Peter Solness
Peter was one of our stable-mates at the Head On Photo Festival 2026 Photobook and Zine Fair last Sunday. He was there with his book Tree Stories - revisited published only weeks ago and 27 years after the original Tree Stories that was published in 1999.
“I was born at the Waverley War Memorial hospital at 6pm on the 4th May 1958. We lived at 23 Sir Thomas Mitchell Road until I was 8. Later in life I returned to Bondi and bought a flat around the corner in Lucius Street. During those years there were times when driving home east along Birrell Street that I would see the full moon hovering above the road in front of me - I imagined that I could just keep on driving into that big smiling moon- the same moon that blessed my birth all those years ago.
After school I pursued a career in Photojournalism, working for the SMH, TIME magazine and The Bulletin. In 1990 I joined the Wildlight Photo agency, founded by Christina De Water, Phil Quirk and Carolyn Johns and based in a Spanish Mission apartment in Hastings Parade, Ben Buckler. It was an exciting and vibrant time to be in Bondi. Oliver Strewe, Mark Lang and Grenville Turner were just some of the luminaries who I shared the agency with. Later we were joined by Lorrie Graham, Ben Bohane and others. On one memorable evening US photography greats, Gregory Heiseler, Arnold Newman and Jay Maisel dropped by for drinks. (The photo taken that night went straight into my poolroom.)
So many good memories from those days. I used to swim the bay every day. One day on my swim I came across a $50 note resting on the bottom of the sea. I dove deep and stashed the note into my Speedos. It was an exciting find, but the experience contaminated the ‘Zen’ rhythm of my morning swims thereafter – I was always on the lookout for another stash of cash.”
Veronique Vial
Award-winning and Internationally recognised French photographer Veronique Vial was a a few tables down from us at the Head On Photo Festival 2026 Photobook and Zine Fair last Sunday.
You can catch up with her at the fourth edition of French Success Stories - “Stars before 10am” on 26 November.
Head On Photo Festival 2026
Cold and Wet
It was a very cold and very wet Sunday. Chookas to all those who made it to the beach!
Head On Photo Festival 2026 Photobook and Zine Fair
Hers
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