Above All
20 x 16 "
$2,400

“In these digital times, when photographers are techno-wizards, photographs are files and Photoshop is as vital as film used to be, Anthony Browell deliberately runs against the tide.

Using a home- made wooden box with a pinhole instead of a lens, Anthony Browell can create images to rival if not better many of the illustrious names in the realm of photography… and all without digital manipulation!!! (apart from the use of a thumb and forefinger to remove and replace the copper slide that acts as a shutter). How many of us, myself included, look without seeing? Anthony’s photographs compel us to look and see. They are: Astonishing, Astounding, Amazing, And beautiful.

They are unbelievable. What was that about ‘camera never lying’ and ‘time standing still’? Stop, look and ponder. Seeing is believing, or is it?” Lewis Morley, May 2005

Anthony Browell was a recent winner of the alternative photographic portrait exhibition ‘Head On’ which was held at Michael Nagy Fine Art in April 2005 and judged by a number of esteemed photographers including the respected critic and photographer Robert McFarlane.

We are delighted to be exhibiting Anthony’s work in an exhibition at Michael Nagy Fine Art, opening on the 21 July and continuing until the 13 August this year. His exhibition titled “Thoughts from Obscura” is a series of photographs taken with the pinhole camera.

In May 2003, Browell began experimenting with a pin-hole camera, the original camera obscura, which was popular in the late 16th century and used at that time for observing the solar eclipse. He made a few cardboard boxes, then a more permanent one - a box with a pinhole in front of it. He refers to this as his ‘magic box’ for it is able to capture that ‘feeling of being there’. Hundreds of images are layered one over the other during the (often long) exposure time, resulting in a true ‘impression’ on the paper, an interpretation, as opposed to a single frozen moment. In the end, the wonder that’s all around you at the time is the photograph that is taken and recreated in the image.

This series of photographs came into existence as a result of various happenings in his life; his awareness of the pinhole camera and its capabilities, his frustration with the conventional photographic process in particular its predictability and accuracy, and his chance meeting with the model in all the photographs, Rita Horth.

Anthony Browell says of his work: … “it IS the experience itself, which is the essence of this work. The resulting images are the legacy of a period of time (moments in life) which were created by the process itself, by the limitations and demands of the hardware involved. Both the photographer and the subject are the servants to this simplicity, and both have to allow the process to take over and rule the moments. Extraordinary things happen in these moments, time and time again. There is an authenticity given to the images BECAUSE of the long exposures, a sureness of presentation, a confidence and openness in the process. In the end, it is a matter of faith, being content to accept the laws of chance”.

Anthony Browell studied photography in the UK and worked for the London Times newspaper as a freelance feature photographer, before immigrating to Sydney in 1969. While in Australia he has worked in editorial photography for thirty years as well as in advertising in both corporate and architectural assignments. Portraiture however has always been at the core of his work and includes such names as Lloyd Rees, Professor Leslie Wilkinson, Mona Hessing and Chips Rafferty which have been purchased by the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.

He set up the Australian Centre for Photography Workshop in 1976, and following this project, he continued to teach photography at art colleges and universities. For the last 5 years, he has been concentrating mostly on his own photography exhibiting “The Waterfront” at Stills Gallery in 2001, “ART and ABOUT” Exhibition, in Hyde Park, City of Sydney in 2003 and “The Waterfront, Working Harbour”, Part 2 at the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2004.

He has exhibited at Brummells Gallery in Melbourne, Parliament House and Point Light Gallery in Sydney, as well as being a finalist in the Citibank Portrait Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW, and Head-On at Michael Nagy Fine Art, Sydney. Collections include the National Portrait Gallery, The National Maritime Museum and The Royal Australian Institute of Architects, as well as many private collections.