Hamish Brown – A Debut Exhibition (expired event)

Emerging photographer shows us the submerged world. Local scuba instructor Hamish Brown makes his photography exhibition debut at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre.

New Zealand native Hamish Brown started his career as a Navy Diver. Upon leaving the Navy, Hamish migrated to scuba teaching in Rockingham. With a keenness to share his passion of what lies beneath the waves, he discovered a penchant for underwater photography. Hamish’s specific skillset and fearless nature as a scuba diver provides him the ability, time and patience to capture the macro life underwater.

Official opening - Sunday 14 October 4.00pm

Entirely self-taught, Hamish only purchased his first camera two years ago and taught himself the necessary skills through trial and error, alongside some incredible patience. Sometimes spending up to two hours at depth, only to complete the dive with one single shot he is happy with. Since upgrading his rig with strobes, torches and wet lenses the ability to capture the macro life has increased. Hamish likes to capture the large and the tiny, from the behemoths such as whales and sharks to seahorses and nudibranchs no bigger than a grain of rice. What surprises people the most about his photography is the natural colour of the animals captured on camera. As you descend deeper into the water natural light is slowly filtered out leaving everything cast in blue/green hues. Hamish uses torches to be able to see the hidden colour of the reef but only strobes light everything in a scene creating an amazing contrast of colours.

Hamish says “The creatures that live beneath the waves are my passion. In my life I have been fortunate enough to see and interact with animals more varied than any dream could create. But I have always had one problem; sharing these experiences with those who have never been beneath the surface of the ocean, until I started underwater photography. I had never thought to make my art public. I was happy with sharing my photos with my friends, family and students, but the more photos I take, the more people I want to show and the more people I show, the more photos I want to take. This will be my first exhibition where I can showcase my passion project to the local community.”

Gallery curator Gary Aitken says “With the development of our Foyer Galleries at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, we have doubled our gallery space. This means we can give more support to our local artists and photographers. We are thrilled to have been able to offer Hamish the East Foyer gallery and to support his obvious talents through his photography journey –I believe it’s important for him to get his work out of Instagram and into bricks and mortar for the whole community to be able to see.”

With an obvious natural talent for light and composition, alongside a perfectionistic streak and flair for post-editing, his capability speaks for itself in this stripped back inaugural exhibition.