About Rob...
Although I shoot across a range of genres I concentrate mainly on landscapes because Sugarloaf Rock doesn't care if its bum looks big or whether its hair is fetching in profile - it just is. I'm most at home in the Australian outback, and the desert in particular.
I try to find the shot where nobody else is looking for one. Like most photographers I compose for colour, texture, pattern and line and try to capture it all in the right light.
For me, the essential element in any image is energy, whether it's the energy of the subject in a dynamic portrait or the environmental energy in a landscape; whether it's explicit in movement, or implicit in mood.
I always aim to get the best shot possible in camera and to keep retouching to a minimum, but those who dismiss post-processing as creative heresy fail to appreciate the many hours, days, sometimes years the great pioneers of photography spent in the darkroom interpreting, re-interpreting and refining their iconic work.
In the words of Ansel Adams: You don't take a photograph, you make it.
A successful image seduces the viewer into a visual narrative...
A brief bio:
I'm a recovering teacher with a photography problem.
Someone put a toy camera in my hand not long after this shot was taken and the rest, as they say...
The journey has taken me from the streets of Sydney to the South-West corner of Western Australia via everywhere in between. Along the way I spent many late-night hours in darkrooms, studied Art History and Aesthetics as part of a BA from Sydney University, taught Media and Visual Literacy during a long career in Secondary Education and even walked away from photography for about 15 years from the late '90s.
A series of cosmic coincidences brought me back to the field in 2013, when I discovered digital and its liberation from the roll of 36. In short order I bought a 4WD, fitted it out for self-contained long-range off-roading, walked out of my last classroom and surrendered entirely to the passion.
I won't be buying a Mediterranean island any time soon, but I don't measure the value of photography in dollars...it's all about the next shot, pure and simple.
Awards & Exhibitions:
2023:
* October: Epson Pano Awards - Bronze, Top 50 Built Environment for Inner Here
* October: Epson PanoAwards - Bronze for Viscera
* October: Epson Pano Awards - Bronze for ToxEcology
* May: Top 100, Landscape - for Howl, Australian Photography Landscape Awards, Australasia
* May: Highly Commended, Urban - for Inner Here, Australian Photography Landscape Awards, Australasia
* May: Commended, Urban - for A Nod to Smart, Australian Photography Landscape Awards, Australasia
* May: Commended, Landscape - for Asbestoscape, Wittenoom WA, Australian Photography Landscape Awards, Australasia
2022: a year concentrating on various mostly non-photographic projects, although...
* December: Silver Award, Aerial in Ignacio Palacios’s 360 Photo Awards for River and Sea
* December: Silver Award, Aerial in Ignacio Palacios’s 360 Photo Awards for Surge
* December: Silver Award, Aerial in Ignacio Palacios’s 360 Photo Awards for Viscera
* December: Silver Award, Landscape in Ignacio Palacios’s 360 Photo Awards for Uluru
* December: Bronze Award, Aerial in Ignacio Palacios’s 360 Photo Awards for Asbestoscape
* December: Bronze Award, Landscape in Ignacio Palacios’s 360 Photo Awards for Howl
* November: Article On Bunuba Country published in FIAP News (Federation Internationale de l'Art Photographique) - Paris, France.
* October: APS Silver Medal for Viscera, 3rd Edwardstown National Exhibition, Australia (APS2022/18)
* October: EPC Merit for Howl (DSLD010b), 3rd Edwardstown National Exhibition, Australia (APS2022/18)
* August: Member of the Winning Australian Photographic Society (APS) Team, Four Nations Competition (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa) with Jubilee (MPJC001)
2021
* December: Silver Award, Aerial in Ignacio Palacios’s inaugural 360 Photo Awards for Jubilee (MPJC001)
* November: APS Merit for Dragon Skin (TTJD001), Australian Photographic Society National Exhibition, Australia (APS2021/19)
* August: Member of the Winning Australian Photographic Society (APS) Team, Four Nations Competition (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa) with River and Sea (MPYP012)
* 23rd July- 5th August: collaborative exhibition with artist Simon Hemsley at Artopia Gallery, Kununurra, East Kimberley, Western Australia
* July: AAPS - awarded Associateship of the Australian Photographic Society
* May: Highly Commended, Open Folio Parched –Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers, Capture Magazine, Australasia
* March: Salon Certificate of Merit - Parched (COPA001), Western Cape International Photographic Forum, South Africa (FIAP 2021/027)
* March: Salon Certificate of Merit - River and Sea (MPYP012), Western Cape International Photographic Forum, South Africa (FIAP 2021/027)
* January: Finalist in Australian Photography Magazine's Photographer of the Year 2020, Landscape, for an environmentally themed folio entitled TerraCells
*January: Top 30 in Australian Photography Magazine's Photographer of the Year 2020, Landscape, for an environmentally themed folio entitled Tox-Ecology
*January: Highly Commended in Australian Photography Magazine's Photographer of theYear 2020, Creative, for Parched 1
*January: Commended in Australian Photography Magazine's Photographer of the Year 2020, Creative, for Parched 2
2020
* December 5-20th: Exhibition - From a Distance, in collaboration with artist Simon Hemsley at The Studio Gallery,Yallingup, Western Australia
* October: APS Gold Medal, for Parched (COPA001), Australian Photographic Society National Exhibition, Australia (APS2020/18)
* August: Highly Commended (x2), Australian Photography Mono Awards, Australian Photography Magazine, Australasia
* August: Member of the Winning Australian Photographic Society (APS) Team, Four Nations Competition (Australia, NewZealand, Canada, South Africa) with Lake Hinds (MPAA010)
*June: Highly Commended, Landscape Folio Western Australia’s Salt Lakes –Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers, Capture Magazine, Australasia
*June: Highly Commended, Landscape Folio Tailings – Australasia’sTop Emerging Photographers, Capture Magazine, Australasia
*June: Highly Commended, Landscape Folio Tox-Ecology – Australasia’sTop Emerging Photographers, Capture Magazine, Australasia
*June: Highly Commended, Landscape Folio A Losing Battle– Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers, Capture Magazine, Australasia
*June Commended, Portrait Folio Who is Simon? – Australasia’sTop Emerging Photographers, Capture Magazine, Australasia
*June: Bronze Medal - Photography, South West Virtual Arts Spectacular, Bunbury, Western Australia
* April: Finalist, Landscape -Mandurah Landscape and Portrait Prize, Western Australia
* March: APS Silver Medal, Landscape/Seascape, Edwardstown 1st National Exhibition, South Australia (APS2020/04)
* March: APS Bronze Medal, Nature, Edwardstown 1st National Exhibition, South Australia (APS2020/04)
* March: EPC Merit, Open Colour, Edwardstown 1st National Exhibition, South Australia (APS2020/04)
* March: EPC Merit, Landscape/Seascape, Edwardstown 1st National Exhibition, South Australia (APS2020/04)
* January: Top 10 - 8th place in Australian Photography Magazine's Photographer of theYear 2019, Portraits and People, for a series of experimental monochrome portraits on the theme of Identity entitled "Who is Simon?"
*January: Highly Commended - Australian Photography Magazine's Photographer of the Year 2019, Landscape, for an environmental series entitled "Salination: A Scourge"
2019
* December: APS Merit - Our Country, Australian Photographic Society National Digital Exhibition, Australia (APS2019/26)
* December: APS Merit - Nature, Australian Photographic Society National Digital Exhibition, Australia (APS2019/26)
* December: APS Merit - Open Colour, Australian Photographic Society National Digital Exhibition, Australia (APS2019/26)
* May: Highly Commended, Landscape Portfolio - Australasia'sTop Emerging Photographers, Capture Magazine, Australia
* April: Finalist, Landscape – West Australian Photographic Federation (WAPF) ClickWest, Perth, Western Australia
* April: Finalist, Landscape (2images) – Mandurah Landscape & Portrait Prize, Western Australia
* March: FIAP Blue Ribbon - Scapes, Cape Town International Digital Photography Salon, South Africa (FIAP 2019/04, PSSA #A2019/08)
* February: Salon Silver Medal – Nature (Projected), Maitland International Salon of Photography, Australia (FIAP 2019/19, APS 2019/01)
2017
* September: 3 images longlisted – Fremantle International Portrait Prize, Perth, Western Australia
* June-August: Exhibitor by invitation –“Journeys” exhibition, WA Photographic Federation, Fremantle Maritime Museum, Perth, Western Australia
2016
* May: Finalist - Best New Portfolio, WAPF ClickWest, WA Photographic Federation, Perth, Western Australia
* March: Winner – Perfect 10 Summer Down Under Photo Challenge; Pentax Australia
*January-Present: Pertpetual Exhibition - Stender Studio, Mandurah, Western Australia
2015
* November: Finalist – Open Colour, 9th International Salon Daguerre, Paris (FIAP2015/257)
* November: Finalist – Travel, 3rd Negeri Sembilan International Salon of Photography, Kuala Lumpur (FIAP2015/364)
* November: Finalist – Open Colour, 3rd Negeri Sembilan International Salon of Photography, Kuala Lumpur (FIAP 2015/364)
* October: Finalist – Landscape; 1st Semberija 2015, Bosnia & Herzegovina International Salon of Photography, Sarajevo (FIAP 2015/369)
* August: National Star Contributor – Photography, ABC Open, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Australia
* May: Exhibitor by Invitation - ABC Open Photo+Story Exhibition, Environmental Portraits; Bunbury Regional Art Galleries, Bunbury, Western Australia
2014
* October: Finalist & highest scoring acceptance –Open Colour, Western Australian Photographic Federation(WAPF) Interclub Competition; Perth, Western Australia