Steve Greenaway’s image is a finalist in the Head On Portrait Prize 2014. See the exhibition at Paddington Reservoir until June 8. 


“Ahmed’s eyes … are full of the determination we needed for the campaign, but I think they show more than that. They also communicate the sense of pride, calmness and confidence that I’ve come to associate with Ahmed.”

I was approached to take on a pro-bono project for the Australian Paralympic Committee by their agency, MercerBell, shortly before Christmas last year. The brief was to shoot a series of images that would feature on a microsite to help raise funds for athletes on their journey to the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. At that stage, we were briefed on a concept of Chris Bond doing a pull up as well as portraits of fellow paralympians, Ahmed Kelly and Alex Green. I’d seen Ahmed in a documentary a few years back and the athlete’s mind-boggling story of loss, determination and achievement stuck with me. It led to a few late nights watching the last Paralympic Games and played a part in my decision to get involved in their fundraising efforts.

We set out to find a location that depicted the hard work, endless training and merciless determination that forms such a major part of these athletes’ lives. I’d been to the gym at Woolloomooloo PCYC a couple of years earlier and it stuck in my mind as an awesome training space; unique in its rough-and-readiness, an authentic old-school place to go and sweat it out. Stupidly, it only occurred to me only on the day of the shoot that we were set up on the third floor of a stairs-only building. For some of the guys, just getting to the set was enough of an effort but they all made it. After all, they’re trained to beat adversity.

Our brief had grown somewhat from the original one (no surprise to anyone who shoots advertising!) so I had four close up portraits to shoot before the hero image of Chis Bond. I created a post workout scene with Ahmed sitting in front of some weights using the incredible old, rusted door as a background. He’d just finished some sit ups and was enjoying a rest. The shot itself only took half an hour or so and everyone was wrapped with the result but, to be honest, it took me some time to truly appreciate the beauty of the image we created that day. Ahmed’s eyes tell a great story. They are full of the determination we needed for the campaign, but they I think they show more than that. They also communicate the sense of pride, calmness and confidence that I’ve come to associate with Ahmed. I didn’t see it in the hustle of shoot day. It was only once I had noticed these qualities that I decided to enter the work into the Head On Portrait Prize. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Links:

http://www.stevegreenaway.com/

https://headon.org.au/event/head-2014-portrait-awards

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Head On Photo Awards 2024

Entries to the Head On Photo Awards 2024 open in May/June.

Image detail: Gary Ramage