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Subcribe to comment rss feedAn Interview with Roger Arnall
Tim Parkin
Amateur Photographer who plays with big cameras and film when in between digital photographs.
Roger Arnall
Since retiring from a career as a consulting engineer a few years ago Roger has returned to some of his youthful artistic passions. He enthusiastically pursues photography, seeking to be creative in not only the landscape genre but in various genres and styles, intent on expanding his visual expression. He has photographed in places far from his home in Melbourne and has exhibited in local galleries.
Roger and I have been talking on and off over the last couple of years and I've been dragging my heels for a while in getting this interview completed. As it turns out, this hasn't been such a bad thing as Roger has continued to produce some excellent photography over this period and he has just won the Black and White category and been highly commended for a portfolio of 3 images, in the USA Landscape Photographer of the Year competition (click here and look for "The Trump Tower", "World Trade Center" and "Guggenheim Museum"). I have not normally placed too much emphasis on these competitions but with Art Wolfe, Christopher Burkett, David Muench and Marc Adamus judging, it's a fairly special line up. Browsing through the images below you can see why Roger was recognised, so a big congratulations from us.
Tim Parkin: Your website says that you loved painting, drawing and music performance in your youth. Did you continue to have an interest in the visual arts and when did you pick up photography?
Roger Arnall: I have always been drawn to the world of visual arts and visual communication. As a young engineer I spent many years at the drawing board. Sketching and drawing the 3D built world is part of my DNA and working as an engineer in a creative architectural and interior design office for 25 years gave me a love of architectural visual arts.
Enjoying the work of an eclectic range of painters over the years has kept my love of visual arts alive. Painters such as the French Impressionists, Rembrandt, Turner, Schiele, Chagall, Klimt, Picasso, Rothko and Australians such as Brett Whiteley, Jeffrey Smart and Fred Williams are examples of painters whose work I find captivating. I have a small collection of paintings by Australian aboriginal artists, of an abstract nature, which I enjoy.