The year in pictures: Telling the stories of Canberra
The photographers of The Canberra Times are proudly the remote eyes and ears of our readers.
We are the lens through which you can all become voyeurs at places you can’t physically be and the conduit to people you can’t meet. This will often mean we are at work early while you may still be in bed, or are standing in the rain when you are cosily warm inside or are still working late at night when you are snug on your couches. Our vision is to be more than just present at these events but capture moments that will tell another aspect of a story that words can’t easily convey.
Like the uber-sad look on the face of an RSPCA dog called Cooper that no-one wanted to adopt. Or a zoo bear with his head stuck in Christmas pudding as if trying to be a visual analogy of how we sometimes feel at a family Christmas lunch.
We try to transport you dear readers to feel what we get to see, the frigid waters of Lake Burley Griffin in winter on the naked bodies of daring fundraisers or the heartbreaking moment when someone first returns to their home after a bushfire destroys all they own.
Sometimes we go to great efforts to track down our subjects like the wild brumbies of Kiandra, and other times they seek us out.
We may pose a subject and then another more natural shot presents itself and we capitalise on that moment. The Abby Cornish and Reuben House portraits are examples of the subjects being ‘caught’ being their true selves amidst the media hustle – and then there are the times that for your entertainment we totally manipulate a situation. A fun example of that was the shoot I had with night noodle dog Murphy Johnston. They aren’t his actual arms you know?
Either way you need to know that every time we shoot we have in mind our responsibility to delight, surprise, inform and educate you our favourite Canberrans.
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