David Tatnall (born 1955)[1] is a Melbourne photographer, known for his representation of the natural landscape.[2] Tatnall began his career as an artistic photographer in 1975. He works with both large format and pinhole camera techniques.[2] His work is in the same tradition as Peter Dombrovskis and Olegas Truchanas – in the past, Tatnall has worked with Dombrovskis.[3]
"I tend to go with no preconceived idea of what I'm going to photograph, other than I'm going to this particular location and I'll see what's there. I go mainly to experience the location, to experience the wilderness area, to go there on a walking trip and I take my camera. If I see things to make photographs, I'll stop and make photographs."[3]
The Monash Gallery of Art holds a famous 1986 work, 'Forest, Crows Foot Track, Rodger River, East Gippsland, Victoria'.[6] In 2014, Tatnall explained how the work was made and its subsequent impact.[7]
"On this ten-day trip I returned with twelve negatives; Forest at Crows Foot Track was the finest."[7]
Awards
Tatnall has been awarded a Life Time Contribution Award by Parks Victoria, and an Honorary Life Membership of the Victorian National Parks Association for his lasting influence on nature conservation in Victoria through photography.[8]
His photographs have become emblems of successful Australian nature conservation battles.[3][5]
Projects and activities
‘Land Bridge’: a series of photographs of the Victoria coast, Bass Strait Islands and Tasmania.[9]
‘Woodlands’: a series of photographs of ‘ordinary’ bush (hard to photograph non-iconic or monotonous landscape).[9]
A close association with the Merri Creek. Tatnall has had three solo exhibitions based on Merri Creek photographs over the past 30 years.[9]
Artist in Residence at the Alpine School Campus[10] and the Snowy River Campus,[11] School for Student Leadership. The School for Student Leadership is a Victorian government Department of Education and Training (DET) initiative. Over a twenty-year period, Tatnall estimates that he taught around 6000 students film photography.[9]
Workshops in large format photography, pinhole photography and landscape photography at the Gold Street Studios.[5]
The Last Summer: A series of large format photographs made of Royal Park, Melbourne in the summer of 2013 – 2014. At that time the park was threatened by the planned construction of a major new freeway, the East West Link.[12]
Melbourne: Pinhole: A series of photographs of Melbourne made on an 8 x 10 pinhole camera. Funded by the Melbourne City Council.
Selected exhibitions
2017 Time and Tide, Colour Factory Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2015 Earth matters: contemporary photographers in the landscape, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia. Part of ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE 2015.
Review: Monash Gallery of Art photography exhibition explores the landscape of climate change, Dylan Rainforth, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 March 2015.
Review: Exhibition review by Christopher Deere: Royal Park – The Last Summer Archived 25 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Christopher Deere, Large Format Photography Australia, 19 March 2014.
Review: 'On an escalator from the Inferno to James Bond', Beatrice Faust, The Age, 30 March 1988.
Publications
Wild places of greater Melbourne , Robin Taylor (text); Richard Weatherly (illustrations); David Tatnall (photographs) and others, 1999, CSIRO Publishing, ISBN9780957747104.
Tracks through time: the Narracan walks book, John Wells (text); David Tatnall (photographs), 1988, Narracan Bicentennial Walks Book Committee.
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