Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2017 i Australian Photography

Welcome to the final issue of Australian Photography for 2017. In a year that’s gone by so fast it’s made my head spin, it’s reassuring to see some things are a constant - Australian photographers continuing to wow us on the international stage. First Daniel Berehulak won his second Pulitzer prize and another World Press Photo Award, and later in the year Adam Ferguson turned his lens on rural Australia with a powerful series for the New York Times. But outside of the world of documentary photography there’s been other significant achievements too - regular AP contributor Justin Gilligan being recognised as one of the best wildlife photographers in the world at the 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and many other Australian photographers being acknowledged for excellence in the…

FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER TERRY RICHARDSON BANNED FROM WORKING WITH VOGUE AND OTHER MAGAZINES FASHION photographer Terry Richardson has been barred from working with some of the world’s bestselling magazines, according to a leaked email published by the Telegraph. An email circulated within the media group Condé Nast International announced the company would no longer work with the photographer. Condé Nast International publishes editions of leading fashion magazines such as Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired and Glamour. Staff were told that any work already commissioned from Mr Richardson but not yet published should be “killed or substituted with other material”. Richardson, 52, whose photographs often grace the covers of fashion magazines, has been dogged for years by allegations of sexual exploitation of his photographic subjects and models, something he has always denied.…

As a sparsely populated mountain region shared by Argentina and Chile in South America, Patagonia has long been an attractive place for mountaineers, hikers, tourists and photographers. On the Argentina side, Los Glaciares (LG) National Park forms the largest national park in the country covering 7269 square km. On the Chile side, Torres del Paine National Park forms the other major part. My trip would be 40 days long and cover the Argentina part. DON’T RELY ON ONLINE Unlike photography from an easily accessible location, photographers are usually constrained, both by time and by physical demand, for their photography options in a vast mountain or remote wilderness environment such as Patagonia. It’s for this reason that establishing good knowledge of a destination’s geographic features, before actually going into the field,…

BEN LITTLEJOHN This is why EDITOR’S COMMENT Now that’s emotion! There’s not much we can add to Ben Littlejohn’s amazing image except to say, well done! “After six months of gruelling training and meticulous planning; several warnings from police and park rangers; and seven days of physical exertion and anxiety; this was the moment we knew we were going to make it. We weren’t going to run out of water and die. And we were going to become the first people to cycle across the world’s largest sand dune desert without a support vehicle. It was an incredible feeling of exhaustion, elation and comradery, made even more special by the stunning outback sunset over the dunes behind us. All in all, the four of us cycled 940km from Alice Springs…

Speak to any parent with a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and they’ll probably tell you they have tried nearly every strategy under the sun to try and manage it. Thought to affect as many as 11 per cent of 4-17 year olds in Australia, a child with ADHD has three main symptoms – inattention, impulsivity and overactivity. Children suffering from ADHD can struggle in traditional education and typically find everyday activities most kids take for granted a real challenge. Yet many children with ADHD are hugely creative and do have a good attention span for tasks they find interesting—something New Zealand based photographer Craig Madsen has been exploring with his youngest son, ten year old Cooper, on their lifestyle block in rural NZ. FROM LITTLE THINGS “I’ve…

A few months ago I was asked by a friend to digitise some old slides, but while I was happy to help, I lacked one rather essential piece of equipment: a film scanner. Over the past thirty years I have had access to numerous film scanners, from state-of-the-art drum scanners used for the printing industry, to smaller desktop scanners, but over time the interfaces and software drivers have all become obsolete. And despite making regular scans, I found that many film scanners were not really that good at scanning film; some scanners struggled to capture the full dynamic range of negatives and slides, and some scanners had occasional problems with banding. As much as I enjoyed using scanners to bring film to life on a computer screen, the resulting images…

WILD ANGLE Michael Bailey was lucky enough to be shouted a helicopter joy ride for his birthday and took this photo on the Gold Coast, Queensland. He wrote: “As the chopper rounded the corner, I was looking straight down and got this photo. I like the different shades of colour from the sea water to the channel water. I was going to crop out the channel water and just have the pier. What do you think?” You were lucky to get such a clear, interesting image since shooting from a helicopter offers challenges such as vibration and, if you don’t have the option of the open door of the helicopter, then there can be reflection issues shooting through the Plexiglass windows. So you have done well. The colour is good,…

A few years back I first photographed moonrise through Nature’s Window. However I was never really satisfied with the result and ever since I have been wanting to reshoot it. I started planning for when a full-moon would rise in line with the view through the window. This happened right before the completion of the 40-odd kilometre road into the national park being sealed. I drove out to the park entrance feeling pumped that everything had lined up. However my heart quickly sank when I approached the entry road to see a road worker parked up. He was quick to inform me that the road closed at 4pm. It was 4:30. I managed to talk him into asking the site supervisor to let me through. All I had to do…

Since medium format digital photography was introduced, the barrier to entry has been exceptionally high. For most, the cost of a new car is a little too much to spend on a camera body. With cameras from Hasselblad and Phase One costing in the tens-of-thousands, very few ever had the chance to use them. They were only available to those who could afford the hefty price tags or those whose budgets would allow for the rental of such equipment. In recent years, that has changed. Starting with the Pentax 645D and its successor the 645Z, that was no longer the case. Access to the medium format sized sensor and extra megapixels was well within the reach of professional photographers and serious enthusiasts. Now, we also have offerings from Hasselblad in…

Although Canada has been home for most of my adult life, I grew up in Dundee, Scotland and along the way spent several years living in Australia (on two separate occasions). It was when I was living in Adelaide I discovered what a vibrant photographic community exists there. I also learned about earning my Honours - not a common pursuit in Canada. I was inspired to follow this personal path when I met a fellow APS member in Adelaide back in 2010. She set me on a journey that became a passion. Over the past six years I have been working towards that goal both with the APS and also with FIAP. I am happy to say last year I earned both my FAPS and my EFIAP. I highly recommend…