Lionel Hunt pays tribute to Bob Bourne

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Screen shot 2010-09-12 at 5.30.54 PM.pngBob Bourne, doyen of Melbourne advertising photographers in the 70’s and 80’s, has passed away at his home in Gippsland, country Victoria.

When I arrived in Melbourne in 1968, Bob WAS Melbourne advertising. He took the best photos, had the best lunches and threw the best parties.

Born in England, Bob joined the Merchant Navy to see the world and eventually ended up in Melbourne. A larger than life character, in his trademark khaki overalls and with his booming voice, he founded Paradise Pictures in the mid seventies with another prominent Melbourne photographer Peter Gough. Many of Melbourne’s other leading photographers became part of Paradise including Peter Houghton, Alan Dott and Ted Keogh.

CHANNEL-7-web.jpgWhen we started The Campaign Palace in 1972, my art director partnerGordon Trembath wouldn’t use anyone else, often letting Bob go off onhis own to take the mos important shots, without anyone looking overhis shoulder. I think he took just about all the shots for our Channel7 print campaign that won the first ever Gold Pencil for print at theinaugural AWARD show in 1979 , presented by John Cleese, incidentally,for those of you too young to remember. He went on to help win manyother awards for us and plenty of other agencies.

The best shot he ever took for us, as far as I’m concerned, was for aWrangler Jeans poster. Somehow he persuaded The Hari Krishnas to paradedown Collins Street in Melbourne all in their saffron robes with theirleader wearing a blue denim shirt, with the line ‘ If I can’t wear myold Wrangler shirt I’m not going ‘.

They did it for money, as I remember, but at the end of the shoot, to show his distaste at all

this commercialism, the leader threw the shirt on the ground and stomped on it.

WRANGLER-HARI-KRISHNA.jpgI’ll never forget an unusually crestfallen Bob coming to see us thenext morning and having to tell us that he’d processed the film, andthere was nothing on it… He was a bit spooked by this but somehow hepersuaded them to do it again [same fee again, probably] and ended upwith the shot of the century. { Sadly, I don’t know if even Lynchy willbe able to source this one… ]

When my wife and I moved to the New South Wales Southern Highlands in1990, the then newly-retired Bob rented a cottage just down the roadfrom us. Most nights he’d come over for dinner and a bottle of red ortwo and a game of Scrabble. He was a pretty good player but I couldn’thelp noticing that every time I left the game to go to the toilet hewould immediately come up with a 7 letter word.

Challenging him on this he immediately owned up to helping himself toletters while I was away but brazenly justified it with “But I stillhad to think of a word…”.

Another time when he got up to relieve himself two Scrabble tiles fellout of his sleeve onto the floor. A hard man to beat in every way.

Some nights, not wanting to walk home , or perhaps unable too, he’dride home on our lawn mover, the dim headlights disappearing into thecold mist.

He introduced me to my wife Judy who worked for him as a stylist andI’ll be forever grateful to him for that and many other things.

Dear old charming, maddening, generous, cantankerous, fun loving,grumpy and supremely talented Bobbles, you are very sadly missed byyour family and friends.

Lionel Hunt.