Inducted into ACS Hall of Fame – 2001
Upon leaving school in 1957 at age 16, Graham started work as a junior in the camera department at Artransa Park Studios, Frenchs Forest. The cinematographers on staff were, Ross Wood, Ron Horner, George Lowe, Bren Brown, Carl Kayser and Bill Grimmond, so Graham was off to a good start.
In 1959/1960 he was assigned to the camera crew on the US TV series ‘Whiplash’ in production at Artransa, the DOPSs being Ross Wood and Carl Kayser with Bill Grimmond as Camera Operator.
In 1962 Graham joined Supreme Studios in Paddington as an assistant cameraman, but soon worked his way up to being a DOP on TV commercials for leading Ad Agencies. He remained there till 1966 then joined Fred Schepsi’s Film House in Melbourne, but only stayed for three months, he then decided to go freelance. He then worked on the 1966 production ‘They’re a Weird Mob’ as one of three camera operators, alongside Keith Loone and Dennis Hill under English DOP Arthur Grant, in 1968 he shot ‘You Can’t See Round Corners’ as DOP, he then shared the cinematography of ‘Popcorn’ in 1969 with Richard Mordaunt, followed by ‘Age of Consent’ in 1969 as Camera Operator for the German DOP, Hannes Staudinger.
In 1970 Graham joined Ross Wood Productions in Sydney, and speedily built a reputation for being one of Australia’s most in demand and highly regarded cinematographers, particularly in the filming of television commercials.
In 1973 the company got involved in the production of two successful Aussie feature films ‘Stone’ in 1973, ‘The Removalist’ in 1974 and ‘Me Myself I’ in 1999. Graham was DOP on all three films.
Graham won many awards for his work, and due to his value to the company, he eventually became a major shareholder in Ross Wood Productions and stayed with the company till its demise in 1993.