Ashton Claridge

History in the taking

He’s seen eight Flinders vice-chancellors, thousands of researchers and more students than he can recall through his lenses, but for Ashton Claridge, the excitement is all in making the most of the next shot.

“I don’t really have any favourite shots,” the veteran lensman said. “After 45 years as a university photographer, I still find the fascinating part of the job is identifying opportunities to make every shot as good as it can be, no matter how mundane.”

The University had only been operating for four years when Mr Claridge signed on as one of the three photographers at the Bedford Park campus, using skills as a technical photographer to capture images of research achievements and equipment, and also photographs used in teaching.

In a career that has survived the Registry occupation, conversion from film to digital, departmental mergers and shuffles, and, more recently, a spiralling demand for promotional images, the career of the unflappable Mr Claridge has closely traced the fortunes of the University.

Despite thousands of hours behind the lens at work each year, Mr Claridge still finds time to unwind – with camera in hand – tracking, photographing and cataloguing freight trains across South Australia. He travels for days in his spare time, identifying the best locations to frame the lumbering iron behemoths.

Like the subjects he captures at universities, he prefers to portray freight trains in action rather than at rest.

“Flinders has been a fantastic place to work – it’s the people and the work that they do that make the University an exciting place to be,” Mr Claridge said.

“I like to capture them doing what they do best. The research and teaching they do here is amazing, and I have to try to do it justice by capturing some of the action.”