Bill's excellent adventure
Photographer Sergeant Bill Guthrie, whose work is on these pages, has covered some momentous events with the ADF in the past few years. He told his travel tales to CPL Simone Liebelt.

TRAVELS

SGT Bill Guthrie has taken about 8000 images. His passport includes stamps from:

-East Timor -Middle East -United States -New Guinea -Greece -Crete -Singapore -United Kingdom -Kosovo -Croatia -Bosnia -Italy -Niue -Pago Pago -American Samoa -West Timor

AFTER spending more than two of the past six years deployed overseas, Sergeant Bill Guthrie has seen more through a camera lens than most of us will experience in a lifetime.

As a Defence public affairs photographer – which included a stint on exchange with the RAF as part of Exercise Long Look in 2002 – SGT Guthrie has chronicled the activities of the ADF during the highest operational tempo since the Vietnam War.

In capturing more than 8000 images, he’s visited an impressive list of destinations – some several times – including East and West Timor, Middle East, the US, Bougainville, New Guinea, Greece, Crete, Singapore, UK, Kosovo, Croatia, Bosnia, Italy, American Samoa, Niue and Pago Pago.

Although he reckons he has had the best job in the Air Force in the past six years, he is also looking forward to returning to a base photographic section next month.

SGT Guthrie is modest about his photographic exploits. “I’m not better than anyone, I’m not above anyone, I’m just Bill,” he says.

He joined the Air Force in 1981 after being inspired by his father, who served as a pilot for 30 years.

“My father’s war diaries were pictorial and had a lot of emotive strength in them just from the places and events involved. I wanted to encapsulate the mood and emotion of my father’s photos, which is what inspired me to become a photographer,” he says.

After a few stints doing PR, SGT Guthrie decided to make it his career goal, eventually landing a sought-after position in Canberra with the Electronic Media Unit, which has evolved into 1 Joint Public Affairs Unit.

He quickly learnt it would be no ordinary job. With a public affairs officer and videographer, he worked as part of a Deployed Field Team (DFT) to help cover a range of PR assignments, from Interfet to the MEAO.

Some events he’s covered include the Queen’s Golden Jubilee (attended by more than 2 million people), the arrival of troops in East Timor (the ADF’s first beach-landing operation since the Vietnam War), the arrival of Hornets in the Gulf (the first deployment of RAAF fighters since the Korean War) and the 60th anniversary of the Battles of Greece and Crete.

“My experiences have been broad. I’ve worked in 55 degree heat to minus 5 degree cold; I’ve worked in mine fields; I’ve worked in battle zones; I’ve worked with the Navy at sea; I’ve slept in the dirt and I’ve slept in palaces. But the best thing about it was that it was pure photography.

There were no outside influences, so you could fully concentrate on your job, which was just great,” he says.

SGT Guthrie said the most significant of his trips was his time in the Gulf.

“It wasn’t necessarily exciting but it was surreal because you were actively involved in these events unfolding but, because you couldn’t see it on TV, you had to keep reminding yourself that you were in a war zone.”

He reflected on one particular time where he was having breakfast in the Port of Umm Qasr with his DFT when the Iraqis began shelling the area. Asked by a passing American what he was going to do, he said, “Finish eating breakfast.”

It wasn’t until after the event that he realised his life may have been in danger, but at the time figured there was no point running if there was nowhere safe to run to.

While looking forward to returning to an Air Force photographic section next year, SGT Guthrie said his time in Defence PR has been the highlight of his career.

“It’s been fun, intense and always challenging but the fact that you’re recording history as it unfolds is the biggest buzz,” he says.

SGT Guthrie described his job on deployment as an exciting but high-pressure environment, where he had to be aggressive but polite to get the result.

“You had to quickly assess on the spot what would tell a story in one image, because you couldn’t put it off and say, ‘I’ll do the rest tomorrow’, because there was no tomorrow, it was either here and now or nothing.

“You had to coordinate all the elements together which was often difficult, but you had to be able to come back with the product, and not an excuse.”

He would shoot the event, record names and details, process the imagery, have it cleared in the field and then transmit it back to Australia, all within a strict timeframe.

“Because technology permitted us to do it within minutes, it was expected in minutes, so the pressure was on,” he says.

Carrying a pack weighing around 50kg, containing photographic and satellite equipment, laptop, food, water, ammunition and personal items, SGT Guthrie and the DFT worked and lived wherever the job dictated.

“It’s a lot of hard work but it’s a real bonus when you see your photos in the papers, in magazines and books, on stamps, on the sides of buses, and even turned into postcards. I just love it.”

On some trips he indulged in another of his passions – vintage motor scooters.

He found a few special additions to his large scooter collection on foreign soil.

He recently began building a replica of the famous 1950 Model C Lambretta scooter, ridden by the long distance Italian rider Ernesto Longoni, after finding the original in an Italian museum while on exchange with Exercise Long Look.

SGT Guthrie’s next adventure overseas will be to ride in a historical re-enactment scooter endurance race, held annually in Italy.

Photo gallery

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