User:InnerSense1234/sandbox

Douglas Thompson- Australian Photographe r.

Douglas (Brian) Thompson b. Stanthorpe Queensland 1932. Trained in a Southport studio and self studied then joined the R.A.A.F. as a photographer where he served six years 1950-56 including 3 1/2 years as an instructor at the R.A.A.F. School of Photography, at that time the only photographic teaching facility in Australia. He spent 6 years in London where he widened his skills, particularly in his growing interest in creative nude photography. On moving to Sydney he became a prominent commercial/ illustrative photographer specializing in arts and crafts. He also, for some time, conducted classes in photography. His illustrations for the book "Australian Pottery" drew great acclaim. His work has appeared in many books, magazines, exhibition catalogues and other publications. In 1967 he became the first Australian photographer to be published in the prestigious Grossbild "International Photo Technik" and subsequently in several of their other publications. From 1966 on many of his photographs and articles appeared in "Australian Photography" and other   publications in both  Australia and overseas including Germany, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.A.   In 1970 he travelled to Japan as a major prize winner in the Asahi Pentax World Photo Contest where he took many photographs.

He held 7 solo exhibitions in Sydney, the first at the Thorburn Gallery being one of the earlier one man exhibitions in private Australian galleries and probably the first to be entirely of the nude,  Others were at the Coventry, Holdsworth,Cutcliffe and Goodman Galleries, a city A.N.Z. Bank and a studio exhibition. His show at the Cutcliffe Gallery was favourably reviewed by Max Dupain, who was particularly taken with the nudes saying, in part in his review ....." they are also very beautiful with an old-fashioned philosophy of beauty portraying the mystique of the young slender body of the nymphette.  A symbol of perfection adorned with nothing but light"...... S.M.H. 4/2/81. More recently a selection of his work was exhibited at the huge Brisbane Art Fair.

His driving force has always been his creative work, his commercial work being of financial necessity. He strongly believes that to be a true photographer one must perform all the tasks in producing the final print from exposure, through negative processing to the final printing and finishing. He has therefore always carried out his own work. Now retired he has learned digital processing and has converted many of his numerous negatives to digital images to make the, now preferred, archival digital prints. His work is held in many collections including The National Portrait Gallery of Australia, The National Library of Australia, The State Library of Victoria, The State Library of Queensland, The Queensland Art Gallery, The Mitchell Library, the Gold Coast Regional Gallery and many private collections. His book "In Glorious Black and White" has received much favourable comment.

References:-

National Library of Australia Trove. National Portrait Gallery - Portraits with biography. Australian Photography Feb 1966. Grossbild Verlag- Technik Gmbh. School of Nude Photography, International Photos 5. Camera World March 1971. Australian Pottery with K.Hood & W.Garnsey, Macmillan 1972. Recent Ceramics - Crafts Board of the Australia Council 1979. Objects to Human Scale - Crafts Council of Australia 1980.