Film review: Photographers of Australia: Dupain, Sievers, Moore (1992)

Dupain, Sievers, and Moore

Previous to viewing this 45-minute film I had no knowledge of Australian photography, nor the names of any of the country’s photographers. It may serve you as it served me, as a general introduction to the country’s photographic history through the lives and careers of three of its well known practitioners.  The most compelling character was Sievers, who told his commanding officer in the Luftwaffe, to which he had been drafted as a cameraman, that he would do his legal service but afterwards would use everything he learned during his time in the military to work against the Nazis. He was given 24 hours to leave and took the opportunity to emigrate as far from Europe was possible.  Having worked in 1930’s Berlin, one of the world’s leading centers of design, he was shocked to find Australian photographers still practicing 19th century pictorialism!  After his bravado with the German air force, it seems he lost his nerve to speak to power and ended up making a career out of industrial photography, selling his conscience for access to factories and mines where he could work on large scale compositions.  He recognizes that his job was to make industry look good, to present a nonreality to shareholders and the general public.   The other two photographers seem less interesting next to Sievers, but the filmmakers manage to accentuate a major difference in their view to subject matter, with the older Dupain declaiming any need to look abroad for subject matter, and the younger Moore driven by a need to explore the world.


The film is currently available as a torrent.  A trailer is available at Vimeo (but as the owners have restricted embedding, you'll have to go there to watch it).

Director, Wrirer: Gregory J. Read
Producer: Gregory J. Read  Wolfgang Knochell
Executive producer: Ron Saunders
Production company: Film Australia Limited

An entirely composed image.  Sievers says the gears were laying on the factory floor
before he had them hoisted and an engineer brought in as a human prop.