the only thing missing on a mac is minesweeper

'The successful portrait, apart from the human figure, is probably the most difficult to tackle and it involves deep lesion with the sitter apart from expressing a likeness.' Max Dupain 1980s

'Nature, forever unvanquished by the ages, is a bounteous blessing to the life of man. We all need nature far more than it needs man.' Max Dupain 1988



'The surf and beach. Gifts to man. A sense of inhibited physical freedom.' Max Dupain 1988

'Dupain strove for the relegation of 'subject' - where the light and composition and body form are very close to being 'everything'. The subject is almost secondary. But still, sensuality creeps in ....' Frank Moorhouse, 2003

'All I want the audience to say about my work is - "that's beautiful". I know this is ... out of kilter with the contemporary view of world events, industrial societies...wars, horror, violence and the desire for power. But if photographers want to expose all this and try to change the social pattern - they're welcome.'

'I always had a hankering for architecture but mathematics and physics were my undoing ..... but I consider some of my best photographic work has been produced in this area'. Max Dupain 1980s

'Without light there is no photography. It is the inspiration and life-giver to the photographic image' Max Dupain 1988

Dupain began life, lived and died in Sydney. Throughout his life he travelled overseas rarely and within Australia only when there were commissioned photographs to be taken. As a result there are hundred of negatives in the Exhibition Negative Archive, beginning in the late 1930s, documenting our Australian cities, mainly Sydney.

He was fascinated, not only with the streets and the bustling commuters but also with the architecture. The ever-changing Sydney skyline and streetscape is there in these negatives, over fifty years of our history. The images here reflect a quieter, smaller city than the present one although one of Dupain's favourite man-made features, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, still occupies the city's centre of attention.

Dupain's first motivation in sizing up a photograph was the position of the light, choosing the best part of the day to give the picture the drama for which he became known. Also the viewpoint - often the 'birds-eye' perspective with low raking light.