Matthew Newton Photography blog

A few months ago I had the opportunity to photograph Australian Bush Heritage’s newest reserve located in central Victoria.

The Brief was to show bush Heritage field officers engaging with the landscape. Most of the ancient woodlands of central Victoria were cleared during the early days of settlement. Remarkably few places retain their original trees. And much of the box and iron-bark dominated woodlands and forests that remain are regrowth.  This is why the John Colahan Griffin Nature Reserve is so unique and important. It has never been cleared and retains exceptional stands of very old trees, including long-leaved box and yellow gum. Some of these are truly gigantic and may be over 300 years old.

The guys from Bush Heritage where great to work with and I think we managed to get some nice images. You can se more on The Bush Heritage website.

Bush Heritage's Jen Grindrod enjoys twilight at the John Colahan Griffin Nature Reserve.

Reserve manager Jeroen van Veen at the John Colahan Griffin Nature Reserve

I received a late call ( “can you be there in five and out in ten” ) to shoot a portrait of Andrew Wilkie the Independent member for Denison for page one of The Australian.

Below is the image that ran and another very different image, I prefer, that didn’t.

I have just uploaded a selection of trailers from some of the films I have shot over the last few years.

They are on my main website Here.

I have been working on a new project with my mate Pete Hay.

This is how Pete explains what we are up to:

We seek to capture, in visual and written modes, the essence of the activist soul.  We want to know why activists do what they do, and why – why they choose to work outside the formal political system, for example; what impels them to action in the face of stress and loss; how they see their action ‘fitting’ (or not) within the democratic fabric.  And we seek to capture the force, dignity and character of our individual activist subjects.

So far we have interviewed and photographed about thirty people from what has become an ever growing list.

Below are a couple of shots and single quotes ( from much larger interviews ) to give you an idea of where we are headed.

I have spent the last few weeks working on two very different films. The first was shooting Stills on a Docudrama. In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary- style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events.

In Tasmanian this can mean only one thing – Convicts !

The film will premier at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August. I cant show too much now as it is still in production.

In between the convicts I spent a few days at Cradle Mountain shooting a short film for the BBC’s travel show fast:track which will air on BBC World TV later in the year. The story was about canyoning in Dove Canyon, an amazing place that very few people have seen.

A couple of images from a shoot for the award winning Maria Island Walk.

“There are few places on the planet that offer the total

tranquillity and unspoiled natural beauty of Maria Island.

A special place, just off the east coast of Tasmania where the fresh air,

the crystal clear waters, the breathtaking beauty and spectacular

wildlife work in harmony to invigorate, recharge and stimulate

anyone who is lucky enough to venture there.”

A few months ago I recieved an email from the editor at Travel and Leisure SouthEast Asia he said,

“We are looking for a stand out photo for our back page in our October green issue and I cant think of a better place than Tasmania.”

After seeing this image below he said,

“As mentioned earlier, I’ve been to Tasmania twice, trekking and camping – and still have to visit the Franklin. Time for a third trip, I’d say.”

I was recently in Papua New Guinea for a two week shoot producing films about Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance in the Cocoa industry.

The films deal with a range of issues including child labour, sustainable agriculture and education.

Due to the work load I didn’t have a lot of time to shoot stills. Below are a few to give you an idea of what we covered.

The bottom right image shows my bed in the remote village I stayed in for almost a week. It’s there for all my friends that like to think I have been on a tropical holiday !

I have spent a couple of days lately shooting the East Coast of Tasmania from the air. We had some spectacular early morning flying in crisp clear conditions. I will post a few images once they are published.