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Megan Lewis

Documentary Photographer, Author, Fujifilm X Ambassador, Producer/Director and Therapist

 

Award-winning photographer Megan Lewis was born and raised in rural New Zealand. After commencing her career with provincial newspapers she moved to Sydney in 1993, at the age of 21. Within a week of arriving there she was employed as a junior staff photographer for Reuters International news agency.

During her time with Reuters, Megan’s work regularly appeared in international publications, including the Washington Post, International Herald Tribune and as a front cover for Time Magazine. She also wrote feature articles to accompany her photo essays on a Zimbabwe wildlife conservancy and Sydney’s real-life ‘water rats’, the Water Police.

In early 1998 Megan was lured by The Australian, News Ltd’s national daily newspaper, to their Perth bureau. She covered national and international stories, including the international headline story of MV Tampa, the Norwegian freighter that rescued drowning refugees near Christmas Island. She covered events as diverse as the riots in Indonesia, the first tremors of East Timor’s bid for independence and represented the Australian media travelling with the UK media during the Queen Elizabeth’s 2000 tour of Australia.

In July 2002, Megan left The Australian newspaper to live full-time with the Martu people, one of the last indigenous groups in Australia’s Great Sandy Desert to come into contact with Europeans. Her book Conversations with the Mob (UWA Publishing) was the product of eight years continuous involvement with the Martu, including several years living with them.

Her intimate photographic portrayal of the Martu people won her a 2005 Walkley Award, the most prestigious award in Australian journalism. Megan was also voted by her peers as winner of the Australian Nikon Photographers Choice Awards in 2006.

Her work has been exhibited in Australia and internationally. And after being invited to speak at the 2008 Sydney Writers Festival, Megan has continued to be in demand for public speaking roles.

She was been widely interviewed on TV and radio; her book has been enthusiastically reviewed in several national and international publications, and in academic circles.

‘Megan Lewis’s recent Conversations with the Mob featuring the Martu people of the Great Sandy Desert is simultaneously empathetic, beautiful and heartbreaking.’ Tim Winton (2009, p. 11)

Winton T & Mischkulnig M 2009 Smalltown Penguin, Hamish Hamilton, Victoria, Australia

Pick of the Week – The result is a tour deforce of fine, spontaneous photography combined with remarkable first-person narratives from a wide variety of Martu people – The Sydney Morning Herald (2008)

 “I believe that your book …offers a great potential and insights crucial to the discipline of anthropology (and) visual media anthropology.” Dr. Martha Blassnigg, Senior Teaching Fellow, International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture, Justus-Liebig-University

Megan is a Fujifilm X ambassador, works as a freelance photographer in Australia and internationally.


Web: meganlewis.com.au
Email: megansolewis@bigpond.com
Mobile: + 61 (0)438 772264

Awards

2005 Winner of Walkley Award for Martu Photographic Essay
2006 Winner of The Nikon Australian Photographers Choice Awards
2nd Prize in the West Australian Awards, for ‘Refugees on Ashmore Reef’
3rd Prize in Australian Journalism Awards 2001, for ‘Emus walking through the Pinnacles’
Merit in Best News Photo of the Year for the Australian Press Photographer of the Year
Awards 1998, for ‘A student protesting on top of parliament building during riots in Jakarta’
Merit in Best Sports Photo of the Year for the Australian Press Photographer of the Year

FILM STILLS

 

  • SLAM Australian/French Co production - to be released

  • Don't Stop The Music - To be Released

  • Is Australia Racist? SBS

  •  Bad Girls Feature film 2016

  • The War That Changed Us Electric Pictures

  • NRMA Commerical Sydney 2013

  • Dream House Artemis International 2013

  • Who’s Been Sleeping In My House ABC TV 2012 

  • Desert War Electric Pictures 2012 

  • The Bombing of Darwin  2011 (History Channel), for Artemis International 

  • Mal.Com  2012 (ABC)  

  • Who Do You Think You Are? (2011), for Artemis International 

  • The Circuit, Series One and Two/ Drama series 2007/2009 (SBS), for Media World, (Producer Ross Hutchens) 

  • Bridge Between Two Worlds/Documentary (SBS) (2009) for Artemis International 

  • Stone Bros Feature Film (SBS) (2009) for Media World (Producer Ross Hutchens) 

  • Desperately Seeking Doctors / Observational Documentary (2006/2007) (SBS) for Artemis International 

  • Stress Busters /Observational Documentary (ABC) (2006/2007) for Artemis International 

  • Marx & Venus series (SBS) (2007) for Taylor Media (Producer Sue Taylor) 

  • Saving Andrew Mallard / Documentary (ABC) (2005) for Artemis International 

  • Rapture of the Deep / Telemovie (2005) for Granada Germany co-production (Producer Rob Greenough) 

  • Desperately Seeking Sheila  (2004) for Artemis International 

  • Foreign Exchange / Children Series (2004) for Irish and Australian co-production by Southern Star Production. (Producer Susie Campbell, Directors Declan Eames and James Bogle)  

  • Japanese Story /Award-winning feature film (2003) (Producer Sue Maslin, director Sue Brooks)