A moonlit photo of an award-winning author and a simple painting of a man with his horses have taken out prestigious portrait prizes. Amos Gebhardt's Alexis with moon has won the 17th National Photographic Portrait Prize. Gebhardt's work captures Stella Prize winner Alexis Wright peering towards the night sky.
The artist took inspiration from Wright's writing. Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion. "She invites her readers to think really deeply about how we might survive this contemporary moment," Gebhardt told AAP.
"To me, she is a luminary." Gebhardt lives in regional South Australia and has a background in cinematography, working as a director before turning to photography. "It was really nice to dust off my light meter and get back to actually work on film," they said.
There was something in the air the night Wright was photographed. "It's an amazing thing under the moonlight and in the night, there's something very powerful that happens when you're in silence," Gebhardt said. "There was a really beautiful connection that was happening between me, the moon, the camera and Alexis.
" The Darling Portrait Prize is a biannual award, established in the memory of National Portrait Gallery founding patrol, L Gordon Darling. Noel McKenna's winning work is a portrait of his long-time art dealer Bill Nuttall. Inspiration struck after sifting through photos of Nuttall hanging out in a paddock with his horses.
"I took a lot of photograph.
