Robert Billington–Photographer & Visual Artist
Photography and art, for me, is more than a means of documentation—it is a way of seeing and connecting.
I was born in England and spent much of my childhood at sea, journeying between England and Australia with my family. My father, an English doctor, and my Scottish mother, a nurse, couldn’t quite choose between the two countries. By the age of 12, I had lived on both sides of the world and attended seven different schools.
Australia always had a strong pull. The day after my 18th birthday, I boarded a Qantas flight to Sydney with a one-way ticket and a head full of hope. That moment marked the beginning of my life as an artist.
At 20, I came across Vanishing Africa by Mirella Ricciardi in a Sydney bookshop. Her photographs moved me so profoundly that I bought a Nikon F2 the very next day — my first serious camera. I soon upgraded to a Rolleiflex 2¼-inch medium format camera, which required me to look down into a waist-level viewfinder. This shift changed the way I saw the world. Composing through the Rollei encouraged a slower, more thoughtful process — one that naturally distanced me from direct eye contact with my subjects. I began documenting life in black and white, focusing on quiet, unguarded moments and the subtle interplay of mood and place. David Hockney once referred to this method as avoiding “eyeballing,” a concept that resonated deeply and continues to inform my approach to photography.
By 24, I was working professionally as a photographer, specialising in environmental portraiture. At the height of that period, I was photographing up to 20 portrait sittings a week, capturing families, professionals, and politicians with a style that merged subject, setting, and emotion.
In the 1990s, I published my first book, Rustic Paradise, with a foreword by Max Dupain, who described it as “a classic.” It captured the quieter rhythm of semi-rural Australia and helped establish my voice as a documentary storyteller. Since then, I’ve published nine books, including Balmoral, Every Man and His Dog, The Bridge, Australianimal, This is Australia, Billington’s Sydney, and Bondi – The Sound of Tumbling Waves.
Exhibitions of work
My work has been exhibited at leading Australian institutions, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Queensland Art Gallery, and the Museum of Sydney, which hosted two solo exhibitions in 2000 and 2001. Internationally, I’ve exhibited in New York, London, across Europe, and as part of the global M.I.L.K. exhibition. In 2005, I was honoured to represent Sydney as the featured artist on the French television series Thalassa.
Career highlights include being named Australian Photographer of the Year (AIPP), receiving the Hasselblad Masters Award twice, and earning fellowships from both the Royal Photographic Society (UK) and the British Institute of Professional Photography.
Shifting Focus from Photography to Painting
Today, my creative practice extends beyond the frame of the camera. In recent years, I’ve embraced painting as a parallel form of expression — not to replace photography, but to expand it. In my studio in Burrawang, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, I now work across both mediums.
My paintings are shaped by the same themes I’ve long explored through the lens: nostalgia, atmosphere, and the quiet drama of ordinary places. The misty roads, seasonal shifts, and stillness of Burrawang have become a recurring muse.
I’m no longer just capturing what I see — I’m chasing how it feels.
Whether in black and white or colour, on canvas or film, my work is ultimately about connection — to place, to people, and to memory.
