FUJI COLLECTION:
passes the baton

Last month Milton Wordley stepped down from the Chair of the ACMP Fuji Collection committee. The baton has been passed to the very able Gavin Blue.

Milton is a commercial and advertising photographer who has worked from an Adelaide base for nearly 25 years. From his comfortable studio in the centre of Adelaide, Milton services a variety of national clients. The studio, Southlight Photo Agency, operates as a rental facility for a number of Adelaide photographers.

Milton Wordley has served the ACMP since it's inception in 1991. In fact he was part of many of the early plans to form a national body of commercial photographers, including ACMP's short-lived predecessor, FACE. He was the president of the founding board of the ACMP from 1991 to 1993. From there he became Chairman from 1994 to 1996.

Fearing burnout, Milton took a small step sideways in 1997, to become Chairman of the Fuji Collection committee. The energetic team is comprised of Stewart Crossett, Gavin Blue, Graham Monro, Amanda Rainbow, Pillip Fischer, Rob Imhoff, Ellen Camm and Andrew McCallum. Together they have worked to see the Fuji Collection become one of the most respected bodies of contemporary photography in Australia. "These people have done a fantastic job, and don't often get the acknowledgment they deserve", Milton said.

Milton has expressed the desire to see a broader range of photography represented in the collection. "Fashion, photo journalism and sport have all been under represented thus far", he said. Another common criticism is that straightforward, high quality commercial and advertising work is often overlooked in the judging process. While recognising that it is impossible to tell people what to enter and just as impossible to tell a judging panel how to judge, Milton hopes that the balance will shift in future years. Then the Fuji Collection can truly claim to represent the range of contemporary Australian photography.

The 6 annual collections have toured the country to be seen by thousands of people and been published as quality hard bound books that are as at home on the coffee table as in the board rooms of designers and art directors. Acceptance into an ACMP Fuji Collection is highly sought after and success quickly becomes a feature in any commercial photographer's C.V. Fuji Collection 7 will be launched later this year. Start preparing your work now and look out for the call for entries.

Melbourne-based advertising photographer Gavin Blue should have little trouble stepping into the new job. "He's basically run the thing for years anyway" said Milton, warmly endorsing his successor. Milton will continue to work in the background as a committee member.

Milton Wordley (right) and Nancy Cohen, play host to Federal Communications Minister, Richard Alston at the Fuji Collection Announcement in 1996.

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