About

In this fascinating conversation, Peter Maddison (Grand Designs Australia), photographer John Gollings, and Fiona Austin (Beaumaris Modern) will discuss the nuances and importance of Architectural photography. Held in association with the exhibition Max Dupain and Ansel Adams: In search of perfection.

'Architecture is like a gigantic still life – only instead of moving the bits and pieces around you move round the bits and pieces. And the direction of light is of course one of the prime factors in that respect' - Max Dupain

Peter Maddison                                                    

Peter Maddison is an Architect with a unique appreciation of architecture manifest in the many Architecture Awards his practice has received, his extensive involvement with the profession and interface with the public. He has won the RAIA National Presidents Prize, is a Life Fellow of the RAIA and Doctor of Design at RMIT University. Peter made the TV show ‘Grand Designs Australia’ for a decade putting architecture on the public agenda.Peter has a passion for giving to the design industry and is currently;

• The Ambassador for Architects Without Frontiers
• The Patron of the Beaumaris Modern Group, and
• and The Ambassador for the annual Melbourne Open - House program.

Fiona Austin

After studying fine art and then completing design studies at Swinburne University, Fiona Austin worked at Home Beautiful magazine for three years as a design editor and then later as a freelance writer for the magazine. Fiona edited The Period Home Renovator magazine, whilst studying Restoration and Conservation part time at RMIT. She also wrote for the Age ‘Home’ section for three years.

Fiona worked with two architects in a small practice and then for a large design and construct company before establishing her own interior design practice, Austin Design Associates in 1999. She operated her design practice for over 20 years and specialised in residential design, with a particular interest in mid-century homes.

Fiona was a Chapter councillor and Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia. She has now retired and spends her time painting and is a committee member of Beaumaris Modern.

John Gollings

John Gollings first picked up a camera at the age of nine, falling in love with the process of photography. He continued snapping, Nikon F in hand, throughout his time at the University of Melbourne, where he formally studied architecture during the 1960s. After graduating with a Masters degree in Architecture, he decided to pursue his self-taught hobby full‑time, stepping into the world of advertising and fashion photography. 

Alongside his well-known commercial work, Gollings engages in personal projects concerned with architectural history and heritage. This fascination is apparent in his documentation of places such as Melbourne and Surfers Paradise, where he has recorded the evolution of the built environment over extended periods of time, and case studies of ancient structures in China, Cambodia and Libya. One of his most recent projects focuses on capturing Nawarla Gabarnmang, an Indigenous rock shelter located in Arnhem Land. Dated at over 45,000 years old, the structure is the oldest human construction photographed by Gollings, and was created by tunnelling into a cliff face to form a pillared interior space.

Date

Wednesday 29 July 2026 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM (UTC+10)

Location

Bayside Gallery
Corner Wilson and Carpenter Streets, Brighton Victoria 3186

Phone: (03) 9261 7111

Contact Event Organiser

Main image credit: Left to right Portraits of Peter Maddison, Fiona Auston and John Gollings. Supplied.