Head On Photo Festival 2023
Photography excellence through innovation
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Wildlife Photographer of the Year
From the Natural History of Museum in London, this exhibition features over 100 exceptional images which capture fascinating animal behaviour, spectacular species and the breathtaking diversity of the natural world.
A curve is a broken line
Through her photographs and moving image works, Iranian-born, Melbourne-based Hoda Afshar examines the politics of image-making. Deeply researched yet emotionally sensitive, her work can be seen as a form of activism as much as an artistic inquiry.
Joyce Evans
This collection-in-focus display contains highlights from the Library’s Joyce Evans Archive, and can be seen in the Treasures Gallery. The career of Joyce Evans OAM (1929–2019) spans more than six decades of landscape, documentary, and portrait photography.
Paradise Camp
Sydneyphiles Reimagined — a contemporary interpretation of photographer William Yang’s breakthrough 1977 exhibition. View over 200 images, including vintage prints, and become immersed in the heady days of Yang’s early career and the aftermath of the show’s success.
Latest from the Magazine
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Head On Heads Out – Kandos 2023
The inaugural Head On Heads Out photo-meet in Kandos facilitated by the Head On team, Cementa, Judith Nangala Crispin, Murray Fredericks, and surprise guest Graham Howe. An awesome weekend with 15 NSW-based photographers celebrating Australian photography, sharing ideas, techniques and stories,
Robert McFarlane: a life in posts
On the 19th of July, Australian photography legend Robert McFarlane passed away. But his life is remembered through cherished reverberations that linger among his friends, family, and of course, his photographs.
School reunion: Head On Student Awards
The Head On Student Awards has been championing Australia’s talented student photographers since 2015. Since then, we have seen the miraculous creativity and ingenuity of Australia’s K-12 students and the unique perspectives they bring to this malleable medium. The Student Awards have grown from a supportive initiative for supporting budding photographers in their early years, to a unique celebration of Australia’s young people’s take on the world, their creative perspectives and the diverse ways they frame and focus on things of importance to them.
A look at our past winners
The Head On Photo Awards has been changing the trajectory of photographers’ lives since 2004. Whether through a boost of confidence or giving them the tools for change, these photographers have felt the resounding impact that winning the Head On Photo Awards can have. And to show you just how life-changing these Awards are, we have tracked down several of our past winners from the Portrait and Landscape categories to ask “where are they now?”
Recent exhibitions
Recent exhibitions
Queertography
Queertography is an insightful installation of photographic art that explores LGBTQIA+ experiences caught on camera.
Head On Portrait Awards
The Head On Portrait Awards (est. 2004) is a prestigious competition that recognizes the talents of portrait photographers at all career stages. Prizes are awarded to artists who demonstrate a unique visual literacy of portraiture and innovative approaches to the traditional portrait form, expanding our idea of what a portrait can be.
Head On Landscape Awards
The Head On Landscape Awards (est. 2013) celebrate innovation in landscape photography. The selected finalists encompass landscape photographers who push the boundaries of landscape as a visual genre and explore how we navigate the spaces we inhabit and the spaces that exclude us.
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Head On Heads out – Kandos August 2023 $
Sold out Celebrate Australian photography with us. Join our special two-day photo meet in stunning Kandos to connect regional and city-based NSW photographers and share the delights of being an Australian photographer! Esteemed Australian landscape photographers Judith Crispin, Murray Fredericks, and Head On Creative Director Moshe Rosenzveig OAM will facilitate a photo walk and conversations […]
2022 Head On Photo Awards catalogue $70
Over the years, the Awards has evolved, forming the heart of the festival, for which the Head On Foundation has awarded over $600,000 in cash and product. In 2022 the Head On Photo Awards included three categories – Portrait, Landscape, and Student. A diverse group of creative industry practitioners select work without artists’ names, so […]
Paper Tigers book $60
A celebration of the best of Australian photojournalism, the Paper Tigers exhibition features sixty images from sixty of the best Australian photojournalists. The need for truthful journalism has never been more critical. It is through the lens of these photographers that we understand and experience much of the world’s events. Look back at the most critical moments through recent Australian history, and the images by which we remember them.
Agave Love by Phil Bayly $80
I have always known Tequila as something of a bad boy spirit. It had a bohemian image wild and crazy, a freethinking spirit, uninhibited in many ways, Mezcal on the other hand was more esoteric. Travelling in Mexico in the 80’s with no internet was typically through word of mouth, trial and error and mostly […]
First nations photo artists
10 incredible photos by indigenous photographers to celebrate NAIDOC week!
Image credit: Mervyn Bishop, courtesy of National Indigenous Australians Agency and Josef Lebovic Gallery, Sydney Happy NAIDOC Week everyone! This year’s theme for NAIDOC is ‘heal country’. To celebrate Indigenous history, culture and achievement, and recognise that country and identity are intertwined, we are acknowledging some of the incredible photographs taken by First Nations photographers. Caution: […]
Dangerous stars
Dangerous stars honours the lives of rabbits, birds, spiders, and the spectrum of other species with whom we share this planet. It draws on my personal experience of Country while tracing my fami-ly’s ancestry. Arising from my deep ties with Bpangerang people, from whom I am descended, and Warl-piri friends who’ve walked with me over the decades of my search.
Michael Cook
While he’s known for images that tackle often confronting subjects involving white Australia’s relationship with Indigenous culture, most of the time, there’s also a whimsy to the works – what Cook calls an openness or softness – which helps make them accessible. But his humour has its genesis in a childhood defence mechanism.
Head On Foundation acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we work and live. We pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future, and extend this to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.