Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge has dominated its landscape boldly for almost seventy five years. It remains a source of pride and achievement for Australians as well as our most famous symbol world-wide. But it is much more than a magnificent engineering feat.

In The Bridge, photographer Robert Billington captures its graphic beauty in storm and sunshine: but he also captures the whimsical -a bridge danced upon by children and conquered by energetic climbers.

In this stunning collection of black and white images, captured between 1993 and 1999, the familiar arch emerges as an imposing and often surprising backdrop to many parts of Sydney.

Masterful images combined with evocative anecdotes, captions and poems have made Robert Billington’s The Bridge a bestselling Australian book and an exquisite and timeless monograph to Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge.
Born in England in 1954, Robert Billington moved to Australia from the U.K. at the age of 18 with a Nikon F2 Camera as a method of recording his new life. Inspired by Mirella Ricciardos’ book Vanishing Africa, Robert set about becoming a professional photographer.

Working for the Elton Ward Photographic Studio (1980), Robert studied portraiture and the art of wedding photography. In 1994, Robert won Australian Photographer of the Year by the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers (AIPP). He then continued on to win over 100 medals in both Australia and England, winning the prestigious Hasselblad Masters Award twice (1988, 1992).
Whilst working professionally Robert continued to photograph personal fine art photographs, steering towards Black & White quirky street shots and the Australian landscape.

Robert’s images were quickly collected by the Australian National Gallery, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Queensland Art Gallery and the Museum of Sydney. In 2000 and 2001, the Museum of Sydney recognized his unique photographs with two exhibitions. Robert’s work has also been widely published and exhibited in New York, London, throughout Europe and included in the worldwide M.I.L.K exhibition.

Recently Robert exhibited with Tourism Australia in Hong Kong and South East Asia, Sydney Life Exhibition, Hyde Park with his image, The Last Tanners of Sydney and was the feature artist and representative for Sydney in the French weekly television production Thalassa.

He has published nine books, including Balmoral, Every Man and His Dog, The Bridge, This is Australia, Australianimal, Billington’s Sydney and the recently released Bondi: The Sound of Tumbling Water.