Photo courtesy of Anne Crawford

Anne Crawford

Photo courtesy of Anne Crawford.
Photographer Anne Crawford.

Anne calls herself a 'dual careerist'. She is a journalist who was once a feature writer with The Age and is also an exhibited and published photographer.

"I have a love of words and a passion for photography. I split my week doing both".

Anne has contributed 'word-and-picture' travel features on places such as Yemen and Uzbekistan and compiled a series called 'Aboriginal Melbourne' for The Age.

As a photographer, Anne's most memorable photo was taken when, due to an acute manpower shortage, she became an instant stills photographer while working as a researcher on a two-woman team producing an SBS documentary about the South African elections in 1994.

 Photo courtesy of Anne Crawford.  

South Africans wait to place their votes in the ballot box at elections in 1994.

The election was the first free election that allowed all adults in South Africa the right to vote without distinction as to race, sex, belief, economic or social status.

Photo courtesy of Anne Crawford.
Clinic coordinator Thinlay Ngodup (centre) guides postoperative patients through a test to check their restored vision as excited monks look on at Pullahari Monastery in Nepal in April 2002.

In 2002, Anne visited the Tilganga Eye Centre in Nepal, one of The Foundation's program partners. Using her long service leave, Anne was there to take photos of Tilganga Eye Centre's efforts in treating preventable blindness and to write a chapter for the book Through Other Eyes.

"Nepal was a glorious, exhausting, sometimes frustrating, heart-warming and joyous life experience, for which I am still grateful," says Anne as she remembers the experience.

"Watching someone regain their sight from blindness always amazes me but the transformation of one woman in particular - an elderly woman who wore her wedding dress to surgery at an eye clinic - from being timid, withdrawn and helpless to exuberant and mobile, was extraordinary. It was like someone had switched a light on in her life.I was also constantly struck at the groundswell of goodwill and energy generated by the team at Tilganga during my visit. They'd been given a kick start by The Fred Hollows Foundation and ongoing funds, but it was clearly local know-how, their expertise and dedication that ran the centre - as it should be!" Anne now splits her time working for The Age and runs her photography business on Victoria's east coast.

The Foundation thanks Anne for her wonderful shots!

Further Information

To see more of Anne's work visit her website.

To view other photos in our collection, please visit the photo collection.

 Photo courtesy of Anne Crawford.  
Photo courtesy of Anne Crawford.
 Sonam Tsultrim was happy with her first operation and is waiting for the second cataract to mature before she can have it removed. Pullahari Monastery (Kathmandu, Nepal) in April 2002.   
Nir Maya Mijar after surgery at a eye clinic in Nepal in April 2002.