On The Beaton Track: March 2002
It’s been ages since I’ve updated these pages. My partner and webmaster, Nick Gleitzman, jokingly refers to this section of my website as ‘What’s Old’.
Travels and Treks
The major assignment for 2001 was a mega-assignment, spanning several months. It took me not to the the remote regions of Australia, but to my own doorstep: the Hawkesbury River.
Having lived on its shores for eight years, I thought I knew it. But what a surprise! The writer, Danielle Teutsch, and I discovered that it started more than 400 kilometres away in the Great Dividing Range where it is called the Wollondilly River. We discovered majestic gorges, the historic beginnings of the convict colony’s agriculture, and fascinating characters. We prowled along the shores poking into the mangrove pockets and found hidden enclaves of “river people” whose lifestyles were virtually that of a hundred years ago.
Nick was commandeered away from his desk on some days to pilot various boats for us, ranging from “tinnies” to luxury cruisers, a job he didn’t mind at all.
Watch out for this major feature in Australian Geographic within the coming year.
Assignments
No sooner did I finish the Hawkesbury River job, than Australian Geographic presented me with another assignment. In contrast to the Hawkesbury-Nepean story which took nine months, this one has a sense of urgency. I will be photographing the effects of the recent January bushfires in the Royal National Park. Sixty percent of the Park was virtually swept away in flames. Walking through the blackened, empty landscape a few days after the fires was eerie. There was not a sound: no birds, no insects, not even the sound of wind sighing through leaves. Yet I hope to incorporate plenty of wildlife in the feature so it will be quite a task to find and photograph them.
Another challenging assignment took me to Glenworth Valley, a place well known by horse riding enthusiasts all around Sydney. The assignment was carried out for New Holland Publishers to illustrate Catherine Bird’s upcoming book A Healthy Horse the Natural Way. I was completely enthralled by her aromatherapy massage technique for horses. But the horse she was working on didn’t think it unusual at all. In fact, judging by his contented state, he was thinking, “At last — someone who understands what I need!”
Cards
I had the novel experience of being asked to design a set of corporate Christmas cards for one of my clients. The company, Feng Shui Environmental Design, felt that my photos conveyed the design principles of nature, even though many are uniquely Australian images. Whatever the reason, it was certainly a fun project and I’m looking forward to other new ideas that clients might have for reproducing my photographs.
In the Office: Going Digital
Much of the last few months entailed work that was behind-the-scenes as opposed to behind-the-camera. My partner, Nick Gleitzman, is a computer wizard and it is his wizardry that is responsible for this website of mine—which continues to get good reviews and positive feedback. Now, with his initiation, we have started distributing my stock photos as digital submissions.
The digital submission is definitely the way of the future. It’s great for clients; it’s great for me. It is a wonderful improvement on shipping original transparencies because it eliminates the risk of losing them. And it’s wonderfully speedy because most of the time we can get the digital submission online sooner than a courier gets it across the globe—or even across town. Anyone who has a hesitancy about evaluating images on the digital “lightbox” (their computer screen) should really give it a try.
In Cyberspace
I was thrilled to be informed of my presence on Kodak’s website recently. In America, Kodak has quite a tradition of big name photographers appearing on their site. The Australian company has adopted that policy only recently and I am the second photographer to gain that distinction.
(Update: Time passes; unfortunately, my portfolio is no longer available on the Kodak site...)
The Life In The Tall Eucalypt Forest Exhibition
The Melbourne Water Life in the Tall Eucalypt Forests Exhibition moved to Montsalvat in Eltham, Victoria, and just finished its display time there on February 16. Montsalvat was and still is an artists’ colony. The group of mud brick buildings and the expansive gardens were designed and built by a Danish architect in a charming, almost medieval, style. The prints looked absolutely wonderful on the rustic walls of the huge Barn Gallery. The exhibition manager, Jacqueline Taylor of OzLink Entertainment, will be taking it to a new venue in Sydney within the next month or so.
I am proud to announce, on behalf of Jacqueline, her astounding coup. She is now a dignitary, joining the ranks of other worthy people within the Order of Australia and earning the title of OAM. Does this mean that I have to stop being so informal with her and address her now as “Sir Jacqueline”?
Until next time,
