Michael Amendolia 
Straight after leaving high school, Michael Amendolia worked at a Sydney based Georges Camera Store for six months before getting an opportunity to start as a copy boy at a newspaper.
“My last exam for the Higher School Certificate was on a Friday and I started work on the following Monday! I have been involved in photography professionally ever since,” says Michael.
From 1981-1997, Michael worked at News Limited as a staff photographer, where he gained experience across most journalistic themes, which provided the foundation for his current work.
Beginning in 1992, Michael photographed the work of Professor Fred Hollows and the very early days of The Fred Hollows Foundation in Vietnam, Eritrea and Nepal.
Many of Michael's stunning black and white photographs appear in the book Seeing is Believing.
Michael knew Fred for the last six months of his life and first met him in Vietnam. "I travelled to Hanoi in late 1992 with Fred Hollows, and the team he assembled, to train Vietnamese surgeons in modern cataract surgery. The team included Dr Sanduk Ruit, who is now Tilganga Eye Centre's Medical Director.
I would photograph the Professor each day as he restored the sight of cataract sufferers, trained local surgeons as well as battling his own ill health. In the evening I would process my black and white film in the hotel room toilet and transmit those images back to News Limited using a fax like machine for images and a telephone line.
One of those classic images was of seven year old Tran Van Giap being examined by Fred Hollows. After hearing about the Professor on the radio, Tran Van Giap travelled more than 100km to see the famous eye doctor who he heard would be in Hanoi.
The seven year old's cataracts were successfully treated by Fred Hollows, allowing Giap to not be burdened by unnecessary blindness from such a young age.
Also in 1992, Michael was invited by Dr Sanduk Ruit to travel to Mustang in Nepal to document a historic eye camp, which was ran by Ruit and coordinated by the Nepal Eye Program Australia and The Fred Hollows Foundation.
The harsh Mustang region was one of Nepal's poorest rural areas where heat, dust and bright sunlight caused eye problems in many of its inhabitants.
Michael's interest and commitment in documenting blindness prevention in developing countries stayed with him. In March 2006, he travelled with Dr Sanduk Ruit and other members of Tilganga Eye Centre once again.
This time, it was to Haeju, North Korea, where Dr Ruit led the first ophthalmic team ever to visit North Korea. Dr Ruit and his team screened 2,230 patients and restored sight to 702 people in 11 days.
The team also demonstrated the low cost, 'sutureless' cataract surgery technique to a group of doctors and nurses. Telling the story of preventable blindness and documenting the sustainable solutions that The Foundation has facilitated has always been a pleasure" says Michael.
The work of The Foundation in blindness prevention is classic development work - training local people from developing countries to provide the best of eye care themselves and then pass on those skills to others.
As a documentary-reportage photographer, Michael Amendolia now works independently through his base in Sydney, Australia.
Michael specialises in reportage and portraits and for the last 10 years he has covered stories across the spectrum of life for magazine editorial and corporate companies.
The Fred Hollows Foundation thanks Michael Amendolia for his wonderful photographs.
Further Information
To see more of Michael's work visit his website.
For other photo's in The Foundation's collection visit our photo collection.
