About
ABOUT
Matthew Newton is a Director/ Cinematographer and Photographer based in Hobart, Tasmania. He has shot numerous documentaries that have been broadcast nationally as well as feature documentaries for festival release. He has worked on shoots in over a dozen counties, often in remote locations, and has worked as a second unit director on many of these. His photographic work is regularly chosen amongst the countries best and exhibited in the nations premier photographic art prizes. He has been a finalist in the National Portrait Prize, the Moran Prize for Contemporary Photography and the Bowness Photographic Prize on a number of occasions. Matthew has also received several awards and accolades for his work. He regularly photographs for editorial and news publications throughout Australia and has been recognised for his work documenting the struggle for Tasmania’s forests over the last decade, as a finalist in the Australian of the Year awards and the Walkley awards for journalism. His short documentary namanu rruni | Albatross Island, which is a poetic look at Albatross island Screened in competition at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival 2018, won Best Conservation Film, Wildlife Conservation Film Festival 2018 , New York, and Best short film New York Wild Film Festival 2019.
CLIENTS
The Guardian - SBS Television - Australian Geographic - ABC Television -University of Tasmania - The Bob Brown Foundation - The Tasmanian Land Conservancy - MONA - The Tasmanian Government - Australian Geographic Outdoor - BirdLife Australia - The New York Times - Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery - Accounting for Nature - Paul Kelly - ABC Me -
Below is an profile by journalist, photography commentator and scholar Dr Alison Stieven -Taylor
Photojournalism Now - 28 July 2023
Alison Stieven-TaylorJuly 28, 2023
In the past month I’ve spent time in Tasmania working on the final draft of my PhD – the end is near. I have a deep affinity with this Australian state, its majestic natural beauty, the freshest of air and friendly locals. While I was there I met some of the protestors who are fighting to save the takayna/Tarkine forest, one of the true natural wonders of the world. Earlier this year I’d been in the forest and stayed at Corinna Wilderness, a truly uplifting and life affirming experience. In reflecting on being back in ‘Tassie,’ I remembered I’d written an article on Tasmanian photographer and documentary filmmaker Matthew Newton for the magazine Photo Collective OO1 in 2021. I want to share that story with you now.
Matthew Newton’s Passion for Tasmania’s
Wild Lands
Under a weathered outcrop on Albatross Island documentary photographer Matthew Newton lies in wait, the sea mist covering him and his gear like a diaphanous cloak. This is the spot where the albatross take-off and from his vantage point Newton is perfectly positioned to capture these majestic birds as they soar on the winds that sweep across this remote chunk of rock off Tasmania.
Patiently he watches an albatross waddle through the populated colony to the launching place. Newton raises his camera as the bird approaches. For a moment the pair eye each other before the albatross gets over its stage fright and spreads its wings. And then the magic happens. As this beautiful creature is lifted by the air currents, the setting sun reflects on its white underbelly casting a warm, almost preternatural glow that illuminates the bird from its grey surrounds.
“It is an extraordinary place to be,” says Newton who is one of few to visit Albatross Island. Located 10km off the north western tip of Tasmania, the island comprises 18 hectares of conglomerate rock and is uninhabited by humans and off limits to the public. The only visitors are scientists charged by the Tasmanian government with monitoring the albatross who have been pushed to the brink of extinction not once, but twice in the past 200 years. The first extinction event was due to hunters in the 1800s. More recently commercial fishing and the climate crisis have impacted the albatross’ viability.
It took Newton more than 12 months of negotiation before he was granted access. To reach the island he travelled by Shark Cat across some of the roughest waters in the region including a stretch called Dangerous Banks where surfers are dropped in by helicopter to ride insanely big waves. There are no beaches, and few landing spots, all of which require jumping from the front of the boat onto wet rocks. Accommodation is an enormous tunnel that runs through the island, a camping ground that is shared “with a couple of thousand penguins.”
Over several years Newton made numerous trips, shooting both stills and a documentary film. There were obvious challenges like having to pack all his gear in dry bags, cart fresh water, food and solar panels. “It is always windy, often wet, everything gets covered in salt spray, and the ground is unstable as it’s covered with pigface which is squishy. The flipside is that it is spectacular.”
Newton’s patience in observing these birds, learning their habits and finding the light is rewarded in a collection of images that sit comfortably in both the documentary and fine art realms. This dualism has allowed him to further the reach of the project that was originally pitched to the scientists as a means of “educating the public about the good work they were doing on the island.”
One of the first published pictures was in The Weekend Australian, which proved Newton’s worth to the scientists. This was followed by features in Australian Geographic, The Guardian and “a whole bunch of other magazines…which helped fund the project.” This is indicative of how Newton works. “Start shooting and then find a home for it, because if you wait for a home it won’t happen.”
The work also hung in the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston for several months. This exhibition included a printed catalogue and a school program. The exposure Newton’s photographs generated led to the establishment of the Tasmanian Albatross Fund and his 15-minute documentary film won numerous awards including the Best Wildlife Conservation Film at the World Conservation Film Festival in New York 2018 and the Best Short Film at the New York Wild Film Festival 2019. It also featured in the official selection at film festivals in Poland, New Zealand, Spain, Italy and Australia.
From white water kayaker to environmental photographer
Newton has made a career out of documenting stories told in difficult locations, but that’s not where he started. In the 1990s he was immersed in two very different pursuits: studying photography at university and being a member of the national white water kayaking team. The latter took him around the world for several months each year to compete in slalom kayaking events.
“After I finished competing all I wanted to do was be a photographer,” says Newton. Early in his career he “mostly did adventure stories for magazines. I did the first wave of eco-tourism stories in Tasmania too, the guided bushwalks and the sea-kayaking trips.” From there he moved into shooting feature stories for various publications before picking up a gig in Hobart with The Australian covering daily news.
At the same time Newton began working on observational documentary films. “I probably spent a decade doing docos. Back then the ABC and SBS did series and there was money for that kind of work, so that was the big pay check for the year.” One of the most memorable projects was the first series in Australia on the rescue helicopter service. “I’d get a phone call and if I could get to the helicopter before it took off, I’d jump in and then shoot whatever happened. That was a pretty amazing experience.”
Newton often would “spin a stills project off the film story.” Once he shot a film on shack life in Tasmania. The pictures he took at that time were published as a book. “I also did a project about Nigerian priests that were sent to Tassie. I had to go to Nigeria to show the contrast between here and there.” He laughs. “It was very different.”
Forest Wars
The tenacity and dedication needed to compete as an elite athlete is evident in Newton’s approach to pursuing the stories he is passionate about. At the moment he is documenting the non-violent direct action being taken by activists in the Tarkine to protest the creation of a new road for a mining tailings site. This is another chapter in his documentation of the struggle for the forest, a story he has been invested in for over 20 years.
One of the things that fascinates Newton about this particular story is that these protests are largely driven by young women like Anna Brozek, who Newton says is “a fierce new voice in the conversations surrounding Tasmania’s wild lands…These young women are unbelievably impressive, super professional, extremely hard core, very brave and prepared to work in the worst conditions.” This includes being locked to a piece of equipment in the middle of the forest. His portrait of Brozek gained Newton a spot as a finalist in the National Portrait Prize.
It is not unusual for Newton to follow the activists into the Tarkine at 3am which means he is “shooting in the darkest, wettest place in Tassie at the darkest, wettest time of the year.” The biggest challenge is moisture, especially when he is carting gear that can be easily damaged like video cameras with shotgun mics. As for the dark? “I have lights, and so do the activists who film the action.” They’ve made 70 of these short films to date. “Sometimes I’ve been helped out by the security guards shining their torches on us too,” he laughs.
The direct actions are held in a designated exclusion zone and that means Newton is trespassing. When you’re shooting on a site where there is only one way in and out where can you run to when the cops arrive? “The forest,” says Newton revealing that sometimes he’s had to grab his gear and hide in the wild. If you’ve ever been to the Tarkine with its soaring tree canopy and dense vegetation, you know that’s a pretty intense scenario especially in the dark.
So far Newton has avoided being “moved on,” but he’s willing to take the risk patently aware that the censorship invoked by the exclusion zone, which includes banning access to journalists, acts to keep the public ignorant to what is really going on. To this point, his pictures have been published in The Australian and The Guardian. He’s also shooting a documentary film.
As was the case with Albatross Island, Newton is committed to tell the story first and find a home for it later. “You never know where these stories lead and typically, they often lead to more than you imagine. For me it’s the only way to do interesting work. With these longer-term projects, you just have to have faith that they are going to go somewhere.”
Faith, along with ingenuity, dogged determination, and an unyielding optimism. But perhaps most importantly, Newton’s success comes from pursing stories he is passionate about. Why else would you hide in the Tarkine in the predawn hours in the depths of winter?