Ben Apfelbaum

GARY HEERY EXHIBITION ‘BIRDSCAPE’ @ OLSEN GALLERY WOOLLAHRA

 

Currently showing at the Olsen Gallery Woollahra is an exhibition by photographer Gary Heery entitled ‘Birdscape’. 

For many years Heery was a highly successful portrait photographer in New York snapping celebrities such as Robin Williams, Andy Warhol, Cate Blanchett and Ellen Baskin, to name but a few. One of his portraits of Madonna was used for the cover of her album ‘Vogue’.

Upon returning to Australia Heery decided to venture into different territory, leaving the studio and his portraiture of well known identities, to explore and make portraits from nature. Heery has been especially fascinated by birds because they are direct descendants of dinosaurs and the fact that they could fly made them doubly unique and appealing as subject matter.

One habit that he could not shake from working years in his photo studio, was his use of a portrait lens.

Most bird photographers use a very long telephoto lens. Heery was able to get close enough to use the shorter portrait lens in order to give a sense of intimacy with his subject matter.

However a certain amount of photo manipulation was involved as he photographed birds of the same species from different angles so that he could create a photographic montage. 

These photographs are beautiful and the exhibition is a must see. 

The Gary Heery exhibition runs at the Olsen Gallery, 63 Jersey Road, Woollahra until Saturday 6th February 2021.

Gallery hours : Tuesdays to Fridays 10am – 6pm, Saturdays 10am-5pm, Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Featured image : Gary Heery with his photograph of Black Cockatoos. All images by Ben Apfelbaum.

 

 

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Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.