Last night we went to the State Library for a special event with Lorrie Graham, famed Aussie photojournalist, to accompany their excellent exhibition of her work. She was hosted by fellow photographer Mike Bowers and they chatted for the better part of an hour about her long career. They are both engaging and passionate about their craft. I found myself wishing though that Lorrie would spill a bit more tea about some of the celebrities and big personalities she worked with over the years! But as Rodd pointed out, she isn’t dead and presumably would like to continue to work with some of those folks.
There were several gasps as she talked about the indignities of being the first female photography cadet at Fairfax. She only got the cadetship after years of trying, and mentioned offhand that one of the excuses for rejecting her was “there’s no women’s toilet on this floor.” Once she got in, she mentioned being assigned to cover the races and having to wear a dress to get into the members’ area, only to be forced to climb up on a ladder to get photos of the horses in the final turn. News Corp photographers took pictures up her skirt and had them blown up into a poster. 😐 When she worked in London, she mentioned being assigned the paparazzi-like project of getting a photo of the first test tube baby. She had to pose on the street as a council worker for a week in the hopes of seeing the family out for a stroll. (She said she failed miserably.)
She talked a bit about the famous googly-eyed photo of Bob Hawke from the Opera House. Apparently it was never published(!!)—her editor felt it was “too strong”—so the only reason it’s well known is because over the years she kept telling people it was her favourite. As Bowers put it, the fact that she has taken iconic photos of two Prime Ministers is just next level. She reckons Keating still has her Ray-Bans. 😂
She talked about some of the challenges of taking photos in countries like Russia or Fiji (during two coups!) in the pre-digital days, where government officials were actively trying to confiscate photos and fiilm. She talked about the special equipment they had to use to try to transmit photos over the phone lines, and having to hide the machine in bushes when her hotel room was being searched. She said that at times she resorted to going to airports and approaching tourists to carry film back to Australia! Definitely a dangerous business.
She ended by talking about what an honour it is to have her archive housed at the State Library. Mike asked her what she thought about AI scraping up all their work and using it to put photographers out of business. She said it’s horrifying. It’s hard enough to make a career as a working photographer, and now news rooms can just slop out an image rather than paying someone for it. She said that’s why she’s thrilled to have her work at the Library, because at least there it will be protected and available to future generations.
The exhibition will be open for the next year, so I highly recommend you check it out.
