Michael Rayner (photographer)

Michael Rayner was born in Melbourne in 1951. After his secondary education, Rayner was offered a cadetship with The Age in 1968,[1] and for the newspaper covered news such as the Franklin River blockade.[2] In 1980 he gained a second place in the Nikon Awards,[3] the following year winning its Best Sports Photograph of the Year for his graphic and comical capture of North Melbourne footballer David Dench's effective smothering of a kick by South Melbourne's John Roberts, and a second prize for 'Sports' in the 1981 Rothmans National Press Photo of the Year,[4] and merit awards for his news and sports images in the Press Photographer of the Year Awards of 1982.[5] Even his earlier editorial photographs provoked an emotional response,[6][7] and one occasion he found himself caught up in criminal investigations of corruption in municipal council elections.[8]

From 1983 to 1999 his remit covered all of the Fairfax-owned media. He meanwhile directed 'Impressions Photography' from a shopfront in North Melbourne with partner the press photographer Tony Feder for four years from 1983 for around two hundred clients including Time magazine and The Telegraph in London,[9] then briefly worked freelance on his own 1987- 1988.

Rayner was employed on The Sydney Morning Herald during 1988-1991, on one assignment photographing socialite Susan Renouf in a women's refuge,[10] before once again freelancing 1991-1994. He rejoined The Age in 1994, covering such disparate stories as a 'boot camp' on the Snowy River for troubled teenage girls,[11] rehearsals of the musical A Chorus Line.[12] the repurposing of Melbourne's notorious Pentridge jail as apartments,[13] and the opposite sides in the battle over logging in old growth forests.[14] He remained with Fairfax until 1999, moving after a period of teaching, to The Weekly Review in April 2015 until late 2017, concurrent with freelance assignments for The Daily Telegraph UK, Sports Illustrated USA, and The Observer UK.

Rayner served as a judge on The Age/Nikon school photography competition.[15] From 1999 his professional experience in photography enabled a change of direction and an opportunity to mentor others in his role as manager of Feral Fine Art Gallery & Cafe (1999–2004) in rural Forrest, alongside his teaching in the medium at Photography Studies College (1999-2008) and Mallacoota ACFE (2008–2011).

Rayner's portraits, one of which, alongside his sports photograph, was awarded a first in the 1980,[16][17] and a second in the 1982[18] and 1984[19] Rothmans Press Awards, include Mel Gibson, Bob Hawke when he resigned from the ACTU and launched his Federal election campaign,[20] Eddie McGuire, Paul Keating,[21] Jean Bedford,[22] Kate Langbroek, Steven Berkoff, Tony Greig[23] Guy Pearce, David Gulpilil, Peter Carey, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Gerard Depardieu, Andrea Stretton[24] and Adam Elliot, though not all such assignments went smoothly; Mushroom Records was reported as having treated Rayner 'aggressively' when he attempted to photograph singer Jimmy Barnes in 'casual clothes'. The resulting images were run by The Age regardless, with useful publicity for Barnes.[25]

Aside from numbers of publications in which his photographs are illustrations, Rayner has published;

• Ticket to Ride,[26] the Australian continent photographed on train journeys with text by Anthony Dennis;[27][28][29][30][31][32]
• Caribbean Odyssey showing cricket culture in the West Indies;[33][34]
• Contact Renewed; Australia versus the new South Africa; on Test cricket after apartheid.[35]
• Sydney since the Opera House: an architectural walking guide[36]
• Morecroft, Richard; Sweeney, Paul; Rayner, Michael, 1951-; Morecroft, Richard (1991), Raising Archie : the story of Richard Morecroft and his flying fox, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0-7318-0254-8CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• National Library of Australia[37]
• State Library of Victoria[38]