Elephant in the zoom
ELEPHANTS are not typically found in the Yarra River, but for John Casamento unusual scenes were all part of a day's work.
The former Herald Sun photographer's snap of the circus animal's bath time routine is one of the many pictures featured in his upcoming book Never Work With Animals or Children.
It provides a snapshot of his 36 years at the paper, but Mr Casamento jokes he had so much fun he never worked a day.
He said he loved climbing the three sets of stairs to the third floor, wondering what that day would hold.
"I loved going to the zoo to see the baby gorilla ... he was always so happy," he said. "The gorillas were so unpredictable, sometimes they'd throw something at you."
3AW Weekend Breakfast radio interview
Darren James and Emily Power from 3AW interview John Casamento about his new book,
‘Never work with animals or children’.
Listen here:
Snapper's heartfelt focus on kids and animals
Photographer John Casamento's 50 years working with animals and children
In 52 years of working as a press photographer, John Casamento has just about seen it all. Now 82, John still loves his craft. In fact, he says he never really regarded taking photos as working.
"I recall reading that the Chinese philosopher Confucius once said ‘Choose a job that you like and you'll never have to work a day in your life’," John said. "I have a confession to make: I've been very, very lazy! I was 16 when I got into photography. In my last year of school I wrote to all the papers but couldn't land a position as a cadet photographer. But after a few months I got a position at the Herald and Weekly Times as a darkroom messenger boy. I used to take photos in my spare time, some of which were published in The Sun.”
BEST MATES: Photographer John Casamento, whose latest book called ‘Never Work With Animals or Children’, gets hugged by an orangutan during a shoot.
3AW Nights radio interview
Denis Walter from 3AW interviews John Casamento about his new book,
‘Never work with animals or children’.
Listen here:
Rete Italia radio interview
Tony Tardio from Rete Italia radio interviews John Casamento about his new book,
‘Never work with animals or children’.
Listen here:
Arms full of love. Adelaide visitor Lynda had no trouble cuddling these three-week-old tiger cubs who were the centre of attention at the Monbulk Animal Kingdom. “We separated them from their heavy-handed parents and introduced them to the public early to make them easier to handle as they grew,” explained the park’s owners.
A book for a good cause
Il Globo
82 year old retired John Casamento has recently published ‘Never work with animals or children’, his photographic collection which has as its subjects children and animals. The photos were taken during his career and have been collected in a book with the intention of giving the proceeds from the sale to the Australian and New Zealand Fontan Registry of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, the major paediatric research centre in Australia.
"My grandson Noah was born with a cardiac malfunction which meant him having only one functioning cardiac ventricle instead of two. This problem would put his life seriously in danger…
The Chat Pack
In this live streamed video, John Casamento chats with Dougal Austin, Anthony T Schmidt & Sharni Layton about his career and his new fundraising book ‘Never work with animals or children’.
John’s segment begins at the 1:37:00 mark.
John’s grandson Noah with surgeon Yves d'Udekem, holding the Mick Jagger portrait that was auctioned to raise funds for the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s ‘Fontan for Life’ campaign.
Photographed by John Casamento of The Sun News-Pictorial, a wistful-looking Jagger is seen posing for the cameras during a Melbourne press conference held in 1973.
John’s grandson Noah was born with a heart defect and was operated on by surgeon Yves d'Udekem. Both have now given their support to the fundraiser.
Not surprisingly, Noah’s favourite Stones tune is ‘Start Me Up’.
Now, 41 years later, the Rolling Stones frontman is coming full circle. And there are high hopes the star will autograph his portrait when he arrives in Melbourne next week for his 14 ON FIRE tour.
Money from the auction goes to the MCRI’s Fontan Registry — a three-year-old research initiative that follows the health and development of children treated for serious heart defects detected after birth.
The defects prevent lung circulation working independently from body circulation…
Images by the former Sun News Pictorial photographer John Casamento form ‘Out of the Darkroom’, a retrospective of his career which will be staged at Photonet Gallery in Melbourne from November 3 to 23.
Casamento says the picture editor of a major newspaper once told him that the adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" was a fallacy. "It depends on what pictures and what words," the editor explained. The editor then told Casamento the craft of news photography also required him to be a journalist, technician, artist and historian…
Off to war. Bound for the war in Vietnam, a soldier is farewelled by his loved one before boarding a plane with other defence force members at Essendon Airport, 1967.
‘In House’, Herald & Weekly Times
High on a ledge in the Sun's picture department stands a strange piece of objet d'art which baffles visitors who cast their eyes high enough to see it.
On top of a rough, stumpy piece of four-by-four timber sits a plastic duck of unknown origin with a tiny toy camera slung around its neck.
Further inspection reveals intriguing flotsam and jetsam stuck to its sides — a piece of underdeveloped film, a miniature boom gate, a broken piece of porcelain, out-of-date media medallion for the MCG and the back half of a toy cow.
Recently, another item was added to the odd "sculpture" — a plastic duckling…
The place for a village. Top-hatted coachmen and passengers re-enact the anniversary of Melbourne's founding as they ride across Princes Bridge.
During his 36 years at The Herald and Weekly Times, photojournalist John Casamento took tens of thousands of pictures, with the best of them now on display for the first time.
From celebrities to criminals, sporting events to daily news, "Out of the Darkroom" is a retrospective showcasing the 75-year-old's career from 1955 to 1991.
"It's just the tip of the iceberg," Mr Casamento said.
"I've got boxes of pictures tucked away in the corner of an old room … and cabinets filled with them all."
Describing his images as a flashback, Mr Casamento said his love of the art stemmed from the diversity of the assignments he was given…
John Casamento with Pope John Paul II, world tour 1986
Veteran photographer John Casamento was 12 years old when he first picked up a camera. His father had bought the ‘box-Brownie-type’ for a trip back home to Italy to see his relatives. When his father returned, John began borrowing the camera. His older brother, Peter, had set up a makeshift darkroom in their Northcote family home where they would process films—neither of the boys wanted to wait a week for the photos to come back from the chemist, reports Kairos on the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne website.
At 16, John was given a four-year cadetship at the Herald and Weekly Times, publishers of the then Herald and The Sun-News Pictorial (now the Herald Sun). It was the beginning of a photography career that has now spanned more than 50 years and has seen John receive numerous national and international awards for his press photography…
By Amanda D’Costa
“I went out with a reporter, I don’t know if we knew the boy had cancer or not, I can’t recall…he was in the lounge room playing and I remember it was just after Easter and I thought he was eating an Easter egg. But he wasn’t. This was the tumour growing out of his mouth. And it was huge. I couldn’t take a picture of him front on, so I took a picture of him hugging his mother with his arms around her…”
John pauses a lot in the recollection of this particular assignment. I mistake his pauses for an attempt to grasp some elusive thread of memory. But when he resumes again, his words come out fragmented and his voice is a few decibels lower…