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We're broadcasting today
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from Ngunnawal Ngambri in Canberra.
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And we're here interviewing Living Memory
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and PPP 2021 finalist, Glen Braithwaite.
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How are you?
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I'm well, thank you, Tara. Thank you.
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All right, so we'll get started.
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So I guess first off,
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if you could tell us a little bit about yourself
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and your photography.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So I have been an army officer my whole life.
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So I joined the army at 17,
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and only last year I retired from the army
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after reaching the ripe old age of 50.
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But I've always been a photographer.
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I've always carried my camera with me while I was at bush.
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It was something that I always had.
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I'd always rather take a camera in the back of my backpack
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rather than extra set of socks.
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So it was always a bit sticky,
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but I could photograph things.
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(Tara Laughs)
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So I had over 32 years of army life,
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and then I retired last year.
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But I've been tinkering around with photography
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and semi as a business.
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More recently over the last 10 years,
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a bit more in the dog photography world,
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Insane, but I started off in motor sports.
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And I went from motor sports into just general sports,
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went into pet photography for a little while,
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and because it was convenient and I love my animals.
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But more recently I've been doing a lot of para-athletics
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and disability sports, but I've always got a camera with me.
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Awesome. And with the Paralympics as well,
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it would have been pretty inspiring for you?
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It was fantastic.
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So I've got a lot of good friends here in Canberra,
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because a lot of the para-athletes come to Canberra
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to do a lot of their training and many live here.
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So it was great seeing some of my friends overseas
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competing, especially in the wheelchair sports.
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It would have been great to be there,
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but obviously with COVID you couldn't be.
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But I'm hoping that when the para-athletics
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kicks off again here in Australia,
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when Brisbane got the games,
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I'll probably be 60 by then.
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But I'd love to get out there with a camera again,
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but I will wait and see.
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Perfect.
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So did you want to tell us a little bit
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about your photo Trek for Shona Mai?
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And how that came about?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So it was an accidental photo.
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I was walking my dogs literally
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in the part of the Bicentennial Horse Trail,
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which is just in front of my place here.
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And came across this chap dragging this cart
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with his little dog.
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And he had a big banner on the side of his cart saying,
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"Trek for Shona Mai" and a bit of a Facebook page on it.
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And I asked him who he was and what his story was.
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And I was so fascinated by Paul. I said, "Park yourself,
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I'll be back in five minutes once I've dumped my dogs
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and bring my camera back and let's just chat."
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And so meeting Paul, it was an inspiring moment, I think.
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So Paul, his daughter had committed suicide
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about a bit over a year and a half before I met him.
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And his way of dealing with the suicide of his daughter,
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who was in her 30s at that stage,
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was he decided he would walk from Adelaide to Canberra,
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trying to raise awareness for mental health.
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He had a petition he wanted to raise with government.
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He talked about increasing funds for suicide awareness
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and mental health.
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And so he started a 1,600 kilometre walk from Adelaide,
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and it literally took him 13 months to walk that.
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And the period in which he walked,
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it was throughout all of those big bush fires that were down
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south and the drought,
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and then all the other bad weather we'd had.
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And he arrived in Canberra
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on the day that COVID had also hit Canberra enough
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for parliament to say,
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"We're going to close our sessions, we're wrapping up."
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And so he literally arrived in Canberra after 13 months of
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walking on the day that the politicians backed up and left.
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And so by the time he got to us here, near my place,
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he had one day of walking left,
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he was going to spend the night at
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Pegasus Disability Riding Centre, not far from here,
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then go to old parliament house and park
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in the Tent Embassy Grounds,
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and then go and present his petition,
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and literally he arrived just a little bit too late.
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But listening to him talk about his daughter,
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and the things he'd seen and done while trekking,
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it was so inspiring,
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at a time when everybody was panicking,
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because we didn't know what COVID really meant to us
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here in Canberra at that stage back in March last year.
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So he's an amazing, man. Paul Murcott is his name,
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isn't it? And his daughter was Shona Mai.
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So people can Google that as well,
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or is he on social media that people can support his cause,
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or is there a way?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So you can Google Trek for Shona Mai 2.
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He had an original website and Facebook page for
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Trek for Shona Mai,
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but it got hacked while he was on his Trek,
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and people stole money from him.
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And so he had to start a second web page.
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So Trek for Shona Mai 2.
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And you can learn a little bit about Paul,
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but interestingly, every little town
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they went through all the way through,
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you can see the little news articles as everybody was
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fascinated by his trek.
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And so you'll see a few of the news articles,
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and where he's appeared on the way.
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So definitely worth looking up.
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He's now down towards the coast,
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I think he's got family down that way.
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But he's hoping to get up from Nowra
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to visit the exhibition.
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And hopefully that can still happen,
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with the exhibition being extended to January.
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We'd love to see him here and get his photo
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and even bring you in.
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But I thought one of the lovely things to come out of it,
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you were one of the lucky finalists
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that actually got to visit the gallery
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and I got to meet you in person,
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and we had a panel that day.
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And one of the panel speakers was Christine Morgan
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from the Mental Health Commission.
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And we're quite focused this year on photography
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and art being a means of therapy or outreach
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for people as well or connection.
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So you actually made a connection with Christine after
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the exhibition, and then some amazing things
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unfolded from that.
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Absolutely. Sometimes photos make an impact.
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When I first met Paul,
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I took those photos and I sent them to the Canberra Times
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pretty much that same day,
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with just the story about Paul Murcott, Canberra.
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But again, that was the time of COVID,
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and so they didn't take up the story.
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No one went to try and find him
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and interview him in those last days when he arrived.
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And so it fell flat,
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but I felt there was more to that story
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that needed to be heard and we wanted to share.
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And so meeting Christine Morgan at your panel discussions on
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that day the exhibit happened was unexpected,
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but it was such a rewarding moment to find somebody who was
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not only interested,
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but high up and influential in the mental health game
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who wanted to learn more about Paul.
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And that all of a sudden gave some real meaning to the
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photo. It was not just a shot of a dog with a guy in the
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background, it was suddenly a story
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that was going to be heard a little bit more.
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And then from there also it appeared in the
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ABC Canberra Instagram pages,
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and got a little bit of social media interest
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around here in Canberra, which is wonderful.
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And Christine, she also organised for her team
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at the Mental Health Commission to do a virtual
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tour of the exhibition as well,
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which was really lovely for them to engage.
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And she was going to organise the handing over of
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the signatures, is that right?
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From what I knew, she said they wanted to touch base,
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so we arranged for Paul's details be given to her.
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I gave Paul a heads-up,
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so he was keen to discuss with the team.
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I think Christine was just looking for ways
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to see what she could do for Paul,
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whether that meant spreading a little bit
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more of his story, talking to people in government,
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or just understanding it to see whether the government had
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already taken care of some of the key things that he wanted
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to address through his petition.
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So where Christine took that with Paul, I've got no idea,
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but I'm sure their team would have engaged pretty
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closely with him.
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And I guess once again,
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we've been a little derailed by COVID.
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(Glen laughs) Absolutely.
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I know you've been photographing for a long time,
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but it seems like you're starting to hit
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your straps now with being in this prize,
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and I think you're working with the War Memorial as well.
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So what do you think that being part of NPPP
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and Living Memory will mean for your photographic career?
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So I've been lucky I've had
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the Napier Waller Art Prize at the War Memorial,
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I submitted something to that last year,
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and I've got a picture hanging there at the moment.
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And their prize got extended as well,
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while they're waiting for COVID.
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And I recently had another picture sent up
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to the Tweed Regional Gallery,
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and it went in the Olive Cotton Prize.
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So that was great to see a couple of other pictures.
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And it's really just been a bit of a flurry lately,
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but when I talk to people about
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where I've been lucky enough to have some pictures home,
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everybody is blown away when you say
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that, "I've got a picture hanging
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in the National Portrait Gallery."
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That above anything else seems to resonate with people,
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they all understand the significance,
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and so I think part of this prize.
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So really, really my new creative second half of my life,
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it's mind-blowing, like I said earlier on.
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I just can't believe it.
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So if I never get any more with this,
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I could still say that I'm in PPP finals.
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I've seen it.
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It's exciting, so I'm still buzzing about it.
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And it's been a while now, so that's good.
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It was lovely to meet you and see your enthusiasm.
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And it's one of my favourite parts,
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is getting to meet the people and then
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seeing them see your work hung in this gallery space.
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I mean, you tear up.
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But it's funny.
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There was a few finalists in the panel discussion
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on that day, and you could tell who they were.
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Because when we broke away from the panel discussion,
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and we went in the gallery, there were
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all those people taking selfies in front of the pictures
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hanging on the wall, and it meant so much to all of us.
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So it was kind of cool.
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And we missed out on the party so far this year,
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but hopefully we can have one in January
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because it's such a great source of inspiration
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and chatting to other photographers and networking as well.
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So fingers crossed, we get that to happen in January.
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But I guess one thing I was interested in,
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and I know you're a multiple disciplinary artist as well,
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but how has lockdowns and all the changes that
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are going on in the world at the moment affected your
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practise and the way you approach photography?
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I guess I've had to make do with less,
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if that makes sense.
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So I do a regular photo challenge on a weekly basis
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with an online group.
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And normally you'd have the flexibility to go out
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and photograph or do something in the community
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or further abroad to answer the briefs
259
00:11:38.713 --> 00:11:40.713
on those weekly challenges.
260
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All of a sudden lockdown means you really can't go out
261
00:11:43.662 --> 00:11:45.094
for those non-essential reasons.
262
00:11:45.094 --> 00:11:47.974
And so you're inventing things in your own garage
263
00:11:47.974 --> 00:11:49.083
or in your own studio,
264
00:11:49.083 --> 00:11:51.742
and you're having to come up with ideas of making great,
265
00:11:51.742 --> 00:11:55.694
well, hopefully creative photos in the same space
266
00:11:55.694 --> 00:11:58.142
you're living in day in, day out.
267
00:11:58.142 --> 00:12:00.953
And so finding little details and creativity
268
00:12:00.953 --> 00:12:03.473
in what you think is mundane and boring around you,
269
00:12:03.473 --> 00:12:04.923
has actually been really good,
270
00:12:04.923 --> 00:12:07.353
supercharged my creativity, I think.
271
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By being locked down,
272
00:12:08.755 --> 00:12:11.101
you don't have the flexibility to just wander around
273
00:12:11.101 --> 00:12:12.755
and then find the photo you want,
274
00:12:12.755 --> 00:12:14.235
you have to create it.
275
00:12:14.235 --> 00:12:16.443
So I think it's been pretty good for me.
276
00:12:16.443 --> 00:12:20.705
I think as well, I had a peek at your social media,
277
00:12:20.705 --> 00:12:23.643
but some of your focus seems to be on creating photos
278
00:12:23.643 --> 00:12:27.060
that bring joy to people in the lockdown.
279
00:12:32.283 --> 00:12:34.003
They always say you should shoot with purpose,
280
00:12:34.003 --> 00:12:36.053
and so sometimes it's something that's quite meaningful
281
00:12:36.053 --> 00:12:38.555
for the journalistic type photos,
282
00:12:38.555 --> 00:12:41.945
but other times it's just about making somebody laugh.
283
00:12:41.945 --> 00:12:43.723
And often I have to laugh at myself
284
00:12:43.723 --> 00:12:46.043
in order to make other people laugh.
285
00:12:46.043 --> 00:12:47.963
what you don't see on my social media are some of those
286
00:12:47.963 --> 00:12:49.570
really rapid shots.
287
00:12:49.570 --> 00:12:52.771
When I grew my first beard after retirement,
288
00:12:52.771 --> 00:12:53.794
(Tara laughs)
289
00:12:53.794 --> 00:12:55.079
because I couldn't grow beard in the army,
290
00:12:55.079 --> 00:12:56.892
I painted myself blue, my beard white,
291
00:12:56.892 --> 00:12:59.191
and I made the best Papa Smurf photo,
292
00:12:59.191 --> 00:13:00.362
(Tara laughs)
293
00:13:00.362 --> 00:13:01.794
but it doesn't play around that much.
294
00:13:01.794 --> 00:13:03.204
So there's a few of other shots like that
295
00:13:03.204 --> 00:13:05.732
that don't really capture the social media side.
296
00:13:05.732 --> 00:13:08.583
But it's all about, I think engaging with people,
297
00:13:08.583 --> 00:13:11.620
some people want a good laugh sometimes.
298
00:13:11.620 --> 00:13:13.130
I think it's really great.
299
00:13:13.130 --> 00:13:14.324
I guess it's interesting as well,
300
00:13:14.324 --> 00:13:17.812
I know you retired from the army and you're focusing
301
00:13:17.812 --> 00:13:20.923
on an arts career as a second career,
302
00:13:20.923 --> 00:13:22.674
and you seem to be building
303
00:13:22.674 --> 00:13:25.091
a network of veteran artists.
304
00:13:26.652 --> 00:13:28.652
I was wondering a little bit about that.
305
00:13:28.652 --> 00:13:33.364
That seems to be a bit of a passion of yours as well,
306
00:13:33.364 --> 00:13:34.564
that shared expression.
307
00:13:34.564 --> 00:13:36.623
Because a lot of veterans seem to turn to arts
308
00:13:36.623 --> 00:13:38.644
and photography.
309
00:13:38.644 --> 00:13:43.044
Absolutely, I think I was one of those army guys
310
00:13:43.044 --> 00:13:46.844
who thought that art didn't have a place in the military.
311
00:13:46.844 --> 00:13:49.556
There is a really good arts community in the military
312
00:13:49.556 --> 00:13:50.623
of ours.
313
00:13:50.623 --> 00:13:54.186
I know that's not the persona I wanted to be.
314
00:13:54.186 --> 00:13:57.106
And then when I got out, and in particular through
315
00:13:57.106 --> 00:14:00.226
the War Memorial and their connections with some
316
00:14:00.226 --> 00:14:01.375
of our photo artists,
317
00:14:01.375 --> 00:14:03.364
I realised that there was so many artists floating around
318
00:14:03.364 --> 00:14:07.124
army still serving that were expressing themselves,
319
00:14:07.124 --> 00:14:08.591
didn't feel stifled.
320
00:14:08.591 --> 00:14:11.412
And so I think I'd put those barriers on myself
321
00:14:11.412 --> 00:14:14.120
through my own biases within the army.
322
00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:16.172
And now I've realised, in particular,
323
00:14:16.172 --> 00:14:19.231
here in Canberra, massive veterans, our community,
324
00:14:19.231 --> 00:14:22.532
some beautiful paintings coming out of some of our veterans,
325
00:14:22.532 --> 00:14:25.332
some of them still serving, some are now out,
326
00:14:25.332 --> 00:14:28.099
some of them have amazing stories to tell,
327
00:14:28.099 --> 00:14:31.202
in particular with relation to mental health issues.
328
00:14:31.202 --> 00:14:35.343
So it's great I guess now having a network,
329
00:14:35.343 --> 00:14:37.612
people I've never even met before,
330
00:14:37.612 --> 00:14:39.282
but realised we had so many commonalities.
331
00:14:39.282 --> 00:14:41.130
And you can see it, share the army story,
332
00:14:41.130 --> 00:14:43.524
that everybody's been through that army experience,
333
00:14:43.524 --> 00:14:46.514
so that's not as interesting as now sharing
334
00:14:46.514 --> 00:14:49.783
and having survived as artists in this time.
335
00:14:49.783 --> 00:14:51.866
So it's been interesting.
336
00:14:52.724 --> 00:14:54.343
And I'm one of the very lucky ones,
337
00:14:54.343 --> 00:14:55.644
and I'm not uncommon,
338
00:14:55.644 --> 00:14:57.913
but I got through army with no big injuries,
339
00:14:57.913 --> 00:15:01.496
no mental health issues, so I'm very lucky.
340
00:15:02.766 --> 00:15:05.166
But then you gave some of these artists who use their art
341
00:15:05.166 --> 00:15:08.508
to express themselves as part of their therapy,
342
00:15:08.508 --> 00:15:10.989
and as part of their release.
343
00:15:10.989 --> 00:15:12.540
Yeah, I know.
344
00:15:12.540 --> 00:15:15.169
Absolutely. And it's great to engage with them
345
00:15:15.169 --> 00:15:18.358
because they're doing their art for different reasons
346
00:15:18.358 --> 00:15:20.108
the way I did my art.
347
00:15:21.209 --> 00:15:22.158
Perfect.
348
00:15:22.158 --> 00:15:25.728
So one thing we do get asked a bit on social media,
349
00:15:25.728 --> 00:15:29.007
obviously with photographers, is equipment and
350
00:15:29.007 --> 00:15:30.801
technicalities.
351
00:15:30.801 --> 00:15:32.921
So did you want to tell us
352
00:15:32.921 --> 00:15:35.070
about your selected equipment,
353
00:15:35.070 --> 00:15:37.330
and the style of photography you prefer?
354
00:15:37.330 --> 00:15:38.979
Oh, I'd love a Canon sponsorship,
355
00:15:38.979 --> 00:15:39.812
if that's what you're after, Tara.
356
00:15:39.812 --> 00:15:42.620
(Tara laughs) We know some people.
357
00:15:42.620 --> 00:15:45.986
(Glen laughs)
358
00:15:45.986 --> 00:15:48.197
I've got old SLRs,
359
00:15:48.197 --> 00:15:51.666
I've still got my original SLR camera,
360
00:15:51.666 --> 00:15:55.997
the old film camera, with the original Canon lenses.
361
00:15:55.997 --> 00:15:59.414
And so I stayed in the whole Canon world.
362
00:16:00.266 --> 00:16:03.295
So I've got a couple of Canon DSLRs that I use.
363
00:16:03.295 --> 00:16:06.258
They were predominantly sports cameras,
364
00:16:06.258 --> 00:16:07.710
so high frame rates,
365
00:16:07.710 --> 00:16:09.500
but not great for the creative stuff.
366
00:16:09.500 --> 00:16:12.759
And so I don't have great gear,
367
00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:15.708
and I've got a little bit of lighting, no great studio,
368
00:16:15.708 --> 00:16:17.019
a little bit of garage work, really,
369
00:16:17.019 --> 00:16:20.271
with some good black screens and green screens.
370
00:16:20.271 --> 00:16:23.104
So I don't have a lot of good kit,
371
00:16:23.979 --> 00:16:28.231
by photographer standards, but you make do.
372
00:16:28.231 --> 00:16:33.231
And it's surprising what you can do with old camera gear
373
00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:36.648
and a little bit of creativity, and a decent light source,
374
00:16:36.648 --> 00:16:39.093
although my light source is not great today.
375
00:16:39.093 --> 00:16:41.146
Not up to Hector's standards. (Tara laughs)
376
00:16:41.146 --> 00:16:46.146
(Glen laughs) So Canon gear, but older Canon gear.
377
00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:49.226
And I guess a photographer's eye
378
00:16:50.253 --> 00:16:52.090
is probably my best bit of kit.
379
00:16:52.090 --> 00:16:55.004
And what do you think is your style,
380
00:16:55.004 --> 00:16:58.272
your preferred style is portraiture or?
381
00:16:58.272 --> 00:17:01.741
So I've always said I'm not a portrait photographer.
382
00:17:01.741 --> 00:17:04.271
And then all of a sudden, in a period of 12 months,
383
00:17:04.271 --> 00:17:06.844
I've got three portraits hanging up in different places.
384
00:17:06.844 --> 00:17:07.692
(Tara laughs)
385
00:17:07.692 --> 00:17:09.460
And I still don't think I'm a portrait photographer,
386
00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:11.895
and I've often said I'm not a people person,
387
00:17:11.895 --> 00:17:13.751
I preferred animals.
388
00:17:13.751 --> 00:17:17.631
So I gravitated towards pet photography and race cars,
389
00:17:17.631 --> 00:17:19.623
or things that you didn't have to engage the humans
390
00:17:19.623 --> 00:17:20.540
so much in.
391
00:17:21.673 --> 00:17:23.743
But surprisingly,
392
00:17:23.743 --> 00:17:27.091
I'm becoming more of a portrait photographer.
393
00:17:27.091 --> 00:17:29.732
Although I don't consider myself a portrait photographer,
394
00:17:29.732 --> 00:17:30.953
if that makes sense.
395
00:17:30.953 --> 00:17:32.371
I thought there was the whole,
396
00:17:32.371 --> 00:17:33.905
I'll never work with children and animals.
397
00:17:33.905 --> 00:17:35.331
You're the opposite.
398
00:17:35.331 --> 00:17:37.433
You're like, work with the animals, not the peeps.
399
00:17:37.433 --> 00:17:38.563
Well, definitely.
400
00:17:38.563 --> 00:17:41.422
And you'll see no children on my social media at all,
401
00:17:41.422 --> 00:17:42.255
because I'm that way.
402
00:17:42.255 --> 00:17:43.382
(Tara laughs)
403
00:17:43.382 --> 00:17:45.133
But I do enjoy being around animals.
404
00:17:45.133 --> 00:17:48.171
And even when I took that photo of Paul Murcott,
405
00:17:48.171 --> 00:17:51.763
I found that by engaging through his animal,
406
00:17:51.763 --> 00:17:54.093
through RJ, his beautiful dog,
407
00:17:54.093 --> 00:17:55.841
it was easier for me to engage with him.
408
00:17:55.841 --> 00:17:57.356
So as a photographer,
409
00:17:57.356 --> 00:17:59.886
I am guilty of hiding behind my camera sometimes.
410
00:17:59.886 --> 00:18:01.436
And then as a pet lover,
411
00:18:01.436 --> 00:18:05.353
I'll use animals to engage with another person.
412
00:18:07.746 --> 00:18:09.718
And so I guess I'm a little bit introverted like that,
413
00:18:09.718 --> 00:18:12.238
but it's my safe zone being around animals.
414
00:18:12.238 --> 00:18:16.488
And so recently I was involved in Pets in The Park.
415
00:18:17.358 --> 00:18:19.366
It's a great charity here in Canberra
416
00:18:19.366 --> 00:18:22.156
and a few other capital cities
417
00:18:22.156 --> 00:18:25.849
where vets take care of the animals or homeless people.
418
00:18:25.849 --> 00:18:27.536
And so I would go to Pets in The Park
419
00:18:27.536 --> 00:18:29.116
and take photos of the pets,
420
00:18:29.116 --> 00:18:31.438
but then bring hard copies of the pet photos
421
00:18:31.438 --> 00:18:32.940
to the homeless people when they come back
422
00:18:32.940 --> 00:18:34.386
from the monthly clinics.
423
00:18:34.386 --> 00:18:37.915
But engaging with that person through their animal
424
00:18:37.915 --> 00:18:40.580
and then talking to them was the best way I found
425
00:18:40.580 --> 00:18:43.747
to get through my issue around people.
426
00:18:44.729 --> 00:18:49.646
And probably for the person you're photographing as well.
427
00:18:52.508 --> 00:18:54.655
A lot of people, if my dog doesn't like you,
428
00:18:54.655 --> 00:18:56.082
there's that animal instinct.
429
00:18:56.082 --> 00:18:57.763
Absolutely.
430
00:18:57.763 --> 00:18:58.605
I'm touched I haven't found an animal
431
00:18:58.605 --> 00:18:59.438
that doesn't like me yet.
432
00:18:59.438 --> 00:19:03.540
(Tara laughs) So any secret tips or hints
433
00:19:03.540 --> 00:19:06.048
you could give to people that are aspiring photographers
434
00:19:06.048 --> 00:19:08.798
out there that want to one day hang in PPP,
435
00:19:08.798 --> 00:19:11.818
or make photography their career?
436
00:19:11.818 --> 00:19:14.740
One of the things I'm learning more and more lately
437
00:19:14.740 --> 00:19:16.407
is to park your ego.
438
00:19:17.826 --> 00:19:21.497
I've taken some nice photos lately that I've thought
439
00:19:21.497 --> 00:19:24.367
were worth more than what the judges thought
440
00:19:24.367 --> 00:19:26.237
they were worth.
441
00:19:26.237 --> 00:19:30.169
And then getting my head around that and seeing what did
442
00:19:30.169 --> 00:19:31.687
make the judges' eye,
443
00:19:31.687 --> 00:19:34.068
and why did that make the judges' eye
444
00:19:34.068 --> 00:19:36.107
is something that I've had to come to grips with and say,
445
00:19:36.107 --> 00:19:39.436
well, just because I like the photo doesn't mean
446
00:19:39.436 --> 00:19:40.756
it's good art.
447
00:19:40.756 --> 00:19:42.486
Art is so subjective.
448
00:19:42.486 --> 00:19:45.767
And so it's not a black and white, it's not binary.
449
00:19:45.767 --> 00:19:48.736
It doesn't matter if it's in focus or not
450
00:19:48.736 --> 00:19:50.676
if it doesn't tell the story that the judges
451
00:19:50.676 --> 00:19:51.988
are looking for.
452
00:19:51.988 --> 00:19:55.076
And so learning now that, okay,
453
00:19:55.076 --> 00:19:57.185
I've had a few setbacks with what I thought were
454
00:19:57.185 --> 00:19:59.457
good photos, but that shouldn't stop me
455
00:19:59.457 --> 00:20:01.767
from continuing to do photos,
456
00:20:01.767 --> 00:20:04.257
and continue to submit them and put myself out there.
457
00:20:04.257 --> 00:20:06.228
It's putting yourself out there, parking the ego,
458
00:20:06.228 --> 00:20:08.036
I think is a really important part
459
00:20:08.036 --> 00:20:11.237
to growing as a photographer.
460
00:20:11.237 --> 00:20:14.047
So my advice is park the ego, get out there, take photos,
461
00:20:14.047 --> 00:20:18.526
share the photos, they deserve to be shared, I think,
462
00:20:18.526 --> 00:20:20.607
and see what comes with it.
463
00:20:20.607 --> 00:20:22.536
Awesome. Good advice.
464
00:20:22.536 --> 00:20:25.719
So is there any photographers or artists
465
00:20:25.719 --> 00:20:29.052
that inspire you or that you look up to?
466
00:20:30.247 --> 00:20:31.885
There is a veteran artist,
467
00:20:31.885 --> 00:20:34.057
he's a painter who I had met
468
00:20:34.057 --> 00:20:36.623
through the Napier Waller Award,
469
00:20:36.623 --> 00:20:38.838
a fellow by the name of Mike Armstrong.
470
00:20:38.838 --> 00:20:41.207
So he's a current serving chap,
471
00:20:41.207 --> 00:20:44.428
quite open about his struggle with PTSD,
472
00:20:44.428 --> 00:20:46.876
but he's a brilliant painter.
473
00:20:46.876 --> 00:20:50.887
And he was an artist before he joined the army,
474
00:20:50.887 --> 00:20:53.105
and he's carried it up all the way through.
475
00:20:53.105 --> 00:20:58.046
So listening and learning from Mike Armstrong has helped me
476
00:20:58.046 --> 00:21:00.108
get over some of my own biases
477
00:21:00.108 --> 00:21:02.127
about what's art and what's not art,
478
00:21:02.127 --> 00:21:06.127
and why do people put brush to canvas sometimes?
479
00:21:07.384 --> 00:21:09.967
When even though you might think that looks like shit.
480
00:21:09.967 --> 00:21:12.809
it wasn't about what I perceive of that image,
481
00:21:12.809 --> 00:21:16.257
it's what that person felt about putting that image down.
482
00:21:16.257 --> 00:21:19.916
And so parking my ego and seeing them
483
00:21:19.916 --> 00:21:21.405
has been something that Mike Armstrong
484
00:21:21.405 --> 00:21:23.534
has helped mentor me through.
485
00:21:23.534 --> 00:21:26.199
So you look up Mike Armstrong, he's on social media.
486
00:21:26.199 --> 00:21:27.655
Shout out to Mike.
487
00:21:27.655 --> 00:21:30.108
Big shout out to Mike, he's a brilliant artist,
488
00:21:30.108 --> 00:21:33.519
painter, photographer, and sculptor.
489
00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:34.352
Wow.
490
00:21:34.352 --> 00:21:37.447
He does all the disciplines, and he's so good at it.
491
00:21:37.447 --> 00:21:39.675
Well, you do water colour as well, right?
492
00:21:39.675 --> 00:21:42.287
I do. I've been guilty a little bit more recently
493
00:21:42.287 --> 00:21:45.737
of doing lots of pet watercolours.
494
00:21:45.737 --> 00:21:48.325
I'm sticking to the dog theme sometimes,
495
00:21:48.325 --> 00:21:51.754
but I'm just trying to learn different mediums
496
00:21:51.754 --> 00:21:54.055
to exercise different parts of the brain,
497
00:21:54.055 --> 00:21:55.553
and see light differently.
498
00:21:55.553 --> 00:21:58.407
I did some art classes with a lady by the name of
499
00:21:58.407 --> 00:22:01.719
Valentyna Crane, she's a Canberra lady,
500
00:22:01.719 --> 00:22:04.846
but from a Russian background.
501
00:22:04.846 --> 00:22:07.097
She's a brilliant Canberra artist,
502
00:22:07.097 --> 00:22:09.399
paints beautiful scenaries of Canberra.
503
00:22:09.399 --> 00:22:10.577
And she was running art classes
504
00:22:10.577 --> 00:22:13.005
at the Humble House Gallery out of Fyshwick,
505
00:22:13.005 --> 00:22:15.468
and she taught me to look at light
506
00:22:15.468 --> 00:22:16.447
in a different way.
507
00:22:16.447 --> 00:22:19.017
So photographers look at light
508
00:22:19.017 --> 00:22:21.396
and sketches, like her would look at shadows.
509
00:22:21.396 --> 00:22:24.068
She's all about adding shadow to an image to create
510
00:22:24.068 --> 00:22:26.716
the depth, whereas I was always about adding extra lights,
511
00:22:26.716 --> 00:22:28.836
you sought some dark and add light to it.
512
00:22:28.836 --> 00:22:32.287
And so seeing something in totally reverse
513
00:22:32.287 --> 00:22:35.697
to the way I do things as photographer
514
00:22:35.697 --> 00:22:38.885
has helped me look more for shadow rather than light.
515
00:22:38.885 --> 00:22:39.817
Interesting.
516
00:22:39.817 --> 00:22:43.628
And so I think that's going to hopefully pay up.
517
00:22:43.628 --> 00:22:45.217
A few years ago here at the Portrait Gallery,
518
00:22:45.217 --> 00:22:48.193
we did have a show called Popular Pets.
519
00:22:48.193 --> 00:22:50.748
That was all portraits of pets.
520
00:22:50.748 --> 00:22:53.348
So you can go online and have a look at it on our website,
521
00:22:53.348 --> 00:22:54.797
it's pretty cool.
522
00:22:54.797 --> 00:22:57.367
All right, absolutely.
523
00:22:57.367 --> 00:22:59.735
The whole pets as people.
524
00:22:59.735 --> 00:23:02.846
Well, some of my pet shots, they're known as underbellies
525
00:23:02.846 --> 00:23:04.956
where I take a photo of a dog or a cat
526
00:23:04.956 --> 00:23:07.225
from underneath a sheet of glass.
527
00:23:07.225 --> 00:23:10.420
And so it's totally a belly oriented look
528
00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:12.367
with a dog looking down from the glass.
529
00:23:12.367 --> 00:23:13.508
It's quite unusual.
530
00:23:13.508 --> 00:23:15.956
So underbelly photos, some people love it,
531
00:23:15.956 --> 00:23:17.479
and some people think it's a little bit weird.
532
00:23:17.479 --> 00:23:20.279
(Tara Laughs) All right.
533
00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:24.196
Can you remember the first photo you ever took?
534
00:23:26.308 --> 00:23:27.904
I can, actually.
535
00:23:27.904 --> 00:23:31.321
So I bought a camera before Expo in 1988,
536
00:23:32.765 --> 00:23:36.335
when they had it at South Bank in Brisbane.
537
00:23:36.335 --> 00:23:38.918
before your time, though, Tara.
538
00:23:40.096 --> 00:23:41.999
Are you surprised? (Tara laughs)
539
00:23:41.999 --> 00:23:43.748
(Glen laughs) It was one of those school trips.
540
00:23:43.748 --> 00:23:45.876
I was in school, but the school trip
541
00:23:45.876 --> 00:23:48.754
from where I grew up in the Coffs Harbour area,
542
00:23:48.754 --> 00:23:51.927
did a couple of day trip up to Expo 88,
543
00:23:51.927 --> 00:23:53.017
and I bought a camera,
544
00:23:53.017 --> 00:23:55.225
and it was my first time ever photographing.
545
00:23:55.225 --> 00:23:57.017
It was all those foreign pavilions,
546
00:23:57.017 --> 00:23:58.428
and the Japanese pavilions,
547
00:23:58.428 --> 00:24:00.486
and just the scenery along South Bank
548
00:24:00.486 --> 00:24:03.567
when it was a fresh brand new expo site.
549
00:24:03.567 --> 00:24:06.737
So my first ever photos were really of
550
00:24:06.737 --> 00:24:08.668
that when I was still in school.
551
00:24:08.668 --> 00:24:10.276
That's awesome.
552
00:24:10.276 --> 00:24:13.026
The little Kodak 35 mil camera.
553
00:24:14.207 --> 00:24:15.828
And what about dream subjects?
554
00:24:15.828 --> 00:24:18.895
If you could photograph anyone in the world past,
555
00:24:18.895 --> 00:24:20.228
present, future,
556
00:24:21.127 --> 00:24:24.608
who do you think you'd want to get in front of your camera?
557
00:24:24.608 --> 00:24:28.575
I follow Peter Souza, who is the White House photographer.
558
00:24:28.575 --> 00:24:31.257
And in particular, he took some amazing photos
559
00:24:31.257 --> 00:24:35.247
of Barack Obama during his White House years.
560
00:24:35.247 --> 00:24:39.414
And I've always wanted to spend time with somebody
561
00:24:40.567 --> 00:24:43.748
who is a world leader or something like that,
562
00:24:43.748 --> 00:24:45.765
and just follow their daily routine,
563
00:24:45.765 --> 00:24:49.267
and take those candid snaps of things
564
00:24:49.267 --> 00:24:50.856
that were going on in there,
565
00:24:50.856 --> 00:24:52.916
what would have been their daily routine,
566
00:24:52.916 --> 00:24:56.162
but would have been world changing events.
567
00:24:56.162 --> 00:24:58.562
And people easily recognise that person and think,
568
00:24:58.562 --> 00:25:00.493
"Okay, well, that's an amazing shot."
569
00:25:00.493 --> 00:25:02.910
So somebody like a president,
570
00:25:04.344 --> 00:25:06.282
or a prime minister, or somebody
571
00:25:06.282 --> 00:25:09.544
who is so well known that you spend the day shooting
572
00:25:09.544 --> 00:25:12.662
all of those candid moments behind the scenes,
573
00:25:12.662 --> 00:25:15.064
not just the handshakes in front of the podium,
574
00:25:15.064 --> 00:25:17.312
that's the sort of thing I think I'd love to do.
575
00:25:17.312 --> 00:25:19.394
That sounds awesome.
576
00:25:19.394 --> 00:25:21.326
Do you have any shout outs
577
00:25:21.326 --> 00:25:22.493
or thank yous?
578
00:25:25.945 --> 00:25:27.395
Obviously to Paul.
579
00:25:27.395 --> 00:25:28.228
Absolutely.
580
00:25:28.228 --> 00:25:29.174
So Paul's been a champion.
581
00:25:29.174 --> 00:25:32.714
When I spoke to Paul and said, "Can I use your image?"
582
00:25:32.714 --> 00:25:34.893
And I had to do it all virtually to get consent.
583
00:25:34.893 --> 00:25:36.766
He was really supportive because it was about getting
584
00:25:36.766 --> 00:25:38.954
Shona Mai's story out as well.
585
00:25:38.954 --> 00:25:42.966
But really, I'd like to have a huge shout out to Tara, you,
586
00:25:42.966 --> 00:25:45.675
and the other team members.
587
00:25:45.675 --> 00:25:49.763
From the moment we contributed images and the feedback
588
00:25:49.763 --> 00:25:51.554
and the engagement we've had
589
00:25:51.554 --> 00:25:54.174
from everybody at Portrait Gallery,
590
00:25:54.174 --> 00:25:56.235
there's been such a positive experience.
591
00:25:56.235 --> 00:25:58.924
I just can't get over how professional,
592
00:25:58.924 --> 00:26:01.606
but how engaging everybody is.
593
00:26:01.606 --> 00:26:03.892
You can just tell everybody just loves their job,
594
00:26:03.892 --> 00:26:05.497
so big shout out to all of you.
595
00:26:05.497 --> 00:26:07.195
Thanks so much. I think that's it.
596
00:26:07.195 --> 00:26:09.187
We all really care about our enterprise as well,
597
00:26:09.187 --> 00:26:11.447
so I know with the other guys as well,
598
00:26:11.447 --> 00:26:12.654
it's one of our favourite parts,
599
00:26:12.654 --> 00:26:13.966
getting to meet the people,
600
00:26:13.966 --> 00:26:18.017
because you're building something together.
601
00:26:18.017 --> 00:26:21.238
And you would have seen people come through different
602
00:26:21.238 --> 00:26:22.697
exhibits a number of times.
603
00:26:22.697 --> 00:26:25.377
There's a lot of artists out there who are repeat offenders,
604
00:26:25.377 --> 00:26:27.046
they'll keep on popping up.
605
00:26:27.046 --> 00:26:30.026
And so I'm hoping I become a repeat offender, Tara,
606
00:26:30.026 --> 00:26:31.216
and you get to see me again.
607
00:26:31.216 --> 00:26:34.745
Yeah, maybe then you can show me this Papa Smurf photo.
608
00:26:34.745 --> 00:26:37.995
(laughs) Careful what you wish for, Tara.
609
00:26:37.995 --> 00:26:41.117
(Tara laughs) All right. So we're nearly finished.
610
00:26:41.117 --> 00:26:44.984
What about your parting words of wisdom?
611
00:26:44.984 --> 00:26:48.211
To finish up, any words of wisdom from you?
612
00:26:48.211 --> 00:26:49.544
Life is short,
613
00:26:50.560 --> 00:26:52.823
so don't stress the little things,
614
00:26:52.823 --> 00:26:54.401
get out and enjoy it.
615
00:26:54.401 --> 00:26:56.513
One of the things I've always done is try to make the most
616
00:26:56.513 --> 00:26:58.012
of every day.
617
00:26:58.012 --> 00:27:00.983
And it's not always easy to do,
618
00:27:00.983 --> 00:27:02.455
but every day could be your last.
619
00:27:02.455 --> 00:27:03.473
I know that sounds terrible,
620
00:27:03.473 --> 00:27:06.252
but if you're living as if it could be your last,
621
00:27:06.252 --> 00:27:08.772
you'll enjoy life so much more.
622
00:27:08.772 --> 00:27:10.924
It's about that positive outlook.
623
00:27:10.924 --> 00:27:13.601
I know I'm a positive person.
624
00:27:13.601 --> 00:27:15.255
It's not just me thinking I am,
625
00:27:15.255 --> 00:27:19.755
I am a positive person and I'm fortunate enough to see
626
00:27:20.804 --> 00:27:22.553
the positivity in other things
627
00:27:22.553 --> 00:27:24.513
and enjoy it as much as I can.
628
00:27:24.513 --> 00:27:28.346
So live everyday like it's your last, I think.