P r o > f i le

JOHN VEAGE

John Veage is an old-school local news photographer. Locals stop him in the street to comment on his work. Hes won countless photography awards and published three books. He speaks to Fran Molloy about his work.
24 | digital photography + design

John Veage is happy to describe himself as a Shire boy . Most of Veages life has been spent in the Sutherland Shire, in the south of Sydney, and there are few parts of the beachside area that this prolific photographer hasnt shot in his long career in local news. Hes an official photographer for both the Australian Surf Life Saving Association and Cycling Australia and in his

April/May 09

> > > > > > >

full-time job, as Chief Photographer for Fairfax Community Newspapers, he heads up a group of around twenty editorial photographers; but his daily work still involves shooting pictures in his local area. Veage has published three books of his photographs so far [Southern focus (2003), Southern Colour (2004) and Southern Surf (2006)], with another planned for next year.

The three amigos: This is one of my favourite pictures. Its probably about fifteen years old now. Its just three blokes going for a swim, at dawn. These are three blokes that swim every day at the beach. It was foggy and I had a long lens. Its just so simple, theres nothing in it, but it tells a story.

April/May 09

digital photography + design | 25

P r o > f i le
The winner: I took this at the Australian Surf Life Saving Titles at Scarborough Beach in WA in 2007. Its been a magazine cover, a poster and so on, it really tells the whole story. The guy is Daniel McLellan from Cronulla, hes making a comeback after having some problems, anyway he was pretty happy with the race. Its the Australian Surf Belt race, competing to be named the best surf swimmer in the country. Youve got to know the sport to take these pictures, to be able to predict things. I followed him into the water, with a wide lens; if I had a long lens that picture wouldnt have been as dramatic. I also got a little bit lucky with that wave coming in behind him at the end.

JOHN VEAGE

Surfer: Im in the water for this shot. I think I was actually sitting on a surfboard at the time. I was in a pretty safe spot; I was in a big channel. Thats out at Shark Island, a reef off Cronulla. Its a bit of a classic surf shot, people look twice at it. Its just a dramatic picture.

On leaving school (Kirrawee High, in his beloved Shire) Veage trained as a teacher mostly because he wanted to go surfing every day and meet lots of girls, he now says. But he fell into his current career when a former housemate, then Australian Press Photographer of the Year, Paul Sargent, needed a hand shooting the 1981 Australian Surf Lifesaving Titles. Veage had never picked up a camera before, but was soon hooked, and signed up for a full industry apprenticeship with Sargent, who had left News Limited to freelance. Veage completed a four-year course in photography at Sydney TAFE in Ultimo also the training ground for most newspaper photography cadets in Sydney at the time. Sargent and Veage landed regular work as freelance photographers for a local newspaper, the weekly Sutherland Shire Pictorial News, starting Veages lifelong career shooting local news and sports pictures.

He credits the Pictorials tough, old-style newspaper editor, Ian Badham, for his training, harder than anything hes inflicted on his own trainees, he adds. He wouldnt let me have a motor drive until I could wind on really fast by hand; I couldnt shoot more than six frames, so I had to get the shot right; kids these days would just freak out, he laughs. Veage started with the classic press photographers kit of the day, the Nikon SE2, and shot all his work as black-and-white negatives or colour transparencies. He started to develop his own style, favouring a wide lens and silhouetted images, often delivering work that fell outside the straight editorial shooting typical of the time. The classic late-eighties shot was fill the frame, bloke thumbs-up, with his can of coke, the good-onyou type,Veage recalls. By 1987, Veage had been recruited as a staff photographer for the flagship Fairfax local paper, the bi-weekly St George and Sutherland Leader. The mantra was still fill the frame , but Veage was developing a loyal local following for his classic silhouette shots. If I gave them enough shots, if I was smart about it, they would run the occasional one, people would like it so theyd let me take more of them. Veage says that the best thing about being a local newspaper photographer is the constant feedback. If I take a good picture now, tomorrow, when I walk down the street, seriously fifty people will say to me, that was a good picture or maybe, what were you thinking! Veage says that living and working in the local area is key to his success. People still ring me up at home, it might be midnight and some person I dont know rings me to say theres been a car accident! Instant feedback is key to giving his audience what they want, he adds. Shooting for a magazine, photographs are run months later; but his feedback can be days or even hours.
April/May 09

26 | digital photography + design

> > > > > > >

April/May 09

digital photography + design | 27

P r o > f i le

JOHN VEAGE

If youve got ten minutes to do a job ...spend five minutes talking to the person and thinking about it, then take the picture.
PREVIOUS PAGE: Local lad at Towra Point: This is a personal picture, a guy I know. Hes originally from New Guinea, and I just asked him if I could take his picture. Everywhere I go, I see pictures and I remember them and then go back to places for different things. I really like this type of portraiture, its a big part of my job. Environmental portraiture is my favourite part of working. I dont have any interest in studio work at all. Its much more about storytelling.

ABOVE: Riding uphill: This picture won the British Women in Sport Photographic Award for 2008, its Nicole Cooke, who was a dual Olympic gold medallist in Beijing. Im the official photographer for the Australian Cycling Federation and I took this one in Geelong last year. Pretty dramatic.
28 | digital photography + design

I know what type of picture people like because they tell me. Some of the pictures I like, the general public dont like. But Im working for them, Ive got to feed my audience. Some photos he knows wont appeal to the general audience these are often the ones he keeps back for his books, he adds. Up at dawn every day for the last thirty years, camera in hand, many of his photographs are thoughtful images of local scenes that most locals dont see. Veages employers support his other work with the Surf Life Saving Association and Cycling Australia, provided it doesnt interfere with his regular news work; so he often uses his holidays to work for other clients. Hes been shooting digital for a long time. With a weekly turn-around, Fairfax suburban newspapers were the first colour newspapers in Australia, and to feed the colour-hungry machine, in 1997, the company imported the first digital news camera in Australia, from Associated Press in the US. There was no screen on the back, it was an F90 body with this huge house brick underneath it. And the pictures were about ten centimetres wide and very average. By 1999, all his photographers were shooting digital; and the team had moved from Nikon to Canon. These days, Veage uses a Canon EOS-1D Mark III. And though the standard press kit includes mostly zoom lenses (16-35mm, 35-70mm and 70-200mm), Veage isnt keen on them.

The problem with a zoom lens is that the perspective doesnt change, you get the perspective at the widest angle, so with a 70-200, youll still only get the 70mm perspective at 200, it just moves it closer to you. It limits you. His favourite lenses include a straight 20mm, and a straight 300mm f2.8 telephoto.I use that 300mm every day, I love it. I must be the only one in the world that uses one but I think its fantastic. Hes also keen on his 600mm F4 telephoto. My style is very simple, I like to isolate things. Ill often drop the depth of field. When youre honing in on one thing you havent got that distortion that you get with a zoom. Portraiture is a huge part of his job and thats where the local community angle can really shine. Building rapport is a crucial part of the job. If you cant talk to the people you cant take their picture, he says. Veage is often asked to mentor less experienced staff. I always say to my photographers, if youve got ten minutes to do a job, then spend five minutes talking to the person and thinking about it, then take the picture. Dont start taking pictures and take a hundred before you work out what you want. We dont want 100 pictures, we want one good picture and its better to think for five minutes before you take a picture. Veage admits that his work has occupied pretty much every day of his life for the last quarter of a century; but it doesnt feel like work. My ideal day involves taking a picture. I guess I work every day of my life, even when Im not officially working. Its just what I love to do.
April/May 09