Louisa Kirby
Photographer, Photo Editor and Consultant
Louisa Kirby is a photographer, photo editor and consultant. After studying photojournalism at The University of Montana, she began her career at Aurora photo agency in Maine, and as an assistant to National Geographic photographers in New York. Kirby has worked as a photo editor for Harper’s Bazaar Dubai and The Australian Womens’ Weekly, and as project manager for the photography collective Oculi. She is currently a photo editor for Who Magazine.
Mark Gowing
Designer and Director of Australian Poster Biennale
Mark Gowing has been designing identities, books and posters for 25 years. Mark is driven by the belief that design is as much about feeling as it is about understanding. This commitment is exhibited in the studio’s output where Mark seeks to engage audiences with emotional communications for leading arts businesses such as, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, UNSW Press and Hopscotch Films.
Mark’s work has been exhibited and published around the world. He has received numerous international awards including New York Type Directors Club excellence awards, Tokyo Type Directors Club excellence awards, Graphis Poster Annual Platinum and Gold awards as well as a Golden Bee Laureate Award. In 2008 Mark became the first Australian to win the Gold Medal at the Warsaw International Poster Biennale, which has since been followed by a Gold Medal at the Mexico International Poster Biennale in 2012.
Mark is a member of the agIdeas Advisory Panel and director of the Australian Poster Biennale.
Paulina de Laveaux
Publishing Manager, Thames & Hudson Australia
Paulina de Laveaux is Publishing Manager of Thames & Hudson Australia, specialising in illustrated books on art, architecture, design, photography, fashion and other creative fields.
Urs Buhlman
Photographer
In 1986-87, Urs Buhlman was shooting Annual Reports for Australian, American and Canadian blue chip companies. In 1988 he opened his own Sydney studio, shooting general advertising work. During 1990 Urs started to specialise in location automotive advertising commissions for both Australian and overseas clients, and still does so to this very day. In 2010 he started to concentrate on shooting and creating backgrounds for CGI automotive licensing, and in 2013 launched Bear Stock, a premium CGI background stock library (www.bearstock.com). Urs has exhibited several times since 2005, including exhibitions at Bathers Balmoral and the NSW Parliament House.
Urs has won Canon AIPP Australian Advertising Professional Photographer of the Year (awarded four times); Canon AIPP Australian Professional Photographer of the Year (2006); D&AD, Gold Folio, Caxton, NY One Show awards; and Capture Magazine Australia’s Top Advertising Photographer (2008, 2009 and 2010).
Marc Gafen
Editor, Capture Magazine
Once upon a time, Marc Gafen wore a suit and tie every day and worked in IT Risk Management while the partners and the managers at the firm tried desperately to train him to think along the lines of “yes sir, no sir, three bags full.”
Thankfully they failed. And after only a handful of years in the corporate world, Marc decided to take a significant change in direction. In late 2000, he left the corporate world to join the photographic fraternity. While assisting some of Australia’s most respected advertising photographers, he also began his writing career. He became a regular contributor to Capture magazine in 2003 and in July 2007, Marc was appointed to the position of editor. The publication is highly regarded among both working professionals and emerging photographers as a valuable business resource designed to help them better run their own businesses. Audited figures for the magazine just 18 months after his appointment showed a 26% increase in net paid sales making the title the fastest growing in Australia at the time.
During all this time, Marc continues to focus on and grow his photography business. Having dabbled with corporate work, portraiture and the odd wedding, including two commissions to the Greek Islands, he is best known for his unique brand of on-location dog portraiture and trades as The Phodographer®.
