The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring Wellington Premiere - 15 years on

Has it really been fifteen years?

When I moved to Wellington in the late nineties, a lot was happening. When the announcement came that Peter Jackson would be filming the Lord Of The Rings all over New Zealand, he started right in our neighbourhood of Seatoun, where I was living at the time.

By the end of filming, some 300 days later, I would have been an Elf, an Orc, a Gondorian and a Rohan - most of them dead, if I'm honest. By the time the first film came out, I was also a photographer...

Carols by Cabaret at the Hayes Theatre, Sydney

The Hayes Theatre here in Sydney is a smaller space in musical theatre terms, but one where some super-talented people have been working hard for the past few years to mount shows that might not otherwise get seen here.

But beyond that, they're also part of the community - and so the artists who perform there work together to help in the best way they can, by putting on a show to raise funds for the Wayside Chapel in nearby Potts Point.

And so, Carols by Cabaret was back again this year - and I offered to help the producers in the best way I know how, by photographing the show...

PhotographyRobert CattoDecember 16, 2016Hayes TheatreMusical, Theatre, Photography, Sydney, Hayes TheatreComment

Last Night Of The Proms with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Earlier this year, I was working with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on their Last Night Of The Proms concert at the Sydney Opera House - and now that they've announced the Queen's Birthday concert again for 2017, I thought I'd put together a few images from the night!

The guest soloist was Greta Bradman (and yes, she's The Don's granddaughter) along with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs; but of course, audience participation is as much the part of a show like this as anything that's happening on stage...between the confetti cannons, the streamers, and of course the many sing-alongs, it's an all-action sort of event...

Pinchgut Opera presents Handel's Theodora at City Recital Hall

I've been working with Pinchgut Opera this week on their production of Handel's Theodora at the City Recital Hall here in Sydney; it's nice to be doing a bit of opera again actually, as it's a slightly different challenge to theatre or dance...

PhotographyRobert CattoDecember 1, 2016City Recital HallSydney, Opera, City Recital Hall, Pinchgut Opera, Theodora, Australia, New South WalesComment

Linden Furnell wins the Rob Guest Endowment at the Lyric Theatre, Sydney

From a pool of over 300 applicants who auditioned, six performers were chosen to perform at the Rob Guest Endowment Gala this past Monday - and I was there once again as their official photographer to document the night.

Last year was my first time at the gala event, and I have to say I was impressed - the quality of performances from guest artists from shows currently playing in Sydney, and from the six finalists, were absolutely top notch. Considering there's very little opportunity to rehearse with the band before the event (much less have technical rehearsals, on the borrowed set of Dream Lover for the night), it's an incredibly smooth & slick production they put on.

So I knew, going back this year, that it'd be something to see once again; and it certainly didn't disappoint...

PhotographyRobert CattoNovember 18, 2016Lyric TheatrePhotography, Theatre, Musical, Rob Guest Endowment, Lyric Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaComment

Kage Collective October Issue: Surfaces

This month's issue at the Kage Collective is bigger than usual, as our collective is augmented with six 'temporary members' - participants in the very first Kage workshop held recently in Belgium with Patrick La Roque and Bert Stephani.

I've got an essay called Meetings & Collisions - part of our theme this month, Surfaces - and here's a bonus image that didn't wind up fitting in the essay quite the way I'd wanted it to.

Enjoy!

PhotographyRobert CattoOctober 19, 2016Kage Collective, Sydney, Australia, Sydney Opera HouseComment

September Kage Collective issue out now

Just a quick note that the latest series of essays from all of us at the Kage Collective are up now - and this month is a little different, in that we're relying entirely on the images. No words to our essays this time - apart from a quick introduction from Patrick LaRoque, we're all about silent contemplation this time.

PhotographyRobert CattoSeptember 15, 2016Photography, Fujifilm, Fuji X-Pro 1, Sydney, Australia, Surry Hills, Kage CollectiveComment

New Musica Viva & Belvoir 2017 seasons launched

It's been a week of pleasant surprises recently, with a number of arts organisations announcing their new seasons for 2017 - and a couple of them using my work to do so!

Musica Viva's season launched recently, and it was great to see a couple of my images in their Masterclasses section from the workshop with Maxim Vengerov late last year, at Sydney Conservatorium of Music...

Kage Collective August issue out today

The new edition of Kage Collective essays is out today, with new work from just about all of us. It's summer over in the Northern Hemisphere, so a lot of us have been on the move or on holiday recently - including myself - so our stories this month reflect that.

Here's a bonus image that didn't find its way into the story this month - I don't often do double exposures in-camera, but thought I'd take another look at it this month...

PhotographyRobert CattoAugust 16, 2016Kage Collective, Canada, Photography, Fuji X-Pro 1, X-Pro 1, Ontario, Northern Ontario, Pointe au Baril, CottageComment

Witches with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

I was working with the good folks at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra again over the weekend, at the premiere of a new concert called Witches - featuring four Australian stars who've all played, well, witches, both here and overseas.

Helen Dallimore and Lucy Durack represented for Team Good Witch, having played Glinda in Wicked on the West End and in Australia respectively; and Jemma Rix and Amanda Harrison combined forces for evil, having both been Elphaba in Australia, New Zealand, and on tour through Asia as well.

The idea was to get them together, and put together an extravaganza of music based around that theme...

Kage Collective July edition out today

Our latest collection of essays is up at the Kage Collective site, including one from me called Proof Of Life, which takes a look at recent events here in Sydney where a woman was found to have died in her home, after being unnoticed for eight years...

PhotographyRobert CattoJuly 18, 2016Kage Collective, Fuji, X-Pro 1, Photography, EssayComment

Photographing the arts: what makes a great production image when the story is well known?

In a previous post, I talked about photographing a show that is unknown to its audience; my point was that the best publicity images are ones that leave an air of mystery - that pique the viewer's interest, and make them want to know more. But what about a show where the story is well known already - like a panto?

I was working recently with Bonnie Lythgoe Productions on their winter show, Cinderella, at the State Theatre in Sydney - and that's what made me really start looking at this question again.

Because really - the story is a given. So what you want to show in a still image is twofold - what's different about this production, and at the same time, what's familiar about it? How can you show off both the uniqueness of this version, and also capture the feeling of a story that's been told again and again, for over a hundred years?

Kage Collective June edition out now

It's the middle of the month, so once again the Kage Collective has put together a collection of essays from our various points on the globe, including a new essay from me, captured at Sydney's Vivid Festival of light recently.

This month we decided to limit ourselves as a group to a single lens - the equivalent of the old standard 50mm, so 35mm on our Fuji cameras - and only photograph at night, which turned out to be much easier here in winter than it was for some of my friends at the higher latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere summer...

PhotographyRobert CattoJune 15, 2016Sydney Opera HouseKage Collective, Photography, Sydney, Australia, Vivid, Fuji X-Pro 1, 35mm f/1.4Comment

David Bowie: Nothing Has Changed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

I've been working with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra a bit recently, and this weekend was their David Bowie: Nothing Has Changed tribute concert at the Sydney Opera House concert hall.

I'd been in a couple of weeks ago for rehearsals and to meet some of the production crew and performers, which was great - but they'd come a long way since that first day, including incorporating the orchestral musicians, which we didn't have there at the time!

New Kage Collective essays out now

The April issue at the Kage Collective came out recently, with a series of essays from around the world from members Patrick La Roque, Flemming Bo Jensen, Vincent Baldensperger, Bert Stephani, Derek Clark, Charlene Winfred, Kevin Mullins and myself - but I realise I've been slightly remiss in not mentioning this in February and March as well, when we had equally impressive collections of images from everyone!

PhotographyRobert CattoApril 18, 2016Kage Collective, Essay, Photography, Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, New Zealand, Ans WestraComment

Blog Archive