The
Art Gallery of Ballarat is currently holding a significant photographic exhibition -
Imhoff: A Life of Grain and Pixels.
The exhibition highlights the work of
Robert Imhoff, an Australian photographer and filmmaker who not only built up a very successful career as a commercial photographer but also established a reputation as one of Australia's leading portrait photographers.
Imhoff: a life of grain and pixels runs until 8th December
Imhoff's love affair with photography began in the same way it did for many young photographers: with a Kodak Box Brownie, which his parents gave him in 1956 to capture the Melbourne Olympic Games.
His professional career started after studying photography at RMIT in the late 1960s.
A career break came when he was invited to do a four-page spread featuring Wittner Shoes for insertion in the March 1971 edition of Vogue Australia. The images featured shoes on model's feet that were draped around a naked female body. Although the shot featuring Gaye Baker doesn't show much flesh by today's standards, the use of the naked female form was seen as ground-breaking for Vogue Australia.
One of the images from Imhoff's Wittner Shoes promotional shoot in 1971
Imhoff tended to work for the upper end of the consumer market, undertaking commissions for perfume, cars, fashion and airlines. This retrospective exhibition,
Imhoff: A Life Of Grains And Pixels, documents his career as a professional photographer and filmmaker, including portraits of celebrities and the not so well known, photography for specialist food magazines that began to emerge in the 1970s, and assignments for a number of multinational companies.
To understand more about Imhoff's work and this exhibition, view this promotional video:
Imhoff: A Life Of Grains And Pixels runs until
7th December.
The Art Gallery of Ballarat is located at
40 Lydiard St North, Ballarat. It is just a short walk from Ballarat train station if you decide to take public transport. The Gallery is
open daily from
10.00am - 5.00pm.
Admission to the Gallery is
FREE.