Peter Dombrovskis

Peter Dombrovskis
280px Dombrovskis' Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend, National Library of Australia, Canberra.
Born	(1945-03-02)2 March 1945 Wiesbaden, Germany
Died	South West Tasmania, Australia
Cause of death	Myocardial infarction
Nationality	German/Australian
Occupation	Photographer
Years active	1960s–1996
Known for	Wilderness photography
Notable work	Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend, Franklin River

Peter Dombrovskis (2 March 1945 – 28 March 1996) was an Australian photographer, known for his Tasmanian scenes. In 2003 he was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame, the first Australian photographer to reach this milestone.

Biography

Dombrovskis was born in 1945 in a refugee camp in Wiesbaden, Germany of Latvian parents; together with his mother, migrated to Australia in 1950, and settled in Fern Tree, a suburb of Hobart. The protégé of noted wildlife photographer and activist Olegas Truchanas, his photographs of the Tasmanian Wilderness—particularly in the annual Wilderness Society calendar—brought images of once remote and inaccessible areas of the State into the public realm. Dombrovskis founded West Wind Press in 1977 and later went on to print calendars entirely of his own work featuring incisive commentary from pre-eminent environmental professionals.

His most famous photograph was Morning Mist, Rock Island Bend, Franklin River, which some commentators believe played a part in the victory for Bob Hawke in the 1983 federal election. The photograph portrayed a section of the Franklin River which was to be submerged by the proposed Franklin Dam and spearheaded the visual appeal of the Franklin River in the contentious 'No Dams' campaign of 1982. Dombrovskis later co-authored with Bob Brown an example of his skill in photographing the Gordon River and the Franklin River in his 1983 book, Wild Rivers.

On 28 March 1996, Dombrovskis died of a heart attack while photographing near Mount Hayes in the Western Arthurs mountain range of South West Tasmania.

His works are represented at the National Gallery of Victoria, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the Australian Heritage Commission and in private collections.

See also

• Gordon Splits
• Olegas Truchanas

External links

• Dombrovskis collection of Tasmanian wilderness photographs, 1978-1995, National Library of Australia, Canberra, a collection of 21 colour photographs
• Gallery of photos by Truchanas and Dombrovskis