Michael Rayner - Biography
After a long and distinguished career as an editorial photographer for some of Australia’s most respected newspapers and magazines, Michael Rayner has relocated to the beautiful Wilderness Coast township of Mallacoota, half way between Melbourne and Sydney.
A former full-time staff photographer at The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Good Weekend magazine, Michael Rayner has also been commissioned to produce work for Time Australia, The Australian Weekend Magazine, Qantas Australian Way magazine, the UK Telegraph Weekend Magazine and Business Review Weekly.
With the skills of a master craftsman and the eye of a fine artist, he is as comfortable shooting news pictures as he is with features, documentary, portraiture, sport, environmental and architectural photography. As a lecturer, he has mentored dozens of up and coming photojournalists at Melbourne’s prestigious Photography Studies College, Southbank.
Michael’s was official photographer for the Brisbane Commonwealth Games, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Cultural Program and the VFL; he has also covered World Cup cricket in Australia, India and Pakistan. In 1992 he undertook a powerful photographic essay on landmine victims and refugees in Northern Iraq and is often in demand as an official photographer for International Arts Festivals. His documentation of everyday life around Melbourne and Sydney is an outstanding testament to his decades of life as a photojournalist.
His impressive body of work has graced countless front and back pages, glossy magazine covers, books and brochures. He has amassed a host of national photographic awards in recognition of his contribution to Australian press photography including Nikon/Maxwell Press Photo Awards, The Australian National Press Photography Awards and a Walkley Award (group award, Port Arthur massacre).
His many national and international assignments have culminated in three books: Ticket to Ride, a reflection of life and characters around the Australian continent by train; Caribbean Odyssey, a celebration of cricket and life in the West Indies; and Contact Renewed; Australia versus the new South Africa, a thoughtful and entertaining account of life following the resumption of Test cricket after apartheid, all published by Simon & Schuster.
Now Michael Rayner has made a lifestyle change to one of Australia’s most beautiful coastal regions, Mallacoota in East Gippsland, Victoria (542km from Melbourne and 570km from Sydney and 247km from Canberra) where he will continue to offer professional photographic services to capital city commissioning editors, advertising and PR organisations as well as local tourism groups, local government and media outlets.
He is available for press, travel, advertising campaigns, features, annual reports, commercial web images, tourism brochures and high-end real estate photography. Equipped with the latest high end digital technology, Michael is able cover assignments and have pictures on your imaging desk within minutes of the event; saving your organization time and money, making tight deadlines, yet delivering first class images.
Michael Rayner is now available to cover the area from Bairnsdale in Victoria to Narooma in NSW, including the entire East Gippsland region and the Sapphire Coast of NSW. Towns within 90 minutes of Mallacoota include Eden, Merimbula, Bega, Bermagui, Tathra, Bombala, Orbost, Lakes Entrance, Cann River and Buchan.