Q&A with Nigel Malone

We’re excited to introduce Nigel Malone, a renowned Sydney-based photographer known for his striking black and white film work. His latest series, First Rodeo, is now showing at Tamworth Regional Gallery from January 11 - February 2, 2025. The series delves into the raw, rugged world of rodeos, capturing cowboys, cowgirls, and horses in their most authentic moments.

With a career spanning decades, Nigel’s work reflects a deep patience and a unique ability to capture the essence of a moment. Join us as we chat with Nigel about his inspirations, the return to analog photography, and the journey behind First Rodeo.

 

Your photography has evolved over the years, but a constant theme seems to be capturing the essence of a moment. What is it about these fleeting moments that draws you in, and how do you stay so patient in capturing them?

NM For me, photography is akin to solving a complex problem with multiple moving parts: emotional, technical, climatic, kinetic, and aesthetic. Yet, for all its intensity, photography is my meditation. For those who have tried to meditate, you’ll know it’s often difficult to start and settle so many competing thoughts. But ultimately, the goal is to find the space between those thoughts, or in my case, the images between the intensity, where real becomes ethereal. 

Your photography is known for its candid, almost spontaneous nature. How do you balance preparation and unpredictability when you’re on a shoot, particularly in fast-moving environments like rodeos?

NM If you saw me shooting on the day, I’d come across as agile, with minimal gear, not locked into anything, willing to try anything. But that only comes after weeks of thinking about every element, from the arc and strength of the sun, proximity of subject and lens choice, film stocks and shutter speed combinations, single-on-camera flash/ambient light balance, and so it goes.

You’ve cited legendary photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa as influences. In what ways do you feel their techniques or philosophies resonate with your own work today?

NM I admire Marie-Laure de Decker and Robert Capa for their courage; Lee Friedlander for his asymmetry; Richard Avendon for his American West; Diane Arbus for her approach, Dororthea Lange for her empathy, Bec Parsons for her Lone Dove.

 

Pictured: 'Himba'.

You’ve traveled to many diverse places, from the Himba tribes of Namibia to the Sami people of Lapland. How has your approach to photography evolved through these experiences, and how do these cultures influence your work?

NM I like exploring cultural niches and capturing images that I haven’t seen or felt before, so adventure travel is really a creative dream come true in this regard. It affects my photography in many ways, often dependent on the place I’m traveling to. I recently shot a series in the remote deserts of Arabia, capturing the architecture of an ancient culture called the Nabateans. You might be more familiar with their sculptures in stone at Petra in Jordan. For this series I used the Mamiya 6 folder made in the 1940’s, as I wanted a similar feel as the historic black and white images from the time of the discovery of the great pyramids - that can only come from vintage lenses. 

The title of your recent collection, ‘First Rodeo’,  suggests a sense of discovery. What was something unexpected you learned while immersing yourself in the rodeo world that you hadn’t anticipated?

NM Despite what the name might suggest, I've come to learn a lot about rodeos. Boots, tucked shirt, and cowboy hat are all, of course, de rigueur. It's a tough, unforgiving sport with none of the niceties of most, such as changing rooms with ice baths and physio to take the pain away. Rather, these part gladiator, part entertainers, receive nor expect nothing more than the raw earth upon which they stand to ply their craft. It's in these places, beneath the stalls of the arena, wedged between the chute and stock pens, that they welcomed me into their domain, many in a moment of focus before entering their colosseum, others staring straight through my lens as if I was not there.

 

Pictured: Two works from 'First Rodeo' collection.

You’ve mentioned that after three decades of working with digital photography, you’ve returned to analog. What was it about analog photography that called you back?

NM I began my professional life as a photographer shooting on film. I was also passionate about trying different things, such as screenwriting and film-making. I was witness to a time of dramatic change in photography and the creative arts more broadly with the shift to digital.

Many years later, I met my muse, Lucy. A poet and writer and, ultimately, mother of our child who never ceases to inspire, amaze and encourage me. She brought me back to the basics of love, partnership, creative expression, simple things and precious moments. Many of which I had started to overlook, some of which I never knew before Lucy. A small part of this was reopening the door to photography and coming full circle. After nearly two decades of shooting digital, I was drawn back into the allure and antithetic of analog photography. And I have Lucy Elizabeth Christopher to thank for that.

What advice would you give to aspiring photographers who are just starting out?

NM Act like the herd. End up as steak.  

 

 Pictured (left to right): 'Ebisu, 'Hegra'.

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Check out Nigel Malone's First Rodeo exhibition from January 11 - February 2, 2025.

Follow Nigel Malone on Instagram to see more of his works and his latest adventures.