They say that if you can get paid doing what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.
And the same goes, or went, for the dozens of photographers who were employed by the Australian government between 1939 and 1996 to capture Australian culture, people, landscapes and animals.
Tasked with documenting the visual heritage of Australia, these artists often had days every bit as exciting as a news photographer, with briefs as varied as aerial sunset shots, national parks, diplomatic ceremonies and average shopping centres.
The National Archives of Australia in Canberra holds nearly 11 million of these images, a tiny fraction of which are featured in a new exhibition.
Curator Emily Catt said sifting through the images had been a vast project that had opened her eyes to both the breadth of the archive's collection, and the types of people who had been employed as government photographers over the years.
"These are skilled people who have found a way to be employed to do what they love, and I think that's something that really, really comes through in these photographs," she said.
"They took great and impactful photographs, sometimes of things people weren't looking at, or not everyone had access to - factory floors, for example, or parts of rural Australia."
Many of the photographers - the majority of them men - were hired on government contracts, while others worked as freelancers, but some of their images ended up in the vast archives collection.
Ms Catt said the photographs were used by the media sections of various departments, to illustrate government activities, highlight aspects of Australian life, or even as stock images for books or pamphlets.
"When we think about looking for an image now, you'd go on Google and search for what you're after," she said.
"But at this point in time, how do you get photographs of things? People would write to the news and information bureau and say, I'm delivering an essay or I'm writing a book or I'm putting together a pamphlet and ask, do you have photographs of Australian people in Sydney? Do you have photographs of Australian industry? Do you have photographs of beach scenes?"
In putting together the show, Ms Catt selected 18 photographers, with biographical details that give a closer look at their lives and work.
READ MORE:
"I would love for people to come in and have an appreciation of what we hold, and just see some of themselves in the collection," she said.
Among those featured is Jocelyn Burt, a photographer in the 1970s who wrote about how resistant men were at the time to accepting her work.
"She ended up publishing a number of books, and the government then acquired her photos so we have lots and lots of Jocelyn Burt photographs in the collection," she says.
"Her books ended up being so popular and they offered this different perspective."
- Focus is showing at the National Archives of Australia until July 10.
Sally Pryor
As features editor at The Canberra Times, I love telling people things they didn't know - or even things they've always known - about the city we live in.
As features editor at The Canberra Times, I love telling people things they didn't know - or even things they've always known - about the city we live in.
