Shadows of the Flinders

Photographic view of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia

Harold Cazneaux was born in New Zealand in 1878. His family moved to Sydney in 1887 and then to Adelaide two years later. At the age of 18, Cazneaux began his photographic career at Hammer Photographic Studios in Rundle Street, working as an artist-retoucher alongside his father who was employed as a portraitist.

Cazneaux also began to take classes at the Adelaide School of Design under Henry Pelham Gill, whose students included Margaret Preston and Hans Heysen.

In 1904, Cazneaux moved to Sydney and began work at his father's former studio, Freeman Brothers. He was never fulfilled by studio photographic work as he wished to use photography to express himself artistically and began to take photos around Sydney in his spare time. Cazneaux won several awards for his work, including first prize in 'A Kodak Happy Moment' competition in 1914. He produced a wide diversity of photographs ranging from portraits of well known people to landscapes, and images for books and magazines. In 1918 Cazneaux established his own business and quickly gained commissions. The following year he was engaged by Sydney Ure Smith the publisher of a new 'high-class social magazine the Home' (Cazneaux, 1978, p. ix). Cazneaux was innovative in his use of natural light and settings, his work had a freshness despite careful composition. Light and shadow played an important role in his work.

Cazneaux's use of sunlight and shadow and his pictorialist, or 'painterly' style as it was called by Max Dupain (Cazneaux, 1978, p. xiv) is prominent in this photograph of the Flinders Ranges. He visited the Ranges three times in the 1930s, part of extensive travels throughout South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. Dupain talks of a 'serenity' about Cazneaux's landscapes 'the poetic silence of sunlit afternoons' with 'a romantic purity in the long shots that gives the mind and eye a great sense of relief.' (Quoted in Cazneaux, 1997, page 9)

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

Buy a high resolution copy.