Newsletter Editor: Ian Brown PH 0403 036 119 E: ian@bforbrown.com.au
Page 3 From your Secretary Elaine Herbert ARPS Page 4 Welcome from the Editor – Ian Brown
Page 6
Convenor’s Corner – Rob Morgan ARPS
Page 20 RPS Australia – Mentor program
Page 8
Page 22 Members’ Gallery
5 DIG Group Special offer Page 18 Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2025
Page 24 What’s on in September?
From your Secretary
Elaine Herbert ARPS
Hon Secretary, Australian Chapter
Chapter Activities
We have some new events being organised for our Chapter members.
• First, the RPS Digital Imaging Group is making a special offer of free entry to all Australian RPS members to join its September webinar. The presenter is an Australian photographer, Mieke Boynton, which will be especially interesting for us. Her topic is The Art of Abstracts – it sounds fascinating. Note that you must register beforehand and the Zoom link will be sent to you, then you can view the webinar at a time most convenient for you. Full details are on page 5 of this Newsletter. Our warm thanks to Janet Haines ARPS, DIG Chair, for this great offer.
• Next, the Chapter is initiating a Mentoring Program for our members. It’s to be a six-month program linking members who are more experienced photographers with those seeking to improve their technical and creative skills. See page 20 for details.
• And we’re delighted to give advance notice that in November Gigi Williams ASIS FRPS and Robin Williams ASIS FRPS will be giving us an
online presentation which they’ve titled ‘Fifty Shades of Grey – the sordid secrets of the darkroom’. It will be all about working in Black-andWhite, including Infrared. Make a note for 7.30pm, Wed 12 November in your diaries now!
RPS AGM
We have received email notice of the RPS AGM to be held online on Saturday 20 September, at 10.00am UK time – which is 7.00pm AEST so it’s a very manageable time for us too. You must register by 18 September in order to attend this virtual AGM. See the recent email of 26 August reminding us of the meeting and giving a link for registering. That email also gives links to the agenda and papers for the AGM. As well as the usual business part of the AGM, the RPS Members Awards will be announced, and the meeting will conclude with the President’s Annual Address.
New Member
We have another new RPS member in Australia, Bernard Oliver of Carters Ridge, Queensland. Welcome on board, Bernard, and we hope you will get much pleasure and stimulation from your RPS membership and our local Chapter activities.
Acting Honorary Secretary
I’m planning a trip to the UK (and places beyond) in October, and I’m most grateful that one of our Chapter Committee, Jacky Lee (email sklphotography@gmail.com), has agreed to step in as Acting Hon Sec while I’m away. Thank you, Jacky. That’s really appreciated.
Welcome from the Editor
Ian Brown
Editor, Australian Chapter
Later in the newsletter, we will introduce our new mentor program. I highly recommend becoming a mentor. I’ve been part of the Australian Graphic Design Association mentor program before, and it’s fulfilling to help develop others. If you have extensive knowledge to share, please consider becoming a mentor. It doesn’t require much time, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy passing on your wisdom.
We also have an online presentation scheduled for November. Robin and Gigi Williams have kindly agreed to lead the talk. To the right is a teaser. Keep an eye out for more information soon.
Save the date: on-line live presentation 12 November 19:30 AEST
Fifty shades of grey – the sordid secrets of the darkroom
Gigi & Robin Williams
Against the ever-present background of millions of hypersaturated, colourful images, real and imagined, there has been a curious resurgence of interest in black-and-white photography, both analogue and digital. In what promises to be another of
Specifications for contributors
When sending images for the Newsletter, the only requirement is that they are jpeg or png. Images can be 300 ppi and up to A4. Don’t forget you can also add captions for your images. If you don’t include a caption, we’ll assume you don’t need one.
Email images to ian@bforbrown.com.au and keep those pixels and captions coming in! For non-image files (e.g. PDFs), under 5 MB is preferred and never 10 MB or more. If your images are too big to email, I have created a Dropbox folder you can upload
their highly informative and entertaining presentations, Gigi and Robin (both Fellows of the Society) will talk to us about everything monochrome including infra-red. Why is the black-and-white image so engaging? How to go about making great monochrome images? This presentation will address these and many other questions about black-andwhite photography. Save the date in your diary for this ‘not-to-be-missed’ evening!
your images to. Email me for permission, and I’ll grant access to the folder. I will need to delete your images once I have downloaded them.
Deadline for contributions to the next issue is 23 September 2025.
DIG Offer to Australian members
Janet Haines ARPS Chair Digital Imaging Group
We often wonder why more international members do not take advantage of the Digital Imaging Group’s high quality webinars to everyone, no matter their time zone.
Once a month the Group holds a Saturday afternoon (16.00 London time) webinar. We book the very best international presenters and aim to inspire photographers everywhere. To make this available to everyone we record the sessions and for those who register we send out a follow up email which contains the link to the recording. So you can watch at whatever time suits you. Usually, these webinars are free
for Digital Imaging Group members; a small charge is made for RPS members.
In September our presenter is Australian photographer Mieke Boynton (see below). To celebrate having an Australian speaker we are inviting all members of the Australian Chapter to join us for FREE. To obtain your free ticket, simply register as a DI Member and send a short email to our volunteer who monitors bookings – Click here to email and just tell us you are an Australian Chapter member. If you fail to email then you will get a personalised email asking you to amend your booking.
If you receive that again just remind us that you are an Australian Chapter member. To read more about Mieke’s talk and to register please click here
We hope you can join us in September for what we’re sure will be a really interesting talk.
Convenor’s Corner
Rob Morgan ARPS
A View from the Train
I was reminded recently of the lyrics from that old (1936) film with Fred Astaire, ‘Follow the Fleet’ in which he and the crew sang “We joined the navy to see the world. And what did we see? We saw the sea.”
My experience was quite the opposite, though I wasn’t at sea. I was crossing Australia from north to south on The
Ghan train from Darwin to Adelaide with Lucy, at the end of July. In that direction it’s a three day journey, with stops at Katherine, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy. So what did we see? We saw no sea (of sand), saw Katherine, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy! For some odd reason (perhaps it was the photographs in the ads for the
Ghan, designed to get people to book the journey) we expected to ‘see the sea’: to actually see some of the vast central Australia landscape we were travelling through. But most of the time when the train was moving, it was night time. So unless we got up early for breakfast (when the train hadn’t had enough time to sneak into
Todd River Gum Trees
The Breakaways
the siding at Alice Springs or Coober Pedy) most of what we saw from the train in daylight was static and unexciting.
We did get off the train at the three stops and travel to various interesting places in daylight, but that was by coach. I guess they would get no one to book the train trip if they said “Book The Ghan and see central Australia from the comfort of your very own seat on a coach”.
That said, there were some memorable highlights.
Katherine Gorge is spectacular and the late afternoon light was good for photography. The part of Alice Springs we saw was
more low key, but the parkland around the dry Todd River, with its old gum trees was interesting for the patterns and shades of light (Note, if you go there: Alice Springs reportedly has more snakes per square inch than anywhere else in Australia, so don’t go wandering off amongst the rocks or grass without wearing trousers. I stayed on the paths).
The opal mining town of Coober Pedy is unique, with its underground residences and underground Serbian Orthodox Church. Nearby is a scenic area called ‘The Breakaways’. Having seen quite a few photos of this
area by others at camera club competition nights over the years, I had low expectations. But it was spectacular, with its eroded cliffs and patterns of clay. It was a real highlight of the trip.
All of which prompts me to ask: is there anywhere you have recently been to, and by chance you took a camera? If so, our Editor Ian – and other members, I am sure – would love you to send through a few images (or maybe just your favourite one) for us to enjoy in the pages of the Newsletter.
Katherine Gorge
Fig.6: Nude in the studio
Lifeforce in Focus:
Ballarat International Foto Biennale
Ian Brown
As the crisp air settles over the gold rush city of Ballarat, its grand 19th-century streetscapes and quiet blue stone laneways begin to transform. Shop fronts turn into miniature galleries, historic halls hum with openings, and for eight weeks, the city comes alive with images. This is the Ballarat International Foto Biennale (BIFB), an event that has, since its inception in 2005, developed into one of Australia’s most ambitious celebrations of photography.
Founded by photographer Jeff Moorfoot and originally held in Daylesford, the festival
moved to Ballarat in 2009 and has flourished. What was once a small regional gathering is now a festival of international stature, attracting artists and audiences from around the globe. For many, the Biennale is more than just an exhibition; it’s a pilgrimage – an opportunity to immerse oneself in photography’s power to shape stories and challenge perceptions.
The 2025 Biennale, running from 23 August to 19 October, takes its theme from a single resonant word: “Lifeforce.” It’s a concept suggesting both vitality and resilience – the unseen
energy that connects people and sustains communities.
That idea pulses through the festival’s roster of over 360 artists, whose works spill across galleries, laneways, and unexpected corners of the city.
At the heart of this year’s program is Campbell Addy, the British – Ghanaian artist who has shaken up the worlds of fashion and portraiture. His exhibition I Love Campbell, staged inside the Ballarat Mining Exchange, is a blend of self-portrait and cultural statement. Combining vivid photography with original paintings and a short film shot
in Ghana, Addy invites viewers into an intimate dialogue with his heritage, identity, and the multiple selves he inhabits.
Commissioned especially for Ballarat, the show is immersive, deeply personal, and as stylishly executed as his celebrated editorial work for magazines like Dazed and i-D.
Addy’s presence in Ballarat feels more than just headlineworthy. His keynote address and screening of his film Feeling Seen are expected to spark discussions about representation and visibility in photography, themes central to his work.
“Photography isn’t just about the image,” Addy has said elsewhere, “it’s about what it can hold for the person being seen.”
The Biennale isn’t just about
one artist. Work from Brian O'Dwyer, Leicolhn McKellar, Annelìse Seréna Belladonna, and Jesse Marlow to name a few animate Ballarat’s streets, while international talents such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Catherine Leroy, Lê Nguyên Ph‘o‘ng, Maria Fernanda Cardoso and Hiromi Tango push the program beyond Australia’s borders. Their works adorn walls, project onto buildings, or hide in the corners of shopfronts and bars.
The festival’s spirit of experimentation is also evident in its embrace of new technology. The Prompted Peculiar International AI Prize invites audiences to explore the challenges and provocations of AI-generated imagery, a
reminder that photography has always involved balancing truth, artifice, and imagination.
Workshops and masterclasses ensure the Biennale remains a participatory event. From street photography lessons using just a flashgun to intimate portrait sessions, the Biennale functions as both school and showcase –a place to learn, experiment, and discover.
Walking through Ballarat during the Biennale, you feel the city itself becoming part of the exhibition. The National Centre for Photography, housed in the elegant former Union Bank, anchors the festival’s program. But equally impactful are the chance encounters: a striking portrait seen while grabbing a coffee, a surreal digital landscape pasted across a laneway, a family sharing a moment in front of a flickering projection on an old wall.
Two decades since it first began, the Biennale continues to show why photography matters. It captures beauty and weirdness, documents resilience and change, gives nascent talent a chance to shine on the public stage and brings people together across cultures and generations.
In 2025, under the banner “Lifeforce,” it reminds us that photography does more than record life, it brings it to life.
To find out more, check out the Biennale’s website.
Royal Photographic Society Australian Chapter – mentoring program
In our Chapter survey at the start of the year, we found that less experienced members wanted to learn from their peers. We also found that more experienced members are happy to share what they know.
How the program works
We are excited to announce the launch of a photography mentoring program, designed to connect experienced photographers with those who are eager to learn, grow, and develop their creative practice.
For mentors
This program will run for a maximum of six months and provide a structured but flexible framework for technical skills, creative development, and networking.
• Each mentoring relationship will include six meetings, each lasting around an hour.
• Meetings can be online or face-to-face if members are in the same city.
• Mentors and mentees will be matched based on their interests, goals, and areas of expertise.
• Both mentors and mentees will have the opportunity to shape their sessions to focus on the areas most important to them.
• Once members are paired, you will set the objectives for your sessions. You will work together to decide a suitable outcome for the mentee.
• Broaden your knowledge of each other’s work and their chosen areas of interest.
• Ideas for your time together could be to set practical exercises, critique existing work, or delve deep into a particular genre of photography.
• Meeting times and frequency will be set by the two of you to suit whatever works best.
We are seeking photographers who are willing to share their knowledge, insights, and experience. This is your chance to give back to the community by guiding emerging photographers, helping them avoid common pitfalls, and inspiring them to take their craft to the next level. You can help keep your mentees on track and check their progress. You can share inspiration and networking ideas and help keep your mentee motivated.
For mentees
Whether you are just starting out or looking to refine specific skills, this is an opportunity to gain personalised guidance from someone with experience. You’ll benefit from practical advice, experienced insight, and creative encouragement tailored to your goals. This program isn’t a training or planning program for RPS distinctions. If you are looking to start your Licentiate journey click here for the official RPS process.
How to get involved
If you would like to participate as a mentor or a mentee, please contact the editor with a short outline about yourself, including:
• What you can offer (if you would like to be a mentor).
• What would you like to gain from the program (if you would like to be a mentee)?
We’ll then work to connect mentors and mentees in the best possible way.
Why take part?
• Build stronger connections within the photography community.
• Share and develop valuable skills and knowledge.
• Gain fresh perspectives, creative energy, and new opportunities.
Be part of shaping the next generation of photographers If you’re interested in being a mentor or mentee, please contact the editor via email ian@bforbrown.com.au to register your interest.
Members’ Gallery
Palli Gajree OAM HonFRPS
Fig 1: Unknown
Fig: 2 Door bell
Fig 3: Rock Art
Members’ Gallery
Gigi Williams ASIS FRPS
Fig 1: Transient beauty
What’s on in September?
Festivals & exhibitions
Ballarat International Foto Biennale
Held in Ballarat, Victoria, this major festival runs from 23 August to 19 October with the 2025 theme “LIFEFORCE”, exploring powerful forces shaping life—from personal to political.
World Press Photo Exhibition 2025
Showing at the State Library of New South Wales (Sydney), this internationally touring showcase brings the winning photojournalism and documentary work of the past year.
“Turrangka… in the shadows”
by James Tylor
“Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency”
Two compelling photographic exhibitions currently on at the John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Perth – running from 4 July to 14 September.
Man Ray and Max Dupain
A landmark exhibition at the Heide Museum of Modern Art (Melbourne), running 6 August to 9 November 2025. Featuring more than 120 vintage prints, it explores the surrealist photography of Man Ray alongside Max Dupain’s modernist vision.
Competitions to enter
1. People First Bank Photographic Awards
Location: Australia-wide
Details: Open theme ("Open category"). Over $50,000 in prizes including cash and accolades Closing Date: 12 September
2. The Capture Awards
Location: Australia & New Zealand
Details: Celebrates top work across six categories (Portrait & People; Landscape & Environment; Wedding & Event; Advertising & Fashion; Documentary & Street; Art & Conceptual). Prizes exceed $25,000, and winning images appear in Capture magazine. Closing Date: 14 September
3. Nature in Focus Photography Competition
Organiser: Conservation Volunteers Australia Details: Open divisions include children, teens, smartphone users, and professionals. Themes focus on biodiversity, sustainability, and local species/habitats. People’s Choice and other awards available. Closing Date: 26 September
4. Terra Australis International Photography Exhibition (APS Salon)
Organiser: Australian Photographic Society (APS), also recognized by FIAP & GPU. Details: International open competition (amateurs and professionals welcome). Conducted via MyPhotoClub platform. Closing Date: 13 September
