BACARDI

Photographer Richard Bennett OAM

Date2009

Object number00055874

NamePhotograph

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall: 860 × 807 mm
Overall (image): 661 × 659 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Richard Bennett OAM

Terms

DescriptionColour photograph by photographer Richard Bennett that pictures an aerial view of the yacht BACARDI sailing past Tasmania’s Organ Pipes (the rocky vertical formations on the background). In 2013 BACARDI set a record with its 28th Sydney to Hobart race, the most ever sailed by an individual yacht.HistoryRichard Bennett OAM first photographed the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in 1974 and has captured every race since. Bennett's speciality is low level aerial photography, his yacht photographs characterized by moody seas and the dramatic lines of Tasman landscapes. This style is a product of Bennett's experience as a mountaineer, his love of adventure, and passion for documenting rugged and remote parts of the Tasman Isle. "I love everything about the Sydney to Hobart: the many moods of the sea, the sense of participation in a great adventure, the camaraderie, the tactics, sensing the proximity of the elements, the wildness … the gales, the different light and the dramatic coastline. It’s about putting all those elements together. My most compelling moments photographing the Sydney Hobart are when it is blowing hard. The harder it blows the happier I am…within reason. There is an organisational challenge in being in the right location to capture the peak of the action. (I am not there often enough, according to the yachties!)". SignificanceThis selection of photographs is significant as a collection of original photographs of one of the world’s premier bluewater sailing events by one of the most important photographers of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race during the last fifty years - Richard Bennett OAM. Bennett's most notable works feature landmark vessels across multiple decades; they represent significant moments in the history of the Sydney to Hobart. Each photograph is characteristic of Bennett's pictorial style, depicting yachts from unique aerial perspectives set against the distinctly rugged and majestic Tasmanian coastline.