Steve Parish
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Steve Parish is an Australian photographer who has an international reputation for photography of nature and water, notably underwater.
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[edit] Early life
Parish grew up in South Australia, in Adelaide near the Mount Lofty Ranges.
He credits his father giving him a diving mask and snorkel as a youth for developing an early interest in diving and scuba, which he did from age 9 to 19. He was influenced by scuba diver and early Australian underwater photographer, Igo Oak. He was also a keen sports hunter using rifles.
[edit] Work
At 18, in July 1963, he joined the Royal Australian Navy as a Clearance Diver, training at HMAS Penguin, and from 1969 training and served as an Air Crewman search and rescue diver based at the Naval Air Station, HMAS Albatross.
At weekends in Sydney he joined with divers from the New South Wales Underwater Research Group, underwater naturalists - among them were Neville Coleman and Walt Deas - who collected specimens and photographs from Sydney Harbour and surrounding waters for the Australian Museum in Sydney.
He served at sea with the Navy, including depolyments in a Daring Class Destroyer with one trip being 364 days away from home port on a trip to the Far East.
At age 29 he left the Navy and was employed as a wildlife photographer with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, based in Queensland, travelling extensively to record the natural environment. This included underwater film photography for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
From 1981 he was self employed as a photographer, making journeys around Australia to gather material for publication.
Parish began his own publishing company after a New Year resolution on 1 January 1985, and has since published many books, postcards, posters, travel and bird watching guides and other materials.
[edit] Cameras & Film
Parish's cameras have included:
- Mako Shark (underwater camera)
- Nikon
- Nikonos
- Nikon RS
- Nikon 5
- Rollei
- Hasselblad
- Minolta
- Mamiya
- Mamiya RZ
- Mamiya 7
He uses films in medium formats (120 and 6x7), including panoramic, as well as 35mm.
[edit] Awards
Parish's awards include:
- 1974 Nikon South Pacific Underwater Photographer of the Year
- 1986 Agfa-Gevaert Trophy for the Most Creative Use of Photography in Print in the 3rd National Print Awards
- 1992 Gold Medal for Saddle-stitched Booklets, Catalogs and Brochures in the 9th National Print Awards
- 1993 & 1994 Galley Club Award for Excellence in Book Production and Manufacture
- 1996 Gold Medal for Casebound Books in the 13th National Print Awards
- 1996 Certificate of Merit in the Printing Industries of America Premier Print Awards
- 1998 Certificates of Commendation in the Whitley Awards for
- best books in the category Junior Secondary Series, for the Discover & Learn Amazing Facts Books
- best book in the category Illustrated Works, for the casebound book Australian Birds by Peter Slater
- 1999 Australian Photographic Society's Award for Contribution to Nature Photography
[edit] See also
- List of photographers
- Clearance Diving Team (RAN)
- Fleet Air Arm (RAN)
- List of film formats
- Photographic printing
