ah-hem

We are all a part of something bigger than ourselves

Ever tried to summarise your worldview, your life and your history into words that can fit onto a web page?

Nearly fifty years of twists and turns, failures and triumphs.

Summarised.

Succintly.

Piece of cake (not).

So at around about my third cup of coffee, I started asking myself questions. Questions that mean something to my photography. And then I started answering them. And then the stories started to come. So here is me, a bit of my history and a bit of why I believe in photography.

How did I come to Photography?

Well without being too morose, my brother was a budding photographer until he died suddenly in 1976 ( Easter Sunday actually). I inherited his stuff by default, but it wasn’t until seven years later when I was looking for something to do while recovering from a broken hand that I got his old Practika out and had a go.

What is my favourite photograph?

That one is too hard. That’s like asking which colour is your favourite.

 My work is influenced by the idea that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves and I love photos that reflect that.

I admire some of what fashion photography offers (I’m thinking Richard Avedon, David Bailey though they were also artist's of the highest calibre), but what moves me is the real thing.

The best photos – of anything -are the ones that capture honesty, elusive as it is, whether it’s sublime or absurd or somewhere in between..

Who is my favourite photographer?

That one is just as difficult. I love so many of them, from the famous to (almost famous) friends. I used to be obsessed with LIFE magazine which every month served up a heady mix of beautiful, thought provoking and often confronting reality and art.
I don’t have heroes but the legendary LIFE magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt comes close. He was a grandmaster because he only used naturally occurring ambient light and because his humanity leapt out of his photographs. He was personal friends with JFK and Hemmingway, photographed Haile Selassie, and had the courage to compose and expose a candid shot of Goebels at close range, whilst that genocidal demon glared at him. On the other hand, his shot of children reacting to a puppet show is tender, full of innocence and utterly disarming.
 

I met him once. I wrote him a letter and Lord Tennyson sure got it right when he said “the greater the man the greater the courtesy".
He invited me to meet him in New York. He was in his nineties, warm and friendly and barely came up to my chest. He treated me like I was a close friend, and took me around the TIME LIFE building introducing me to editors and technicians as “Stephen Henry from Australia”. I was kind of embarrassed because I was a nobody. As we parted he gave me a book of his and signed it “from one photographer to another”. Eisie is long gone now, and I often think of what I didn't ask him, but his work will remain inspirational to me forever.

How long have you been a photographer?

That’s hard to say, but I went to Art College in “87 and did a flourish of work until ’90. For various reasons I stopped photographing during most of the ‘90’s and did any menial work that didn’t require commitment.

How did you find your way back?

One day in ’99 I just decided it was time to get back to it. I started taking photos and I put a roll of film in to a store to be developed. The guy who owned the store offered me a job doing studio photography.

Funny how things happen when you make a decision.

His brother was a muso who played with Tex Perkins so I photographed him for one of his album covers. It wasn’t like “you gotta use this guy” but I was in the right place at the right time and ready. Through a series of coincidences, I meet Troy Casser-Daley and I did some album covers for him too.

I started doing weddings, and began to realise what wedding photography can be! Through yet another series of events I started photographing for the Queensland Theatre Company. Now here we are 10 years later. 

What do you like most about photography? 

I believe that there are unlimited ways of seeing things visually and mentally which the world is crying out for, even if it’s not always welcome. I love being part of that process