Fit to Print
Defining Moments from the Fairfax Photo Archive
At its very best, photojournalism can define a moment, a movement, an era or a whole generation. It can bring down a careless politician or elevate them to a winning status, it can lift a weary spirit and sometimes it can move opinions and the way we view the world.
Photographer and media commentator Mike Bowers explores the Fairfax Photographic Archive held by the National Library of Australia. This collection comprises over 18,000 glass-plate negatives. Most of the images were captured in New South Wales, while other parts of Australia make up a smaller portion of the collection. Photographs from these negatives appeared in Fairfax publications such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun and Sydney Mail.
Covering the period 1890-1948, the collection covers a range of themes, including: rural and urban scenes, industry, politicians, celebrities, photographs of daily life and special events (such as the opening of the Sydney Harbour bridge), sporting and social events and more. In creating photographs for mainstream publications, the early photojournalists familiarised Australians with a new visual language of the news.
Mike Bowers found his love of photography while still at school. After working in the darkrooms of The Australian National University and The Australian War Memorial in Canberra he embarked on a career in photojournalism. Mike spent 14 years in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery working for a number of publications including The Australian, The Age, BRW, Time, The Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald. He covered five federal election campaigns and has accompanied three prime ministers on assignments both around Australia and overseas. He has published three books; Gallipoli Untold Stories, The Big Picture 175 Years of The Sydney Morning Herald and A Century of Pictures, 100 years of Herald photography. Mike is now a freelance photographer and host of Talking Pictures on Insiders on ABC1 at 9:00am on Sunday.
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