Self Portrait, Frank Hurley
I have lived a life that suited me best.
I took risks and never regretted them.
If I could start again, I would do everything in the same way.
Frank Hurley’s early roots go back to his being raised in a small suburb of Sydney. Born in 1885, he was the middle child in a family of five and at the age of thirteen he ran away from home and found work in a local steel mill. Two years later he was back home, ready to study. At seventeen he bought his first camera, a Kodak Box Brownie. Hurley taught himself photograph and started a semi-successful postcard business. He gained a reputation for taking chances in order to get a good shoot.
Hurley has had his critics through the years, but most have been critical of his having staged or manipulated scenes. Nonetheless, many of his photographs are stunning and bring the viewer into emotional contact with the subject or scene.
