Author: John McRae

Well-known comedian, radio announcer, social media star, author and talented all-round entertainer Tanya Hennessy is the reigning daytime queen of crossed lines. NOVA Entertainment recently staged a photo-shoot at the film studios of Sydney Prop Specialists in Marrickville for a brand new podcast series Tanya will be spearheading, called “Hennessy’s Hotline”.

More details will follow about Tanya’s upcoming podcast. In the meantime here are some images from our January shoot.

Just prior to the Christmas break I headed to the Southern Highlands village of Robertson to photography the wedding of Lisa and James.

It was a stunning occasion held in the wooded grounds of a turn-of-the-century hotel on the outskirts of the township. The Robertson Hotel was built in 1924. It ran as a country hotel with manicured lawns until it was purchased by the Catholic church and requisitioned into a monastery. More recently it was sold once more, and its original use as a sprawling hotel was re-established. It was the perfect venue for the December wedding of Lisa and James.

The wedding ceremony took place a short walk away from the entrance of the hotel, on the lawn of the lush gardens. The guests took their seats as they waited for the Bride and Groom to make their entrance with an entourage of flower girls and boys.

At the end of the ceremony, a special touch created a sense of wonder and magic. Once the celebrant presented the couple as husband and wife, each of the flower-girls and page-boys (pictured above, sitting on the ground) released a wanderer butterfly into the wild.

Since 2008, every year I have taken an “official” annual portrait photograph of Matthew Mitcham, Australia’s gold-medal Olympic diver, award-winning cabaret performer and television entertainer, in my studio in Sydney.

Facing the camera with a direct, unflinching manner, each consecutive portrait is added to the growing series of similar portraits, which commenced when Matthew was only 20 years old, before his rise to Olympic fame.

Each portrait is taken under identical conditions, plotting the changes in his physical appearance and growing self-assurance. MMXXI marks the 14th portrait and the 14th year in this ongoing series.

Matt continues to reside in the UK with his husband, Luke. If you wish to keep an eye on his professional progress I suggest following him on instagram at the following link: https://www.instagram.com/matthewmitcham88/

The complete sequence can be seen at  

The series is printed by the artist in an edition of 9, with 2 artist proofs, and is available for purchase.

Contact: John McRae mb: 0419 619 161 e: john@johnmcrae.com

Lorraine Chai (see link here) is a young, dynamic musician who not only teaches and plays music but has formulated her own instructive method for musical education. I first met Lorraine 8 years ago when she came to my studio for a series of head shots and recently she returned to update her image portfolio.

Although classically trained, Lorraine has extensive music skills having studied with many renowned jazz teachers such as Judy Bailey, Sandy Evans, and Kerrie Biddell and music theatre with Pat H. Wilson.

Having grown up with a musical family, Lorraine began playing and performing from the age of four. Lorraine has studied the Guitar, Percussion, Oboe, Violin, Clarinet, and Voice. She is an international multi-talented instrumentalist and educator.  Lorraine graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music Studies in 2008 and then completed her Graduate Diploma of Education at the Australian Catholic University a year later. In 2009, Lorraine completed the ATCL Recital (Associate Diploma Trinity College London) in classical singing and in 2011, completed a certificate of conducting from The Australian Band and Orchestra Director’s Association (ABODA).

It’s coming up to that time of year once more in Sydney … yes it’s the Beresford Hotel’s annual Christmas show. Under the direction of Minnie Cooper, the forthcoming pageant features some of the bright stars of the Sydney drag scene. 
Surrounded by tinsel and diamonds, Fran and Coco came to my studio to pose for a series of Hollywood glamour shots for the Beresford’s poster, accompanied by dancer Hayden dressed as the Little Drummer Boy.

In 2021 The Beresford continues its tradition of Absolutely Xmas. Joining Minnie Cooper, and Tora Hymen is Coco Jumbo, Fran Giapanni and Hayden as the new talent.

Hansen Yuncken Pty Ltd recently completed a large scale aged-care and residential facility in Minto, in Sydney’s west. I had photographed this site during its construction phase and Hansen Yuncken asked me to document the finished project prior to the residents moving in. Anglicare Minto Gardens features independent residential living, outdoor community areas and pockets of native bushland. It was great to track the project from the early stages to its completion.

Several years ago, while I was working on a photographic project exploring the subject of “meat” and butchery, I was introduced to Gus, the proprietor of the Five Dock Meat Market. Graciously Gus not only allowed me to organise a photographic shoot at his premises, but he also became an integral part of my series by agreeing to play the role of the gourmet butcher, a role for which he was more than qualified. With a sense of humour, he lent an air of professional authenticity to my surreal imagery.

Happily some of the resulting photographs from the shoot reached critical acclaim – one was selected as a finalist in the 2013 Head On Portrait Prize and another was a finalist in the Blake Prize, a national competition for spiritual and religious art.

Nine years on, I visited Five Dock and dropped in to say hi to Gus. He greeted me with the warmest of Italian welcomes. I even bought a whole rabbit to cook later at home based on a traditional Maltese recipe.

My colleague and friend, Audrey Rhoda is a painter who lives in the Blue Mountains where she has created her latest body of work for her November exhibition at the M2 Gallery in Surry Hills.

For many years I have been documenting her work and I helped her design the publicity for her upcoming solo show. Audrey works in various media and some of her paintings include wax to give her colours a jewel-like quality.

Audrey’s exhibition opens at M2 Gallery in Surry Hills on November 4 and continues through to November 16 (Opening hours 11am – 5pm).

Over the years, Sydney drag identity Minnie Cooper has been a frequent visitor to my studio, posing for numerous publicity shots and posters for cabaret shows. Her photogenic skills as actress, tap-dancer, choreographer and showgirl have also been showcased when she performed as a returning contestant on Australia’s Got Talent.  In spite of closures and restrictions in Sydney, Minnie’s exuberance reveals that there still exists a world of life, colour and creativity, all part of the queer expression of liberty.

Minnie came to my studio to document elements from her wardrobe and to produce new footage for projects for next year. In the studio, we made a series of videos to highlight different Minnie Cooper drag looks, and to showcase her charisma, uniqueness, verve and talent. One look was plush and operatic, another was sculptural and stone-coloured and a third was a contemporary take on an evil fairy-tale queen. 

While drag sometimes exists in a world of its own, the exaggerated, camp glamour promoted by Minnie Cooper also manifests its strong political and social connotations. Hers is a sign of resilience. In Sydney, the best drag queens are community leaders who represent different forms of activism, while helping to break down barriers.

“It’s part of your DNA being a drag queen,” affirms Minnie Cooper.

For the new look book of the autumn range for So French So Chic we organised a shoot at my Lilyfield studio to compliment the location shoot we completed in Parsley Bay the week before.

Client: So French So Chic (Valerie Tsoukaris), Model: Valeria Sizova, Hair and makeup: Kevin Vella, Styling: Chris Becker. Photographer: John McRae.