Steve Parish, an award-winning publisher and photographer was born on July 15th, 1945 in Great Britain. He is the founder of Steve Parish Publishing that specializes in the printing of books on photography of nature, as well as travel journals and souvenirs. Parish
When Parish was invited to go on a voyage to Kangaroo Island escorted by Igo Oak, he came to know about photography. Oak was from Australia and he was renowned for underwater photography. Oak was the co-founder of South Australian Underwater Photography Society as well as a guru for Parish.
In 1963, he went to Royal Australian Navy. During his stay in Sydney, Parish connected with the New South Wales Underwater Research Group. There, he met Walt Deas and Neville Coleman who also later became well-known photographers in their respective fields.
Later, he was transferred to the central coast of New South Wales in Jervis Bay, where he spent time photographing the place which was popular for its scenic beauty. These photos made up his first photo-book, called Oceans of Life.
Between 1981 and 1984, Steve Parish extensively traveled and in his trips he discovered that there is no visual material for tourists on Australia. Hence he became Australia’s most loved and known photographers. In 1985, he opened his publishing house. This company has won countless awards for book content and design, such as Children’s Book Council Awards and Whitley Awards.
In order to produce his beautiful images, he uses panoramic, medium-format, and 135milimeter camera films. He prefers using the Fuji Velvia.
Steve Parish has received many awards as well, such as Nikon South Pacific Underwater Photographer of the Year award in 1974; Agfa-Gevaert Trophy in 1986; Queensland Industry Craftsmanship Awards in 1993; Australian Photographic Society’s Award in 1999; Wilderness Society Environment Award in 2003; Australian Order Award in 2008; and several more.
He considers himself as an author or a storyteller who narrates everything using his camera instead of a pen and paper. It is his passion to photographically record the flora and fauna of Australia. For this, he keeps using different approaches from abstract to documentary. Today, he is the most prolific and versatile natural photographer of Australia. As a notorious nature photographer, he has created Australia’s largest library of photographs with around half a million pictures. He keeps collecting photos for his publishing house. He dedicates his time equally to capturing photos and assembling them in books.
Social media has become a great medium to connect to people and share works. For photographers, it is an opportunity that this form of socialization is available. With the help of social media sites, photographers like Steve Parish and others stay in touch with their audience and can communicate with people having same interests from around the world. The internet has provided Parish the chance to publish e-books as well.
Parish’s approach towards his work is both artistic and naturalistic. In 2010, he went on an expedition to re-photograph the vast lands of Australia with some of the most sophisticated digital tools and cameras. His challenge then was to expand the style and content of his previous photographic work.
Steve Parish’s work is all about discovering, searching and questioning the height and deepness of nature and understanding the importance and beauty of wildlife. With his photographs, he takes the viewer on an adventurous and exciting journey.
