Vale Bob Bourne, ad photographer extraordinaire
Sad news has just come through that legendary advertising photographer Bob Bourne has passed away at his home in Gippsland.
Lionel Hunt, the former chairman of The Campaign Palace told CB today: “Bob was in my opinion the top advertising photographer in Australia in the 70’s and 80’s and an absolutely vital ingredient of The Palace’s, and many other agencies’, award winning print work at the time.”
Says fellow ad photographer and director, Derek Hughes: “Bob you inspired me and many other photographers, not only in thenoble art, but when necessary how to be very naughty, very arrogant,very caring, get very drunk and most importantly how to believe inyourself and your work …. thank you…”
Photographer Rob Henderson added: “Outrageous and flamboyant, that was Bob.”
Adds art director, Stan Jarin: “I remember a Caxton’s promotion way back when, when Caxton’s was THEaward, where Lionel Hunt wrote the simple steps to win a Caxton. Numberone was ‘get Bob Bourne to shoot your photo’.”
Former photographer, now director, Greg Desmond says: “Bob Bourne was a lovely guy. Stayed at his house for the first AWARD night held in Melbourne. We chopped wood together, while his wife cooked dinner for a group of us.
“If you want to find a book practically devoted to Bob check out the first Award 79 Book: Silver award – Heron Island. Just a drop in the ocean. 13 pages in the silver award section.
Silver award – Linderman. A hundred islands for the price of one.
Page 62 – Heron Island. Just a drop in the ocean.
Page 64 – Just a drop in the ocean
Page 60 – Linderman. A hundred islands for the price of one.
Page 57 – Just another victim of Great Kepple Island.
Page 44 – Holeproof Fibs. Would we lie to you?”
Top: Wrangler via the Campaign Palace: “The shot every other photographer in Australia wished they had taken!,” says Derek Hughes. “Taken some time in the mid to late 70’s….”
Above: Channel 7 print, via The Campaign Palace, was brilliant in the late 70s, with many shot by Bourne, including this powerful image.
Below: When Bob turned director in 1988 he ran this outrageous double page spread, shot at Mario’s, his and everyone’s favourite Sydney restaurant in the 80s, which appeared in the November 1988 issue of Campaign Brief.
Bottom: Heron Island poster via The Campaign Palace that won Silver at AWARD. CB hears Bourne nearly fell out of the helicopter getting the perfect shot.
6 Comments
Paradise Pictures was the first Studio I worked at,and Bob Bourne was the Photographer who gave me the opportunity and the start.Your flamboyance and outragessness were a shock for a young students intro to the world of advertising,but there was also a lot of humour ,and your Photography and skill was an inspiration.Thank you Bob. Mike Rutherford
As a kid I remember seeing that Wrangler poster in the old Disposal Store in Paddington. It blew me away. RIP Bob Bourne.
I first noticed Bob Bourne’s pictures whilst briefly art director at POL Magazine in ’68.
They were refreshingly different and very inspirational. As such he was in high demand and we were unable to work together before I departed O/S.
Upon meeting him 13 years later, I found a kind and outrageous person with a dry and wicked sense of humour.
A ‘de rigeur’ asset at the fabled Marios tables of East Sydney throughout the 80’s.
RIP Bob. You will most certainly be missed by many.
Rob
Thank you to all for making Dad known again… He spent the last ten years trying to get people to forget him.
I would like to collect a body of his work to exhibit and complete a book on his life and his work.
If anyone could help please contact me via email:
ej_lupa@live.com
Thanks again,
Eliza Jane (EJ) Bourne
Bob’s daughter.
What very sad news. My condolences to his family.
I worked for Bob at Paradise Pictures for quite a while running the darkroom, not long after he’d started up there. I remember all the images above, but the image of the Star of David is particularly evocative since I believe I actually developed and printed the original. I remember it being one of a series of full-page newspaper ads.
I have so many great memories of Bob. What a great person to have known.
Jim
The Hare Krsna Wrangler shot was taken in Melbourne in early 1975. I am playing the drum on the left.
We went out at 5.30am to the top of Collins St. and came down the tram tracks as Bob took his shots. It was a brilliant campaign and remembered for years.