly without the Q&A) …

State Library of Queensland – ‘Behind the Lens’ – ‘TWENTY – Two Decades of Queensland Photography’

All the above audio and video files may also be played … along with many more from the past … on the ‘Play’ page of my web site at https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/play

Now … back to work making more pictures 🙂

 

‘Portrait of Humanity’ in Space & SLQ ‘TWENTY – Two Decades of Queensland Photography’

A great couple of weeks of interviews regarding my work on various media … ABC, Radio 4CA, Channel Ten’s ‘The Project’ and a 20 minute online video interview at the State Library of Queensland.

The subject matter in most was the 2020 ‘Portrait of Humanity’ short list and award … and the projection in ‘space’ of two of my selected images. The portrait of Carol Mayer … ‘The Skin I’n In’ … was the centre of attention in many … whilst the other selected pic ‘Ramnami’ also received a mention in some.

First off was ABC Far North correspondent  Sharnie Kim who did a great job on her ‘Portrait of Humanity’ story for publication on the ABC web site at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-12/carol-mayer-photograph-shortlisted-in-portrait-of-humanity/12335282 .

Radio followed up  … Sarah Speller interviewed myself ‘live’ on ABC Breakfast Far North (at not the best time very early on a Saturday morn) … and then followed that with another recorded segment on her ‘Sarah’s Spot’ on Cairns Radio 4CA a few days later. If you fancy … here (below) are Sarah’s two radio interviews (roughly near six minutes each).

ABC Breakfast Far North – Radio Interview ‘Portrait of Humanity’ – 5.50

 

Sarah’s Spot – 4CA – Radio Interview ‘Portrait of Humanity’ – 5:52

 

Then TV … a piece on the top rating Channel Ten news program ‘The Project’,  thankfully centred on the my amazing subject burns survivor Carol Mayer. Lisa Wilkinson opened ‘The Project’ with the news of the selection of my pic of Carol in the 2020  ‘Portrait of Humanity’ … and I later had a cameo in the program as Carol otherwise enthralled the presenters and audience . The show featured a total of nine of my Carol images … including, of course, the one chosen for ‘Portrait of Humanity’ … and Carol herself was, without doubt, the star of the show.

The show ran for 6:28 and can be watched here …

Carol Mayer on ‘The Project’

 

At the same time I was also asked to be involved and interviewed for the State Library of Queensland’s ‘Behind the Lens’ series as part of their current exhibition ‘TWENTY – Two Decades of Queensland Photography’. Five of the many photographers who have contributed to SLQ’s headline exhibition were each asked to feature in a series of twenty minute interviews over the next few weeks … and mine was first off the rank. The piece of SLQ’s Anna Thurgood chatting was interspersed with my exhibition images made during Cyclones Winifred, Yasi, Larry, Ita and Ului.

State Library of Queensland – ‘Behind the Lens’ – ‘TWENTY – Two Decades of Queensland Photography’

More info on these recordings, ‘Portrait of Humanity’ and ‘TWENTY – Two Decades of Queensland Photography’ may be found on my  blog post at … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog

 

 

Moscow, Moscow, Moscow …

Pleased to have three images selected to each receive an ‘Honorable Mention’ in the just announced 2020 ‘Moscow International Foto Awards’. Especially pleasing is that all three are relatively ‘new’ images … two made in February and the other made in India last October.

It is the first ‘accolade’ for the portrait of Bonn … “Bonn Marie – Asking the Question” … made at a social gathering in the studio shed of fellow Cairns photographer Marc Steiner. It was Bonn’s first real time seriously in front of the camera … she’s a talented little red head and done very good ! (it’s also the first time one of my pics has been mentioned in a ‘Fine Art’ category.)

Kate … my subject in “Kate – Waiting for Her New Breasts” … is one of the very nicest and most resilient women I’ve met. To cut a long story short … Kate had a double mastectomy eight years ago after being diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer and expected to have reconstructive surgery soon after. Thanks to the inadequacies of the hospital wait list system she is still waiting …

The image ran front page of the Queensland Sunday Mail and prompted the Queensland Health Minister to fast track her surgery … than along came covid-19. She’s still again (patiently) waiting …

This is the second mention for Kate’s image following it’s selection as a Finalist in the Percival Photographic Portrait Prize currently exhibiting at the Perc Tucker Gallery in Townsville.

“Ramnami” is a image I made in Chhattisgarh, India whilst on a day off from covering the story of Indian coal mining giant Adani’s continued destruction of the Hasdeo Arand forest and it’s tribal Gond peoples. Maherttar Ram Tandon is member of the Hindu sect Ramnami Samaj and his entire body is covered with the tattooed text of their god रामराम – Ram Ram – making him one of the only five still surviving ’Naksikh’.

This image has also just been selected on the shortlist of the global and prestigious ‘Portrait of Humanity’ 2020 collection and will be, amongst other things, projected on a screen in the stratosphere and then transmitted as a digital binary file through space on a (possibly) never ending journey. More details about the Image and it’s space journey are here … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/stories-blog/2020/06/pics-in-space-out-of-this-world-with-portrait-of-humanity/

The Moscow International Foto Awards have become something of an annual habit and have clocked up a fair few mentions since the first win in 2014. Check through the years here if so inclined

Images © Brian Cassey

 

Moscow International Foto Awards 2020 - winning images by Brian Cassey x 3

‘Pics in Space’ … Out of This World with ‘Portrait of Humanity’ …

I mentioned a few weeks ago in a Facebook post that I had some exciting news that I couldn’t at the time reveal … I can now !

Announced last eve … the ‘Shortlisted’ images in the second edition of ‘Portrait of Humanity’ … a planet wide selection of the best photographic portraiture co-hosted by 1854 media (publisher of the British Journal of Photography) and Magnum. This project aims to create one of the most ‘far-reaching’ … literally in more ways than one … portrait photography exhibitions in history.

The two hundred ‘Shortlisted’ portraits will be exhibited in outer space … and then transmitted as code through the Universe for (possibly) eternity !

Portrait of Humanity organisers elaborate … “In the ultimate celebration of humankind and the home we share, Portrait of Humanity 2020 will be exhibited in Space. In a feat never before achieved with a photographic exhibition, 200 shortlisted images will be used to broadcast a message of peace and unity from humankind to infinity. Our partner, ‘Sent Into Space’, will launch a screen into the stratosphere with a 360° camera, so photographers can see their images displayed against the extraordinary backdrop of Space. The images will then be beamed onwards in binary code, travelling unimpeded through the solar system at the speed of light. These messages could continue on an infinite journey — or until another civilisation receives and decodes them.”

May seem like bit of a ‘stunt’ but it seems like pretty damn cool stunt to me.

The best bit is that they have selected TWO of my images to make the journey into the stratosphere and beyond … “Ramnami” (a portrait of tattooed Maherttar Ram Tandon in Chhattisgarh, India) … .. and … “The Skin I’m In” (a portrait of the wonderful Cairns burns survivor Carol Anne Mayer). The portrait of Carol has attracted lost of ‘interest’ previously, whilst it’s very rewarding to see the portrait of Maherttar receive it’s first recognition.

All the ‘shortlisted’ images have also been collected into a ‘Portrait of Humanity Volume 2’ book. If you are interested in this wonderful volume of the best photographic portraiture from around our planet you can order a copy from the British Journal of Photography book shop herehttps://www.thebjpshop.com/product/portrait-of-humanity-vol-2/ . (Carol … I have one on order for you !).

Great to be part of this exciting ‘out of this World’ initiative by 1854 Media and the British Journal of Photography … as was being selected in the shortlist of the inaugural ‘Portrait of Humanity’ collection back in 2019.

Images © Brian Cassey (@BJPhoto)

 

portrait of Humanity 2020 - Shortlist - Ramnami by Brian Cassey . Chhattisgarh, India

 

Portrait of Humanity - 'The Skin I'm In' - shortlisted - by Brian Cassey