Life of Brian (BWTR), abridg
ged version
n…
My dad Brian, aka BWTR, wo
ould be take
en aback by
y the wonde
erful things eeveryone is saying
about h
him on the 3d
3 animation
n forum pag
ges, it is truly amazing how my fatther, in his late
l
70s
made ssuch an imp
pact to so many who he
e never actu
ually met, except onlinee! I am take
en
aback m
myself.
I never really took much notice or showe d a lot of interest, exce
ept for brieflly looking at his
latest w
work and the
en going and making h
him a cuppa
a before cha
atting with m
mum. This I think
comes ffrom a lifetime spent being shown
n his work on
o a regular basis, and in his photo
ography
years a
always havin
ng to pose for
f hours on
n end while he took numerous shoots, testing
exposures, new film
m, new lens
s etc. I was just happy that he had
d somethingg that he en
njoyed
doing a
and kept him
m active (in mind) while
e his body wasn’t
w
able to
t be as acttive.
I was co
onsidering posting
p
som
mething to th
he forum pa
ages in than
nks to all off you when the
t
family w
was approacched by a couple
c
of pe
eople to pro
ovide some words from
m us and abo
out
dad’s artistic life. I will quote dad
d in his ow
wn words at
a times here
e, words froom dad’s “Life of
w
ramb lings over a period of time
t
up to 22001 – with an
Brian”, left to us in his hand written
addend
dum dated 2004
2
which he titles “fro
rom Fitter an
nd Turner to
o computerr 3d animatio
on
guru!”
dad was a te
eenager, he
e had a love
e for photog
graphy. He taught
t
himsself everythiing he
Since d
knew frrom books and
a from ex
xperience.
“More than 55 years of
o photograp
phy behind me and I sttill can’t get enough
photograph
hic books to
o read and le
learn from. I still feel an
n amateur – especially
y in
black and white
w
printin
ng. (Perhapss I am!) Yes
s my enthus
siasm for thhe medium
continues to
t grow onw
wards from tthat first tim
me I clicked the shutter on my moth
her’s
Box Brownie back in th
he 1930s.”
o was later his best ma
m
John Guster, who
an were botth into
Dad and his best mate,
photogrraphy. Theyy were both posers too
o! Still are!!
Dad and JJohn Guster
Dad
Dad lovved slides…
… “Oh boy! Was
W I into sslides. Whatt a terrible drug
d
photoggraphy can
mum and dad’s
become
e” … We we
ere one of those familie
es subjecte
ed to slides nights and m
d
friends were subjected to them
m also. He w
was so pas
ssionate abo
out photogra
raphy, as much as
he was about sailin
ng. Not sure
e which one
e he would have favoured if he haad the choic
ce. We
have thousands off his slides and
a photog raphs, all filled and cata
alogued, fillling up the house.
h
When h
he could no longer do either
e
he wa
as lost. Tha
ank goodnes
ss for my elldest brothe
er John,
giving h
him a computer with Ad
dobe Photo shop and brother
b
Pete
er for the 3D
D graphics software
s
productts so he cou
uld work witth photogra phy, and th
hen some crreative 3d aanimation.
Dad sailing
g single-handed
d on his yacht, Talisman
T
At first I think he sttill really mis
ssed wande
ering around the city off Adelaide, and other
location
ns taking sh
hots of intere
esting thing
gs and peop
ple, and cha
atting to the m as well. Little
L
did
we really know how
w many peo
ople he talkked to each day on thes
se forum sittes.
Dad got to work ass a photojou
urnalist, with
h his first pa
aid work forr the Austraalian Touristt Bureau
for 35 o
of his photoss and then getting
g
morre work from
m them, including beingg the photog
grapher
for the 1
1972 Adela
aide Arts Festival.
“I had quite
e a few subs
sequent fea
ature spread
ds/articles in
n Australiann Photograp
phy and
Australian Camera.
C
On
ne of the ed
ditors wrote a lovely lettter saying I was one of
o
Australia’s top six colo
our photojou
urnalists (wiith the great names in A
Australia co
olour
photojourna
alism at tha
at time a verry real comp
pliment).”
Rehearsalls for Jesus Chrrist Super Star - 1972
Photos fro
om 1972 Adelaid
de Festival of Arts taken by dad
d
A few of dad’s published articles
photographic work inclu
uded taking
g photos of Spike
S
Milligan, experieencing one of
o
Dad’s p
Spike’s downward ‘spike’ mom
ments, and Neil Armstrrong, the first man on tthe moon, to
ouring
ne of South Australia’s biggest win
neries, who sat and chaatted with dad
d over
Hardy’ss winery, on
a couple of glassess of red. No
ot surprising
gly dad write
es proudly, “I have sat at the bar drinking
d
d had my hand shaken
n – BY THE
E FIRST MA
AN ON THE
E MOON!”
with and
The Hardyy’s and Neil Arm
mstrong. Photo taken
t
by dad
A numb
ber of jobs dad
d received were for g
governmentt publication
ns, one job being to
photogrraph everything to do with
w forestryy, from seed
ds to milling
g – 70,000 pphotos in all. This
year he
e (along with
h mum) got to be one o
of the “talen
nt” for a gov
vernment puublication I was
w
involved
d in develop
ping. The photographe
er who was employed to do that joob had just returned
r
from the
e Maldives, taking pho
otos for one of the large
est hotel/res
sort chains, Hilton Worrldwide!
Dad wa
as delighted
d to be on th
he other sid e as “talentt”.
Photos takken by Dad
Image take
en for careconn
nect.sa Strategic
c Directions 200
09-10 to 2016-7
7 document available at www.caareconnect.sa.g
gov.au.
Image pro
ovided by permisssion of the Sou
uth Australian D
Department of Health. Photogra
apher Adam Bruuzzone
www.adam
mbruzzone.com
m.
Photogrraphy wasn
n’t his only creative
c
advventure. Dad made som
me wonderfful things fro
om
Australiian wood, woodcarving
w
g, wood turn
ning and wo
ooden boxes. I am luckky to have a
beautifu
ul wooden box
b and small bowls an
nd honey uttensil and spoon.
Dad lovved mum ve
ery much an
nd was veryy proud of her,
h a Home
e Economicss teacher, going
g
to
art scho
ool after she
e retired in the
t 1980s a
and now a full
f time artist. Work forr dad wasn’’t
constan
nt at this tim
me so he als
so joined the
e same art school as mum
m
enrollinng in paintin
ng
classess for a year. He really enjoyed
e
thiss and always told us tha
at we will beecome rich after
his death from his painting
vours the 12
2 months ass an ‘old ag
ge’ art
“In the purssuit of Martiie in her artiistic endeav
student were the mostt eye openin
ng, mind blo
owing, of my
m life. I can hear the “o
oh
Yeahs!, but, with the right
ri
agent, I suggest my
m art works
s may be thhe most valu
uable
monetary in
nheritance I leave. DO
ON’T BE JUD
DGEMENTA
AL. (The lasst few years
s of
pleasure in
n photograph
hy was rekiindled from that Art Sch
hool/Paintinng learning…
…)”
Exeter Hotel, Rundle Stre
eet, Adelaide
n window
Note: Reflection of dad in
Stirling, South Australia
Oil paintin
ng on canvas by
y Dad 1988
These a
art works ha
ave been ke
ept down in
n the back shed since they were doone, mostly
y
abstracct works, some very sim
milar to the w
work he cre
eated on the
e computer.. He spent the
t next
15 or so
o years maiinly painting
g and contin
nuing with his
h photogra
aphy, inspireed by mum who
was doing very we
ell with her art.
a He also returned to
o exhibit som
me of his bl ack and wh
hite
photogrraphs addin
ng to some of
o his Came
era Club tro
ophies.
When h
his health de
eteriorated and he foun
nd it too diffficult to get out to take photos (and too
expensive), he wass lost for wh
hat to do to keep busy. I suspect this
t
is whenn most of the “Life
of Brian
n” was writte
en, until he learnt to usse a computter and was
s introducedd to graphic
cs
softwarre.
It is worrthwhile notting here tha
at dad’s hea
alth problem
ms derived from heavyy smoking most
m
of
his life a
and would have
h
been compounde
c
ed by workin
ng with asbestos (he ssaid it used to snow
micals he used
asbesto
os in the facctories wherre he was a manager) and also fro
om the chem
u
when processing his
h black and white pho
otos in home darkroom
ms with bad or no ventillation.
ully things have
h
change
ed and peo
ople are morre aware off the health risks. All
Thankfu
conside
ered, he nevver had any
y regrets an
nd he enjoye
ed the life he had and oobviously made
m
the mosst of it too!
Mum, m
my brothers and I thank
k you to all ffor your kind and hearttfelt messagges posted in
memoryy of dad. It comforts
c
us
s to know th
he friends he made and
d how you aall contributed to
filling th
he last few years
y
of his life. If not ffor you all, and
a dad’s desire to keeep his mind active
by teaching himself to use a computer
c
an
nd the vario
ous software
e products, they wouldn’t have
been so
o pleasant for
f him. We have my b rother John
n to thank fo
or supplyingg everything
g dad
needed
d as Dad wa
asn’t well en
nough to ge
et around as
s much as he
h would haave liked bu
ut his
mind ne
eeded to be
e active, and
d creative.
In 2000
0, dad wrote
e to us, “My depth of fe
eeling and appreciation
a
n to you cann never be fully
f
expresssed in writin
ng. ….You have
h
all help
ped me to live
l
a most extraordina
e
ary and exciiting
life”. Mu
um, my brotthers John, Mark, Pete
er and Michael, and I would
w
like too express th
he same
to everyyone on the
e Renderosiity, Carrara Daz3D, MO
OI and 3D-C
Coat sites (pperhaps oth
hers we
aren’t a
aware of) ass you have all
a added to
o dad’s, as he
h would sa
ay, fortunatee life.
Annette
e Rohde
Standing: Helen, Monica, Caitlin, Nichola
as, Annette, Luccy the cat, Mark
k, Nicholas.
artie, Rita, Mich
hael.
Middle: Ma
Front: John, Danika, Pete
er, Brian.
Christm
mas Day 200
09