An eye for the moment
Robert McFarlane, Sydney Morning Herald Saturday Nov 7, 1992

At the core of Lorrie Graham’s photography exists the idea of the irrevocable moment – the fraction of a second during which, emotion especially, is at its peak and the form and movement of the subject combine to complete the image’s strength.

Graham’s “eye” , which is how photographers describe their visual styles, is attuned to the rough poetry of life, exploring the poignant fragments of behaviour that frequently provide eloquent counterpoint to complex events, great and small.

An important segment of this photographer’s first one-person exhibition….deals with the Australian rural crisis. It is in these pictures particularly that we can recognise the prime and growing virtues of Lorrie Graham’s work as a photojournalist.

Collaborating with the accomplished writer, Robert Milliken, Graham has recorded in their book, On The Edge (Simon & Schuster 1992) the currents of tragedy formed as fiscal failure and technological change enter the life of the land.

Two photographs, included in both the book and the exhibition, illustrate this point vigorously. In the first, Gloria Jackson at the telephone exchange closing party, Ivanhoe, 1991, we see the declining town’s newly redundant manual exchange operator sitting alone and somewhat forlorn at the closing party for the exchange. Graham’s medium-wide-angle lens places Ms Jackson in strong foreground as she nurses her half-empty glass on her lap. For an image of such poignancy it is devoid of sentimentality and can exist confidently within the strongest traditions of photojournalism. It is oddly reminiscent of a photograph taken by the American, W. Eugene Smith, of British Prime Minister Attlee on the night of his electoral defeat. The expression on the faces of each photographer’s subject clearly announce that both lives observed are about to alter fundamentally.

In the second image, James Maslin, Country Crisis meeting, West Wyalong, 1990, a man, perhaps in his mid to late 30s, leans forward in utter dejection, right hand on forehead, left hand resting lightly on his knee. In the background of the picture a country boy, perhaps his son, wearing a dark, floppy hat, stares past the photographer with an expression of apprehension. Clearly taken in difficult light necessitating a slow shutter speed, the photograph’s lack of critical sharpness in no way diminishes the immediacy of the image.

Lorrie Graham’s career as a photojournalist evolved from a sojourn as a staff photographer for this newspaper and the unfortunately now-defunct National Times and Times on Sunday. The visual signature established in these early pictures, such as the stark 1987 portrait of Sir William Gunn where he stands, like an ageing tree in a landscape shared with two cows and a watchful bull, suggested that a new vision had arrived on the pages of our newspapers. It was a style that attempted to blend a documentary “feel” with a sufficiently strong graphic sense to arrest the eye of the reader.

What is now apparent from the work in this exhibition (significantly, the Gunn portrait is included) is that Graham’s capacity has grown, through more adventurous assignments for the few outlets encouraging original work, away from her undoubted ability to create impact to making evocative observations which resonate with the viewer ........