Many documentary photographers, including Geoffrey Powell (1918–89), felt that the popular press was failing to inform the public about important issues, and that it was instead exclusively concerned with the famous, scandal and trivia. Powell complained of the predominance of photographs of ‘legsome film stars, cocktailing society, fashions for the wealthy . . . diplomats, politicians, public figures at work and play’, and asked: ‘How often do we see the atrocious living conditions of the lesser privileged, the worker vainly searching for the means to enjoy what little leisure he does get?’¹ Modern photography in Australia was thus imbued with documentary styles — examples of this synthesis are evident in the photographs of Wolfgang Sievers and Max Dupain, who found inspiration and commissions from industry after World War Two.