Rick Heaney

About 37 years ago, at the age of 22 and travelling the world in the Royal Australian Navy, taking photos was nothing more than capturing memories to chuck in a photo album. Then one evening, out in Sydney with my great mate Tony, who just happened to be a Navy Photographer, my little point and shoot camera with a fixed lens and an "amazing", 3 focus settings, an Olympus Trip 35, along with a "Super 8" movie camera was stolen. Whilst I was pretty pissed off about it, he said "Good! It's about time you bought a proper camera and learned how to take great photos. I bought my first 35mm SLR. It was a Konica Auto Reflex TC, bought second hand from a Sydney camera store and a whole new life began. Within weeks, with Tony's guidance, the images I began to capture revolutionised. It became my passion and has stayed that way for my whole life ever since. In fact, I became the official "Ship's Photographer" and as I was ending my Navy career, they wanted me to stay in and become a full time Navy Photographer. At the time I had other plans and declined the opportunity..... Apart from a couple of weddings, a couple of prints sold here and there and one paid gig, very late at night in Kings Cross (to show the Kings Cross night life at 2am) my passion for photography has always stayed a personal thing. However that is about to change. After all these years, I will be utilising a number of online gallery and sales platforms to take my art to the world. More than a little excited.