Mervyn Bishop, Cousins Ralph and Jim Richardson, Having fun at Gundawera, a Sheep farm Located on the Darling River, near Brewarrina, New South Wales
Mervyn Bishop
1945-
Brewarrina
Date
1966
Medium Specific
Black and white photograph
Classification
Photograph
Dimensions
14 x 20 in. (35.6 x 50.8 cm)
Accession Number
2009.20.10.65
Credit
Gift of the Artist
Memo / Artist Statement
There are some special reasons for my interest in writing about photography. As the first professional Aboriginal photographer in Australia I have worked for over thirty-five years for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal organisations.
I learnt photography in the school of hard knocks, training as a news photographer with the Sydney Morning Herald in the mid-'60s. What I learnt first was how to get the picture the editor wanted. Years later, when working for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs as a staff photographer, I documented Aboriginal communities Australia-wide.
Throughout all this time I was too busy working to have time to stop and think about how photography related to myself, my family and, specifically to the Aboriginal communities I photographed. There were always specific photos to be taken, deadlines to meet. My relatively recent involvement in education has led me to want to understand much more about how photography relates to my own life and history.
I like to take photographs because it makes me feel good and I would like people to stay in the tradition of using the techniques that I came to know and love. Keep photography simple - ie. shooting, processing, printing and so on. There is a place for the new technologies of imagery, and that is to me progress, however it doesn't enthral me. It was magical watching a print that I had made come up in the developer for the first time in my life - I can never forget it. The smell of the darkroom, I was intoxicated by it all. I like to photograph people. Making them feel good about me taking their photograph makes me feel good too.
https://nga.gov.au/retake/artists/00000001.htm
I learnt photography in the school of hard knocks, training as a news photographer with the Sydney Morning Herald in the mid-'60s. What I learnt first was how to get the picture the editor wanted. Years later, when working for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs as a staff photographer, I documented Aboriginal communities Australia-wide.
Throughout all this time I was too busy working to have time to stop and think about how photography related to myself, my family and, specifically to the Aboriginal communities I photographed. There were always specific photos to be taken, deadlines to meet. My relatively recent involvement in education has led me to want to understand much more about how photography relates to my own life and history.
I like to take photographs because it makes me feel good and I would like people to stay in the tradition of using the techniques that I came to know and love. Keep photography simple - ie. shooting, processing, printing and so on. There is a place for the new technologies of imagery, and that is to me progress, however it doesn't enthral me. It was magical watching a print that I had made come up in the developer for the first time in my life - I can never forget it. The smell of the darkroom, I was intoxicated by it all. I like to photograph people. Making them feel good about me taking their photograph makes me feel good too.
https://nga.gov.au/retake/artists/00000001.htm
Biography
Mervyn Bishop was born in Brewarrina, New South Wales in 1945. Bishop commenced a four year photography cadetship with the Sydney Morning Herald in 1962 (where he worked for seventeen years), becoming Australia's first Aboriginal press photographer. During this period he also completed a Photography Certificate Course at Sydney Technical College, where he remains, to this day, the first (and only) Aboriginal person to complete the course.
https://nga.gov.au/retake/artists/00000001.htm
https://nga.gov.au/retake/artists/00000001.htm
Date of Bio