John Ogden

John Ogden is a visual artist, writer, publisher, and educator based in Sydney, Australia. Ogden’s career began as a photojournalist in Southeast Asia during the early seventies, before becoming a correspondent for the infamous Tracks magazine and other counter culture publications. In 1977 he commenced studying literature, anthropology and filmmaking at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, graduating with a major in film & television. Over the next three decades he worked as a Director of Photography in multiple genres of filmmaking, and is an accredited member of the ACS. After losing his right eye in a surfing accident in 1998, he established Cyclops Press, a boutique publishing company dedicated to promoting Australian photographers and writers.

Ogden's first book, 'Australienation' (1999), featured his own black and white humanist photography and addressed the reconciliation between Australia’s Indigenous peoples and the many other tribes that arrived later. An equally emotive record of the first Australians, 'Portraits from a Land Without People' (2008) is acknowledged as a ground breaking pictorial history of Aboriginal culture. The 'Saltwater People' companion books (2011-12) celebrate the rich history of Sydney’s coastline, and were awarded the 2013 Frank Broeze biennial Maritime History Prize. 'Slightly Dangerous – The Cyclop’s Cypher' (2013) offers an insight into his work, and was the inspiration for the Shibboleth trilogy.