National Portrait Gallery works with acclaimed portrait photographer to bring Australian icon to life

Mark Mohell, Imaging Services Manager at the National Portrait Gallery and acclaimed portrait photographer, Peter Brew-Bevan have worked together for the last five years bringing portrait photography to life, from capture to print. Recently they collaborated on a portrait of Leisel Jones portrait OAM (b. 1985), the first Australian swimmer to have competed at four Olympic Games.

In a video capturing this collaboration, Mark Mohell touches on the portrait gallery’s ability to tell stories of people who have significantly impacted Australian culture. In terms of bringing art to life on the gallery walls Mark comments: “Building trust with artists is a critical part of the job and for me to know the colour is to going to be exactly the same as what the artist intends is so critical.”

Peter Brew-Bevan, who has used Canon cameras since 2005, said: “My portraiture is very stylised and when it comes to dealing with Mark and the printing it’s generally a feeling that I get, it’s more of an emotional feeling of what that print is giving. He continues, “The results that I find with the Canon large format printer has just been second to none.” 

The structure, clarity and texture of images shot using Canon’s EOS digital cameras can be accurately and faithfully reproduced on paper by combing the EOS digital camera system with Canon's imagePROGRAF PRO printers.

Watch this video to see the process involved, from capture to print, in bringing Peter’s vision and his portrait of Leisel Jones OAM to life in the National Portrait Gallery.