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by Tom Balfour
Tom Balfour was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1941. He studied architecture and law at the University of Adelaide, graduating in Law in 1970. For the next four years he worked in town planning.
In 1974 Balfour joined several young photographers in setting up a studio in Adelaide where he specialised in architectural photography. Ten years later he entered Max Dupain's Sydney studio as an associate, photographing architecture.
Balfour left photography in 1989 to fulfil a lifelong ambition to build a wooden boat, which he did, before setting up his own photography studio in Paddington in 1993. In 1998 he moved to Bowral with a studio and darkroom in the garden. He continues to take architectural commissions as they arise.
Exhibitions and projects
| 1974 | Contemporary Art Society (SA) photography exhibition |
| 1975 | CAS (SA) photography exhibition |
| 1985 | Denison Photographic Award (highly commended) |
| CSR Photography Project commission (Cooper Basin oilfields) | |
| 1985-86 | CSR exhibition, Queensland Art Gallery |
| 1986 | CSR exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales |
| Six photographs in collection, AGNSW | |
| Portfolio on file, AGNSW | |
| Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), selected images on file | |
| 1996 | New Multiplex Rex Hotel, Kings Cross, 550 exhibition photographs as part of fitout |
| Australian National Maritime Museum Christmas card and Wooden Boat Festival folio | |
| 1997 | Proposal to Sydney Water Board to photograph and mount exhibition of heritage water installations in the Sydney Basin |
| Commenced selling work through Australian Art Link, art consultants, to private and corporate collection | |
| 2002 | Asides from a working life, point light gallery, Surry Hills, Sept/Oct |
| Following Cazneaux, Olive Cotton and David Moore, group show, Sturt Gallery, Mittagong, December |
Publications
Since 1978 Balfour's work has been published in numerous journals, including Architecture Australia, Constructional Review and Monument, and in a number of prestigious books on Australian architecture, including the following:
Leaves of Iron by Philip Drew.--Sydney : Collins/Angus
& Robertson, 1991
Grose Bradley : the Poetics of Materiality.--New
York : L'arca edizioni, 1999
Australian Architecture Now by Davina Jackson and
Chris Johnson.-- London : Thames & Hudson, 2000