Photo Review June - August 2015

Meeting and interviewing photographers is one of the great joys of producing Photo Review. Without exception each encounter has been an opportunity to learn something new and to see things through the eyes of a creative photographer. For this issue I had the opportunity to spend an hour or two with the gentlemanly Mr Ian Dodd who, though more than a decade into retirement, is still just as besotted with the pleasures and vexations of photography as when he began taking pictures more than 50 years ago. As you’ll learn when you turn to his Inspiration profile on page 8, the choice of title - Presence - arises from how he responds to the ineffable way in which the world seems to reveal itself to certain photographers. One has to…

To undertake our Decisive Movement challenge, photographers had to ensure their shutter speed was a 1/60th of a second or slower - and that some aspect of their subject was in motion. As always, our loyal band of Photo Challengers responded in splendid style. We went back and forth between Dennis Rickard’s hurtling jet ski and Amanda Bull’s swirling carnival ride. In the end the nod went the jet ski’s way. Dennis’s composition, with its focused rider and creamy blurred background, really conveys a sense of speed and excitement. It will be our pleasure to send Dennis a snappy Lowepro Pro Roller Lite 250 AW (RRP $345) for him to haul his gear in style. As noted, we thought Amanda Bull’s clever juxtaposition of the a neon star against a…

Food, glorious food Ah, the pleasures of the groaning board. Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, and an endless parade of cooking programs on TV, we’ve never been more thoroughly immersed in pictures of food. It may be a bigger challenge than a 14-course medieval banquet, but we want you to create an image that captures the small pleasures of food enjoyed at home. It can be any part of the process – from preparation to post-consumption – so long as it is not in a restaurant or other commercial venue. With three opportunities a day, you shouldn’t have any difficulty finding numerous opportunities for creative expression. Please review the rules and email your entries to photochallenge@photoreview.com.au. Deadline for entries is 28 August, 2015 and the winning pictures will be published…

‘I got an amazing picture - which needs about an hour’s Photoshop-ing to really bring it out - but, it’s like a Rodin. The feel is just wonderful, the figures and roots and...’ Ian Dodd sighed cheerfully as he reflected on the fruits of a visit to the Wollongong Botanic Garden the previous weekend. Although he’s now into his sixth decade of photography, Ian’s quietly intense enthusiasm for the art is plainly undiminished. When he began taking pictures in the mid-1950s, the initial motivation was less artistic than practical. ‘It was relatively simple. I was studying art at the National Art School and I was using photography as a reference tool. And later, when I went on to work in magazines, I used it for articles.’ Imperceptibly, his picture taking…

As a senior sports photographer for Getty Images, Sydney-based Ryan Pierse is well used to dealing with the envy of his friends. ‘They say to me, “You get to go to all these big events and watch from the front row, or virtually on the pitch or the court or whatever.” I do, but it’s very different from being a spectator,’ he says. For one thing, he can’t get emotionally involved in the moment or celebrate what happens. He has to keep his mind on the job and think about his next photo. At the same time, with technology and media competition being what they are these days, he has to download his photos to his laptop, crop and caption them, and send them off so picture editors all over…

Ryan Pierse is a self-confessed cricket nut who has followed the Australian team for as long as he can remember. But ‘following’ took on a whole new meaning in 2013 when Getty Images assigned him to photograph the Ashes tour to England. Since then, he has accompanied the team all over Australia, to the United Arab Emirates several times and wherever else it has played. At time of writing, Getty Images had just been appointed the official photographer for Cricket Australia and he was entrenched in its World Cup campaign, and relishing the prospect of tours of the West Indies and back to England again for the Ashes. ‘It’s a lot of time on the road, but it’s a unique situation,’ he says. ‘Many of the players bring their wives…