November 15, 2016
A new photographic exhibition by one of the South Burnett’s best photographers opened at the Kingaroy Regional Art Gallery on Friday night.
“Max Walters: The Poetry Of Photography” showcases 72 landscapes and still lifes shot around the region and as far afield as Broken Hill, the Flinders Ranges, and Maria Island off the east coast of Tasmania.
It is the third solo exhibition Max has had at the Gallery, and it was officially opened by former Member for Nanango Dolly Pratt.
Dolly admitted she’s been a fan of Max’s work for many years, and has several of his works on her walls.
“I am absolutely stunned by this exhibition,” Dolly told the crowd.
“There are people who might say why paint a picture when you can take a photo? But Max has reversed that – he’s taken photos and turned them into beautiful works of art.
“I look at these – I’m sure a lot of you do as well – and they make me want to go to the places Max has photographed and see them for myself.”
Max thanked Dolly and said as far as he was concerned, the key to photography was light,
“The difference between an average photo and a good one is how it’s lit, and the best times to take them are early in the morning and late in the afternoon,” Max said.
“Good lighting produces photos with more drama and more atmosphere.”
“And sometimes, you’ve just got to let your camera take you for a walk … it knows what it wants to shoot.”
Max has been actively interested in photography ever since the 1980s when he first joined the Murgon Camera Club “for a spare time interest”.
He says he only began to take it seriously in the late 1990s when his work began winning State and National awards, including the South-East Queensland Champion A-Grade Slide Award in 1999 and 2000.
Since then he has been vice-president of the Photographic Society of Queensland (PSQ); president of the Murgon Camera Club; acted as an organiser for the PSQ’s annual conventions; and is now a regular judge at PSQ appraisals. He also lectures and judges for photographic clubs throughout south-east Queensland.
In 2012 he took first prize in the Social Documentary section of the prestigious Ballarat National, an annual photographic competition which draws more than 1000 entries from the nation’s leading photographers each year.
It was the first time Max had won a national award for a print, but it wasn’t his first national award – he’d also won four others over the years for slides.
His work has been exhibited at both the Wondai and Kingaroy Regional Art Galleries, at Photo Continental’s PSQ exhibition space in Brisbane, and at the Ballarat Art Gallery.
Max’s photos are also seen at many photographic competitions in the South Burnett.
Prints from the exhibition – framed and unframed – are available for $40 to $125, and will remain on show at the Gallery until Tuesday, December 6.
Update December 7, 2016: Max Walters’ exhibition has proven so popular it has been extended to December 31.
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Works From The Exhibition
Photos by Max Walters
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The photographs are all good, but “Jacarandas in bloom outside Wooroolin’s Lil’ Old Church” is really striking! How does he manage to get the purple in such stark contrast to the white fence and church?
Max can explain his exact technique better, but in this photo he’s removed most of the colour from the building and foreground to emphasise the colour of the jacarandas. It’s a brilliant exhibition and well worth the look.