photographer

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     IVAN EARL

“There is tremendous security in knowing that as long as you have trees, you will have life on this planet.”

I am an arborist, a photographer and an author.

I was born in Calcutta, India.  When I was young, my dad sublet a room in our house to a Russian botanist, also named Ivan. He was a lovely man, and through him I developed an avid interest and love of plants that continues to this day.

The family immigrated to England. By the time I was 14, my passion for plants had grown. In 1962 I applied as an apprentice gardener at Hampton Court Palace.

It was a beautiful place to work. However, there I ran into some trouble. Through being so interested in all things horticultural, I asked many questions. I didn’t realize that my co-workers didn’t have all the answers – possibly to their embarrassment.

As a result, I was labelled a time-waster and punished with tasks like Continue reading →

Photographer Andrew Harrison in his home studio with his scruffy assistant

     ANDREW HARRISON

“What’s my next challenge?”

I am a photographer. I have a business called Passion8 Photography.

In the 70’s, I went to the famous experimental school, Ardoch High, in St Kilda. We called teachers by their first names and only had four core subjects, the rest were electives.

At 15, I decided I was ready to live on my own, so I got a flat and left school to do an upholstering apprenticeship. I loved making furniture from scratch, sewing, working with my hands. I learnt how to sew in high school, actually. One of the electives was Machinery, and a few of my mates and I thought, “Yeah, let’s get into machinery!” We rocked up and it was sewing machinery. Continue reading →