A Canberra photographer’s work could potentially be seen by millions as part of this year’s Vivid Sydney festival.
A photograph by Brian Rope is part of the festival’s Colour the City, where each week, unique artworks will be selected and showcased on the ASN Clock Tower.
Mr Rope’s image can only be viewed from 23-30 May.
Vivid Sydney is an annual celebration of creativity, innovation and technology, which transforms the capital city with boundary-pushing artists, musicians, thinkers and culinary experts of our time.
Mr Rope said it was exciting to have his work featured in the festival.
“I shared the news with a lot of my photography friends across Australia, and they’ve all come back and said, ‘That’s exciting, that’s wonderful, and congratulations,’” he told CD.
“It’s like 30 seconds of fame for eight nights….
“It means thousands [maybe even millions] of people will see it.
“They’ll never know who created it unless they’re my friends. It’s a bit of a thrill.”
Mr Rope has been to the festival several times but will unfortunately not be attending this year to see his work up in the bright lights.
His selected photograph is a portrait of a Japanese performer.
Mr Rope said he thought it was the perfect fit to feature on the clock tower, factoring in the location of the structure’s windows and doors.
“I looked at it for a while and I wanted something that would have a face up in the top there,” Mr Rope said.
“I was flicking through thousands of images I’ve got on my computer.
“I suddenly remembered that one, I searched for ages before I found it.”
He said the interpretation of his work used for the festival was very different to the original.
“I wanted to create something that is more of an artwork than a photograph,” Mr Rope said.
The 83-year-old said he has been passionate about photography since his 9th birthday.
“My mum and dad bought me a baby Brownie (a Kodak-branded camera), and I’ve never stopped since,” he said.
Mr Rope has been part of the Canberra Photographic Society, including a presidency of eight years and also spent two terms (four years all up) as president for the Australian Photographic Society. He has been involved in photography groups since he was 18.
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