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DOCUMENTARY : THE ACCIDENTAL PHOTOGRAPHER
THE LIFE WORKS OF LEWIS MORLEY
Television hour
I to Eye is a documentary on the life and work of Lewis Morley, based around the production of the 400 page hardcover book published by T&G Publishing and launched at the Art Gallery of NSW on 5 November, 2011. The documentary was conceived and directed by John Ogden ACS in 2009, and he was joined by producer Martin Thorne from FSM in 2011.
Lewis Morley (b.1925) is a painter, sculptor, writer and photographer whose work spans six decades. It is perhaps fitting that his best-known piece, the iconic photograph of Christine Keeler, is a portrait of someone living on the edge of accepted society. Morley was born in Hong Kong to a British father and a Chinese mother, and grew up bridging these two different cultures. As a youth he was interned between 1941-1945 during the Japanese occupation. When released he travelled to Europe but always felt like an observer than being part of the cultures of the countries where he lived. He documented the swinging 60s scene in London and photographed many luminaries of stage and screen, often before they became well known.
I to Eye is a 400 page hardcover book that details the extent of Morley’s work. During the early stages of the design and production of this sumptuous opus, Ogden was able to record intimate interviews with Lewis which he filmed on a 4K RED camera, with sound recorded separately. He was also able to film Lewis and Pat Morley working on the layout of the book with the publisher/designer, Gianni Frinzi, as well as sequences of Lewis at work in his darkroom. Ogden and Thorne later coordinated multi-camera coverage of the book launch at the AGNSW.
This footage, and further interviews to be shot at a later stage, is intercut with high resolution scans of the images discussed by Lewis and others (such as Edmund Capon and Barry Humphries). The producers of The Accidental Photographer are currently seeking funding to complete further filming, and are looking at possible markets in the UK and Europe, as well as the USA and Asia. |