MY APPROACH TO PHOTOGRAPHY
Music and photography have been major creative pursuits in my life since I was very young, and I find them to be deeply connected. Each rely on a clear idea, tonal balance, light & dark, unity & variety, rhythm, and a logical sense of form.
However, music moves invisibly through time, while photography holds a single visual moment.
I carry ideas of composition, structure and form from music into photography and then back again.
My personal quest is to discover, appreciate, and unravel the wonders and mysteries of the world that chance my way through the selective view of my camera's lens. My subject matter is unlimited, leaning towards whatever I find beautiful, exceptional, ironic, touching, or tragic. I am an avowed optimist and believe that a bright future lies ahead for all of us, including my four children & seven grandchildren, but we must work for it.
Although most of my work is now digital, I still maintain my darkroom, and enjoy the slow meditative evolution of creating a black and white image from a negative, and the delight, (which I never cease to have) in watching the final print appear in the developing tray.
BIOGRAPHY
I was born in 1947and grew up at Warriewood on Sydney's northern beaches. My fascination for photography began in childhood with a Box Brownie camera and home developing kit.After working for a time in various parts of the photographic industry, I chose to make a career in piano teaching. I studied composition with Dulcie Holland, piano with Trevor Noffke, and principles of teaching with Nancy Salas.
In 1990, overwhelmed by an exhibition of the great American photographers Ansel Addams and Edward Weston at the Art Gallery of NSW, my love of the darkroom was rekindled, and my pursuit of making fine art prints began again in earnest.
Following my first successful photographic show in 1995 with my three siblings, I continued to exhibit regularly and have won numerous awards along the way. In 2000, I was listed in the top ten of "Who's Who" of Australian National & International exhibitors by the Australian Photographic Society. Subsequently, in 2004, I attained the status of Associate of the Australian Photographic Society, gaining the unanimous decision of all five judges for my submission of twenty works. Following this I was given a position mentoring new members for the society in the southern NSW region, and a double page portfolio in Australian Photography magazine.This also led to numerous invitations to judge and give lectures on photography at camera clubs and show societies.
During the same year, 2004, I was a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize, which was attached to the Archibald Prize, at the Art Gallery of NSW, with a portrait of acclaimed Australian painter, Jean Appleton.
In 2008 I was a finalist in the "Head On Portrait Prize" with a portrait of my artist mother, and followed this in winning 1st prize in the photographic section of "Arts in the Valley" in 2009 with a portrait of locally and internationally recognised Australian composer Ann Carr-Boyd.
Many of my photographs can be found in private, corporate and public collections across Australia and overseas.
EXHIBITION HISTORY
2023 Four Siblings - Oct 20 to Oct 29, "In Our Nature"
Bowral Art Society
2020 Four Siblings - Oct 30 to Nov 8, "because it matters", Bowral Art Society
2018 Group of Six - "May Barrie Centenary", Project Art Space, Wollongong
2017 Solo Exhibition - October, "Marking Time",
Watch House Gallery, Balmain
2017 Solo Exhibition - July/Sept, "Music to My Eyes", Sturt Gallery, Mittagong
2016 Group of Four - March, "Solitary Moments",
Bowral Art Society
2015 Four Siblings - October, "Four x 7",
Bowral Art Society
2014 Solo Exhibition - July/Aug "Serendipity",
Sturt Cafe Exhibition Space
2012 Four Siblings - October - "In Our Blood",
Mary Place Gallery, Paddington
2010 Four Siblings - October, "Related Paths",
Bowral Art Society
2010 Group of Three - March, "Contemplations",
Bowral Art Society
2006 Four Siblings - October, "Relatively Speaking",
Bowral Art Society
2003 Two of Us - September, with Sadhana Peterson,
Gallery Lane, Leura,
2002 Four Siblings - October, "Sibling Revelry",
Bowral Art Society
1999/2000 Exhibiting in National & International shows
1999 Four Siblings - October, "The Four of Us",
Bowral Art Society
1998 Solo Exhibition - Jan/Feb, "Here and There",
Foyer Gallery, Moss Vale
1997 Group Exhibition - "Australian Connection",
Abbaye de Forest, Belgium
1997 "Two of Us" - April, with Geoff Ambler,
Sturt Gallery, Mittagong
1995 Four Siblings - October,"What Four?",
Bowral Art Society