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Published Thursday, May 22, 2008 in Close-Up

Renowned photographer Greg Newington opens gallery in Serenbe

By Amy Riley

The Times-Herald

A real gem of a gallery experience has just opened in Serenbe, the eco-friendly, live/work community in Palmetto, but the real story may be the man himself. The Newington Gallery, featuring the work of Greg Newington, former Director of Photography for Australia's prestigious Fairfax Business Media Group, is the second gallery to open in the Selborne Hamlet of Serenbe.

Newington's more than 38 years of photographic work has appeared in 300 publications worldwide. Greg and his wife Maripat settled in Serenbe a year ago and opened the gallery in April.

His work spans a seemingly limitless range, from images of the war torn nations of Somalia and Bosnia, to camel races and cultural images from the deserts of The Middle East.

An Australia native, Greg became a frequent traveler to the United States in 1979, when he began working in the resort ski regions of Colorado amid the spectacular panorama of the Rocky Mountains. "I became quite enamored with the extraordinarily beautiful and romantic landscape of the American West very early in my career," said Greg, who hails from Adelaide, a region of Australia known for its wine and surf.

Greg got his journalistic start at the tender age of 12, working as a copy boy for Rupert Murdoch, running film for sporting events. Rupert was a young twenty-something at the time.

"The sound of typewriters in the news room was almost deafening," said Greg, who made cups of tea for the writers, a group of people who cared little if the copy was late but were prone to spectacular eruptions "if you made the tea wrong," he added.

Greg got an apartment at 14 and applied for a newspaper job in a steel town. He was six months into it before his bosses discovered he was under 15. By then, he had already been driving a company vehicle for months.

Joe Gibby, owner of the Spencer Gulf Pictoria, was an early influence on Greg's work.

"He taught me about light," said Greg. "He would say, 'look at that brick wall; watch as it changes with the subtle shifts in light.' The texture and the color nuances turned an ordinary brick wall into something extraordinary," Greg said.

"Gibbie," as he was known, was also a stock car racer. "He passed away when I was 16," said Greg. "The new owner didn't like me much because I played football for the Wyalla Tigers, and the newspaper sponsored our rival team. It was very tribal," said Greg.

He was later offered a cadetteship for Messenger Newspapers, a conglomerate of 29 suburban newspapers, where he became one of four photographers for all of Adelaide.

"What it taught me was how to manage time," said Greg. "We would get a stack of work orders and have maybe 20 minutes per job. We got maybe two frames per job, and one of those had to be a direct flash shot," said Greg. "You learned to get it right." It was there that Greg developed his newspaper ethos.

He was photographic editor for Australia's national daily broadsheet "The Australian" for three years, where he "generated feature ideas and baby-sat their color magazine." He was editor when one of his photographers transmitted photos of people jumping from the World Trade Towers on 9/11. In a move that was highly controversial at the time, Greg ran the photos, believing they were absolutely integral to the story.

"Senior Editors and even the Publisher became embroiled in a passionate debate over our responsibilities as a newspaper, as to how we should handle the display and placement of such distressing material," Greg said. "My opinion as Director of Photography was that an event of such magnitude and brutality had to be shown for what it was -- uncensored and undiminished in any way."

"The outcome of this very heated debate was that we ran a very graphic image on page one. Inside the paper, we also ran what were the most dramatic and disturbing photographs I've seen in my 38 years as a news photographer," he added.

"The response from readers and advertisers varied from shocked but positive to those who canceled subscriptions and advertising contracts. However, I still feel that we did the correct thing. I believe a newspaper has a responsibility to report and illustrate the news as it is," said Greg.

The sheer tragedy of having to choose between two horrific deaths, calculating which is quicker, then mustering the courage to act on that knowledge, is something few in this country will ever forget. Perhaps the fact that news and photographic editors had to then debate what to do with the startling images is, in itself, the very essence of journalism.

When he later went to work for the Fairfax Group, he was given essentially a "blank check" to create his own photographic style, run his own agenda, and engage in extensive travel worldwide as a news photographer. He was producing stock photography before stock photography was fashionable. On loan to Care Australia, Greg sent home a steady stream of brilliant photographic work from war torn Bosnia, the Sudan, and Somalia.

One of the highlights of Greg's career was the time he was sent to photograph Nelson Mandela, "who was the most humble and gracious man I've ever met," said Greg. "There I was, completely in awe of him, and he was thanking me for taking time out of my schedule to shoot pictures of him," he added. "It was incredible."

He has shot a host of other celebrities throughout his career, from Brooke Shields to Willie Nelson, whose press handler forbade Greg from speaking to the country music icon but wound up shooting pictures of the two together at Nelson's request.

During the height of the Somalia conflict, Greg made three separate trips, six weeks at a time, to capture images of the war torn region. He spent his down time between the three stints traveling other regions of Africa because of the great distance back home. What he found there was a landscape eerily familiar.

"There are so many parallels between the African landscape and the American West," he said. "There is a sense of land, a sense of ownership of the land, and extraordinary light" that spills over the vast, open landscapes. "It is quite unlike Australia, where the bright, white light is far more bleak and harsh," said Greg.

"It's easy to become completely obsessed with the West," he added.

"When Greg and I first met, there was about a six month span of time during which we didn't see each other," said Maripat. "He was supposed to meet me in Jackson Hole, Wyo., but he showed up four hours late, in his words because of a 'horse that wouldn't cooperate.'"

"I've gone through a bit of a horse phase throughout my career," said Greg, and "the irony is I'm a terrible rider."

Maripat was the first to discover Serenbe. Surprised by its serenity, she summoned Greg to meet her there for a romantic weekend at The Inn. They met Garnie Nygren, daughter of Steve and Marie Nygren, co-founders of Serenbe, who showed them a number of Serenbe properties and introduced them to the residents.

"We went for a long walk and just fell in love with the place. We bought a townhouse three weeks later," said Maripat.

"The light at Serenbe is superb," said Greg. "It's like having a studio out your back door."

"It's quiet enough, but also quaint and eclectic enough, for any genre of photography. You don't even have to bring a set with you," said Greg.

"It's got great energy," added Maripat, and so does the Newington Gallery. It's a must see, whether you're a photography buff or simply a student of the vast geographical and sociological vistas our planet has to offer.

For more information about the gallery, or about Greg's photographic services, go to www.newingtonphotography.com.