Interview: Mike Bowers on Fit to Print

A new exhibition that delves into Fairfax's archives to uncover defining moments from more than 50 years of Australian news history has opened at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.

We sat down for a chat with highly regarded photojournalist Mike Bowers, who curated Fit to Print: Defining Moments from the Fairfax Photo Archive, to find out what he discovered when he took on the mammoth task of sorting through more than 18,006 historic images for the exhibition.

Australian Photography: How long have you been working on the exhibition, and how did the project kick off?

Mike Bowers: Dr Guy Hansen, the senior curator, contacted me last year about working on the Fairfax collection again. I had worked on it back in 2008 when I did a book on 100 years of photography at The Herald.

At that time, the glass plates from the collection were stored in an old warehouse in Alexandria in Sydney, and they hadn’t been digitised. I went through the collection, selecting and scanning photos I liked, but I didn’t get a full view of all 18,006 plates.

For that 2008 project, it was rewarding to breathe new life into forgotten photographs, some of which had disappeared from the archive. Rediscovering them again for this exhibition felt like bringing history back to life.

It was enjoyable, especially when handling the glass plates—sometimes you’d hold them up to the light and discover details that hadn't been seen for years. Studying these images feels like a direct link to my predecessors.

AP: One of the images is a wonderful shot of journalist George Bell carrying this enormous camera on horseback. Can you tell me about him and his work?

MB: Bell was the first photographer employed by Fairfax in 1898, making him one of our first photojournalists. He came from one of the major studios of the time, Kerry and Company, where they mainly shot portraits but also produced postcard scenes of Australian landmarks, such as Uluru.

At the time, these would be curated into visual books for entertainment. Kerry and Company had about 60,000 of these scenes on file.

Before the rise of halftone reproduction for newspapers, images were often reproduced from woodcuts based on photographs. Eventually, newspapers realised they needed their own photographers, which led to Bell’s employment by Fairfax.

Interestingly, I found an account noting that he was hired at a wage of five pounds.

AP: You seem drawn to work that heralded new technologies in photojournalism. Why was this of interest?

MB: I wanted to highlight how camera technology evolved, especially the leaps like the development of new cameras with faster shutters. I found a newspaper article showcasing these innovations, which made a big deal of how photographers could now capture things in mid-air, or freeze an athlete in motion for the first time.

The technology trends also changed how scenes were captured. By the time of World War I, soldiers were often carrying pocket Kodaks that their families would send to the front.

The soldiers would process and send the films back, showing candid, real-life moments in the trenches, which were more photojournalistic than the staged war photography that was being sent back by professionals. The soldiers’ photos had more of the photojournalistic quality we associate with modern photography.

AP: Did you approach the exhibition with a set structure in mind, like showcasing specific eras?

MB: Not really. I wanted to show how photography evolved over time, starting from around 1898 up to the 1940s, when glass plates were still in use during the early part of World War II.

I also wanted to include images of female sport, which was much more progressive than many people realise, and of which there were many images in the archive.

For example, there is a portrait of a woman who was a mechanic for her husband’s motor racing team, which was quite ahead of its time.

AP: What can modern photographers learn from looking at these images?

MB: I found a note that said photographers were given just 12 glass plates a day. If they had three or four jobs, that meant only three or four frames to work with. Some photographers have said they don’t warm up until they’ve taken 30 shots.

So these photographers had to be technically skilled. Many of their photos were beautifully exposed, even with slow emulsions, which required long exposures—sometimes up to two seconds for a portrait, even in bright sunlight.

Modern photographers can learn a lot from the technicality involved. The balance between shutter speed, ISO, and aperture is crucial.

The skill of handling the camera and making all these factors work together is something our predecessors were experts at. Their expertise doesn't diminish with time; it only enhances our understanding of how skilled they truly were.

AP: Did the images need much work to prepare them for print?

MB: The photos show signs, marks, and scratches, but I think that’s part of their character. We didn’t clean them up too much—only removing obvious dust spots if they were really distracting. Otherwise, we kept the imperfections as they were, embracing the "warts and all" approach.

AP: What’s a standout image for you in the exhibition?

MB: One that stands out is the image of two men working on a propeller. It’s quite dark, likely taken in a dry dock, and it captures this powerful tradition of showing humans dwarfed by monumental, man-made objects.

The composition is beautiful, especially with the man using a pneumatic grinder without any eye protection—just a cloth wrapped around his head. It’s a striking example of the tough, dangerous work they were doing back then.

But there’s other shots too with just beautiful details, that just demanded to be included for the pure visual deliciousness they bring.

AP: Why do you think these images are important for people to see?

MB: Someone asked me a similar question, and I referenced the great Katharine Graham, former publisher of The Washington Post. She quoted her late husband Phillip Graham who said that newspapers are the first rough draft of history, and I believe photographs are the receipts of that rough draft—they provide tangible proof to back up the stories.

It’s our job to revisit and redefine them, looking at them through the lens of history. That’s what I tried to do with this exhibition—bring the images back to life.

In today’s digital world, where we’re constantly looking at small images on screens, we lose the impact of beautifully printed photographs. When they’re properly reproduced and displayed, their power is unlocked. From the feedback we’ve received, it seems that people are really experiencing that impact.

Fit to Print runs until 20 July. You can find out more here.