John Ogden (photographer)

Last updated

John "Oggy" Ogden is an Australian photographer, cinematographer, writer and publisher, whose wide ranging career has encompassed producing television commercials, international documentary making, music video production, drama, and fine art photography.

Contents

Early life

Ogden, also known as Oggy, was born in South Australia of Anglo-Irish descent, [1] and may also have some Palawa heritage. He has worked all over the world, his projects spanning diverse cultures and nations including SE Asia, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Europe, South America, the USA, and Indigenous Australia. [2] His work with imagery associated with Aboriginal Australians resulted in the books Australienation (1999), and Portraits From A Land Without People, released in 2009 to coincide with the first anniversary of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples. [1]

Education and early career

Ogden began his career as a photo-journalist, and continued his personal development by completing an English degree, with a focus on film history and theory. [1] [3] After graduating in 1979, Ogden began his career in filmmaking and advertising.

Work in film and documentary

Ogden credits his documentary filmmaking experience with giving him a good sense of natural lighting, as well as the invaluable experience of witnessing how real people behave in a variety of situations. [2] Notable credits include work as Director of Photography on As Time Goes By, Bad Boy Bubby (second-unit, 1993) and Mission: Impossible (second-unit, 1988–89). His short film House of Sticks (2011) was screened at Flickerfest (Bondi Beach), HollyShorts (Los Angeles) and several other festivals. Some of his photographs and early 16mm footage appear in the award winning documentary Sea of Darkness.

Music video

Having acted as Director of Photography on over 50 music videos, Ogden has worked with many major artists including Prince, INXS, and Split Enz. [2] In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2007, he recounted the challenge of filming a video directed by Prince, having signed a contract which expressly prohibited conversation with the artist. [4] Ogden credits working in this medium as teaching innovation. [2]

Fine art photography

Since 2006 Ogden's work has focused on series of fine art photography, and extensive work with Aboriginal Australian imagery. His publishing company, Cyclops Press, began production with Australienation in 1999. Partly inspired by a conversation in which Ogden was upbraided whilst in England in his youth, [4] criticising the near genocide of the Aboriginal populations by the colonial immigrants, and subsequent culture clash, Ogden's 2008/9 work Portraits From A Land Without People is considered to be the most comprehensive pictorial history of the Aboriginal people of Australia produced, honouring fully the Aboriginal cultural code which requires permission to be granted by each individual in every picture. [1] To compile the book, and gain the appropriate permissions, Ogden travelled extensively over a four-year period, examining over 300,000 images, and visiting public libraries, galleries, museums and private collections in every state and territory in Australia. Ogden has described the dedication necessary to complete this task as a "beautiful obsession". [1]

In November 2011 Ogden released Saltwater People of the Broken Bays: Sydney's Northern Beaches, and in November 2012 released the companion book Saltwater People of the Fatal Shore: Sydney's Southern Beaches. Slightly Dangerous: The Cyclops' Cypher, published in May 2013, provides an insight into the inspirations and influences behind Ogden's work. [5] In his foreword to Slightly Dangerous, photographer Tim Page writes: "This is a life well travelled, of a baby boomer who surfs an existential path across six decades, waxing the best of nostalgia against the odds that are self mitigated by the excesses of those times. It is a heritage of the hippest, most gonzo ‘down-under’ attitudes, rendered by images we all wish we had snapped. As if Hunter S. Thompson and Richard Neville shuffled photo cards with Robert Frankian images throughout the deck".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Hurley</span> Australian photographer

James Francis "Frank" Hurley was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars. He was the official photographer for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition and the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–16.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Unaipon</span> Australian preacher, inventor & author

David Ngunaitponi, known as David Unaipon, was an Aboriginal Australian preacher, inventor, and author. A Ngarrindjeri man, his contribution to Australian society helped to break many stereotypes of Aboriginal people, and he is featured on the Australian $50 note in commemoration of his work. He was the son of preacher and writer James Unaipon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gulpilil</span> Aboriginal Australian actor and dancer (1953–2021)

David Dhalatnghu Gulpilil, known professionally as David Gulpilil and posthumously as David Dalaithngu for three days, was an Indigenous Australian actor and dancer, known for the films Walkabout, Storm Boy, The Last Wave, Crocodile Dundee, Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Tracker and Australia.

TAFE NSW is an Australian vocational education and training provider. Annually, the network trains over 500,000 students in campus, workplace, online, or distance education methods of education. It was established as an independent statutory body under the TAFE Commission Act 1990. The Minister for Regional Development, Skills and Small Business is responsible for TAFE NSW.

Mervyn Bishop is an Australian news and documentary photographer. Joining The Sydney Morning Herald as a cadet in 1962 he was the first Aboriginal Australian to work on a metropolitan daily newspaper and one of the first to become a professional photographer. In 1971, four years after completing his cadetship, he was named Australian Press Photographer of the Year. He has continued to work as a photographer and lecturer.

John Kundereri "Jumbana" Moriarty is an Aboriginal Australian artist, government advisor and former soccer player. He is also known as founder of the Balarinji Design Studio, for painting two Qantas jets with Aboriginal motifs.

Kevin John Gilbert was an Aboriginal Australian author, activist, artist, poet, playwright and printmaker. A Wiradjuri man, Gilbert was born on the banks of the Lachlan River in New South Wales. Gilbert was the first Aboriginal playwright and printmaker. He was an active human rights defender and was involved in the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972 as well as various protests to advocate for Aboriginal Australian sovereignty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Buzzacott</span>

Kevin Buzzacott, often referred to as Uncle Kev as an Aboriginal elder, was an Indigenous Australian of the Arabunna nation in northern South Australia. He campaigned widely for cultural recognition, justice, and land rights for Aboriginal people, and initiated and led numerous campaigns including against uranium mining at Olympic Dam mine in South Australia on Kokatha land, and the exploitation of the water from the Great Artesian Basin.

Michael Riley was an Aboriginal Australian photographer and filmmaker, and co-founder of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative. A significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art, Riley's work is held by many public art institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warwick Thornton</span> Australian film director

Warwick Thornton is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. His debut feature film Samson and Delilah won the Caméra d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the award for Best Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. He also won the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Film in 2017 for Sweet Country.

William Townsend Onus Jnr was an Aboriginal Australian political activist, designer, and showman, also known for his boomerang-throwing skills. He was father of artist Lin Onus.

Tracey Moffatt is an Indigenous Australian artist who primarily uses photography and video.

Candid Camera: Australian Photography 1950s–1970s was a group retrospective exhibition of social documentary photography held at the Art Gallery of South Australia from 28 May to 1 August 2010.

Jon Rhodes is an Australian photographer who has been described as a "pioneer" in "the development of a collaborative methodology between high art photography and [Australian] Aboriginal people living in remote communities". Rhodes' work is represented in all major Australian collections and at the J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Destiny Deacon HonFRPS is an Indigenous Australian photographer and media artist. She has exhibited photographs and films across Australia and also internationally, focusing on politics and exposing the disparagement around Indigenous Australian cultures. She is credited with introducing the term "Blak" to refer to Indigenous Australians' contemporary art, culture and history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Cuffaro</span> American photographer

Chris Cuffaro is an American photographer. Primarily known for his portraits of musicians, Cuffaro has photographed Michael Hutchence, Henry Rollins, George Michael, George Harrison and Jane's Addiction, among others. He was closely associated with the Seattle rock scene of the early 1990s, and frequently photographed artists including Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Alfreda "Freda" Glynn, also known as Freda Thornton, is a Kaytetye photographer and media specialist. She is known as co-founder of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association Group of Companies, which incorporates CAAMA and Imparja.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John William Lindt</span> German-Australian photographer

John William Lindt (1845–1926), was a German-born Australian landscape and ethnographic photographer, early photojournalist, and portraitist.

Barbara McGrady is an Aboriginal Australian photographer and photojournalist based in Sydney, New South Wales. She is the first Indigenous Australian photojournalist.

Beck Cole is an Australian filmmaker of the Warramungu and Luritja nations. She is known for her work on numerous TV series, including First Australians, Grace Beside Me, Black Comedy and Wentworth, as well as documentaries and short films. She is based in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "A completely permitted view of Aboriginal Australia". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 September 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "John Ogden, Director of Photography ACS (Avalon, NSW)". ArtsConnect. Archived from the original on 17 September 2008.
  3. ↑ Official website
  4. 1 2 "John Ogden and Debbie Spillane". ABC Radio: The Backyard. 29 May 2007. Archived from the original on 4 November 2007. Audio
  5. ↑ Ogden, John (23 April 2013). "Saltwater People" (Audio, photographs, text). ABC Radio National (Interview). Interviewed by Adams, Phillip . Retrieved 4 November 2020.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.