Life behind the lens | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Life behind the lens

Join veteran photojournalist Mike Bowers in conversation with two of Australia’s greatest photographers, Lorrie Graham, and Rick Stevens, as they lift the curtain on their profession.

Together, they will discuss the field of photojournalism, its past, present and future, and why photography remains a key part of making history.  

This event is held in support of our exhibition Fit to Print: Defining Moments from the Fairfax Photo Archive selected by Mike Bowers

Attend in person

Entry to this event is free but bookings are essential.

Watch online

If you cannot attend in-person, the panel discussion will be available online. Please make a booking and we will send you a direct link to the livestream event via email. Or you can join through the Library's YouTube channel.

Grey background with white text reading 'Fit to Print' and individual photos of photographers Mike Bowers, Rick Stevens and Lorie Graham

About Mike Bowers  

Mike Bowers is a photographer and host of Talking Pictures on Insiders which airs on the ABC. Mike has spent 37 years in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery working for publications including The Australian, The Canberra Times, The Age, The Bulletin, The Australian Financial Review, BRW, Time, The Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald. He covered thirteen Federal election campaigns and has accompanied ten Prime Ministers on assignments both around Australia and overseas.

He has covered conflicts in Cambodia, Kosovo, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea and the Middle East.

About Rick Stevens

Rick Stevens’ journalistic career began as a 16-year-old copy boy for Woman’s Day magazine in 1961. Rick started as a press photographer with The Sydney Morning Herald in 1963 and took the iconic photograph of a devoted Labour supporter bending to kiss Gough Whitlam’s hand at Blacktown Civic Centre during the 1972 election campaign that won the Nikon Best News Photo of the Year in 1973. Rick has won numerous awards and covered major local and international stories including Cyclone Tracy, the Bali bombings, royal and papal visits, the Barcelona and Sydney Olympic Games, and the wedding of Mary Donaldson to Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark. Rick is currently a freelance photographer with a special interest in capturing wildlife on film.

About Lorrie Graham

Lorrie Graham is one of Australia’s most celebrated and original photojournalists. Graham began her career at a photographic lab and at the same time was shooting concerts for Australia’s nascent Rolling Stone magazine. Graham became the first female photographic cadet at The Sydney Morning Herald in 1975, a cadetship which was only offered to women because it was International Women’s Year. Graham became a trailblazer in a notoriously male-dominated profession, working for several major publications in Australia and the UK until embarking on a successful freelance career in 1991. Her image of Paul Keating brandishing a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses for the cover of Rolling Stone is one of her most iconic, and her work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Library, the Museum of Sydney and the State Library of NSW.

Event details
29 Apr 2025
6:00pm – 7:15pm
Free
Online, Theatre

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