Writers & Photographers Directory

Bronwen Healy

Bronwen with Octagonal and his trainer John Hawkes

I live in Canberra and my racing photography takes me to the major Australian carnival races in Melbourne and Sydney in the Spring and Autumn Carnivals. I expect to start covering the Brisbane Winter Carnival when I can.

My racing library starts the Spring of 1993 and is building nicely. I am steadily establishing my reputation as one of Australia's leading racing photographers and would like to achieve a longer term goal of covering some best international races in the UK, America and Japan, as well as the emerging racing industry of Hong Kong and the like. The best horses I have photographed are Saintly, Might and Power, Sunline, Octagonal, Intergaze and Tie The Knot. As well as these great horses, I have been lucky enough to photograph some very fine 3 years olds such as Testa Rossa, Redoute's Choice, Encounter, Our Maizcay, Miss Pennymoney, Pharein, Mouawad, Nothin' Leica Dane, Danendri, plus some great stayers, sprinters and WFA horses like Champagne, Dane Ripper, Danewin, Filante, Juggler, Schillaci, Hareeba, Sky Heights, Dignity Dancer, Jeune, Paris Lane and Vintage Crop.

I have loved horses since I can remember and began riding when I was 6, insisting on riding the biggest horse they had. My parents finally gave in to relentless pressure and bought me my first horse when I was 13. I still have the ex-racer they bought me in 1984, who is presently living a nice life in retirement. In 1999 one of my best friends gave me my new horse, a warmblood mare, whom I am training in dressage.

I became interested in horse racing when I was 12 in 1980. I become aware of the mighty horse Kingston Town, and subsequently fell in love with him. I followed his career avidly until his retirement and afterwards, collecting all sorts of memorabilia to put in my precious scrapbooks. I even have my photograph taken with The King, that my Dad took.

It was my Dad's photography that initially steered me towards taking up photography myself, and he bought me my first camera for my 21st birthday present. The two interests of horse racing and photography came together, and here I am today! I was probably inspired by the many full-page colour photographs taken mainly by Martin King, that used to be published (without all the text and other distractions that most magazines now possess) on Turf Monthly and Racetrack Magazine in the late 1970s (most of these I've purchased second hand at a much later date) and 1980s. It was one of these photographs that caught my eye, a full page head shot of Aare, who won the 1980 Blue Diamond Stakes, on the cover of I think the 1981 January Turf Monthly, which I purchased along with the 1980 Annual Turf Monthly, which had colour photographs of Kingston Town all through it. They were the first racing magazines I ever bought, and fuelled a passion I guess. I still think of those two magazines, and those colour photographs that adorned them, every time I visit the coastal town of Bateman's Bay, some 2 hours from Canberra, where we used to visit when on beach holidays at Christmas time. Those photographs and magazines presently fill up several boxes and will make great scrap books once I get around to finishing them. They used to be great collectors items, and will prove a great addition to my huge collection of racing books, prints, magazines, plus of course now my own growing photographic library.

My photography is part time and I still work full time. Last year I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree, which I studied at the Australian National University. The degree took 5 years to complete, and certainly made for an interesting schedule during carnival time and afterwards, when I had to try to catch up on all the work I'd missed while chasing horses around racetracks. I majored in Political Science and Economic History.

My workload still keeps me pretty busy, although finishing the degree is pure bliss. In 1998 I did an HTML course, which enabled me to design and upload my web page.

Bronwen Healy Photography
PO Box 3060
WESTON ACT 2611
AUSTRALIA
Phone: (02) 6287 3019 (home)
(02) 6246 4554 (work)
(0407) 622 003 (mobile)
Email: bronnie@ausracing.net.au
Web Site: http://www.ausracing.net.au/bronnie.htm

My photography is part time, therefore, if possible, I prefer to be phoned or emailed at home. If you do need to phone me during the day at work, I may have to phone you back either at lunch time or after hours, and I will need to keep the phone call brief. I would appreciate your understanding with this.

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