Celebrating 125 years - Snapper Laurie has Albany in focus

Attending shark attacks, protests, demolitions, drug busts, Anzac services and even prime ministerial visits are all in a day’s work for Albany Advertiser photographer Laurie Benson.

In his 12 years at the newspaper, Mr Benson has witnessed such iconic Albany events as the sinking of HMAS Perth, the demolition of the Esplanade, the port’s first shipment of woodchips, the construction of the Peace Park and the Porongurup and Tenterden fires.

He has rubbed shoulders with some famous personalities too, including Anthony “The Man” Mundine, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and star AFL footballers such as Fremantle’s Matthew Pavlich.

Albany born and bred, Mr Benson left the town in 1977 to complete a diploma in photography at Mt Lawley Technical College.

He worked at the Department of Agriculture as senior photographer before returning to Albany in 1989 as the co-owner of the Middleton Beach General Store, fish and chips shop and guesthouse.

He took part-time work at the Advertiser and in 1999 sold the business and joined the paper full-time in 2000 under the leadership of then-editor Andrew Gill.

Photographic technology has come a long way during Mr Benson’s time at the Advertiser, originally having to process film and now snapping away with a digital SLR and editing in Photoshop.

“Everything had to be developed in the dark room, that was the hardest part of the job,” he said.

“You would come back with film and would have to process it and get it all ready and reverse scan it.”

Mr Benson said the most memorable story he covered was in 2002 when Stuart Clarke was swept into the ocean at the Gap and rescued by his son, Geoff. Mr Clarke was only the second person to be saved from the notoriously dangerous rock.

“He was standing on the eastern side of the Gap and there was a northerly breeze blowing and he had his jacket done up partly,” he said.

“As he turned to walk back it filled up with wind and chucked him over the edge of the Gap.

“We got there and they were hauling him up the side, the SES volunteers. He had a punctured lung and all sorts of things and looked like he was 30 or 40 kilograms heavier.”

Mr Benson said while there were some negative aspects to being a news photographer, such as waiting out the front of the Albany courthouse, there were positives too, one of which %occurred at a Wignalls concert in 2003 with Albany band The Waifs.

Mr Benson, who was snapping away at the stage, managed to capture the moment when The Waifs’ Donna Simpson realised her grandmother was at the front of the crowd.

Simpson has since written to Mr Benson to thank him for capturing “one of the most beautiful moments of (her) career”.

The humble Mr Benson said he enjoyed doing his part to help out community groups.

“Some of the organisations you see around the place, they want something put in the paper so you go along and take a photo,” he said.

“Then they get back to you and tell you that whatever fundraising event they’ve had, they’ve done well and they thank us for helping them out — that’s probably the best part of the job.”

Mr Benson said his all-time favourite subject was the late Enid Home, freeman of the City of Albany and a war veteran, who was heavily involved in volunteer work.

“My favourite person to photograph was Enid Home,” he said.

“She would always come in and every time we met we would have a little chat.”