“Invictus Games 2018”
Publication
AAP
Year
2019
Category
Sport Photography
The Invictus Games were founded by HRH The Duke of Sussex in 2014 as an international adaptive sports event celebrating the healing power of sport. Photographer Craig Golding shot the fourth Invictus Games, held in Sydney in October 2018, in black and white.
His series shows former military servicemen and women, who lost their limbs in war, competing in elite sports and culminates in a shot that sums up the whole background to these games: an able-bodied soldier walking offstage while the victor crawls behind, wearing a medal and his country’s flag over his shoulders.
Golding’s work combines graphic action and composition with raw human emotion. The series of images uses masterly editing to tell a compelling story, starting, in the judges’ words, “a conversation beyond the content of the frame”.
Craig Golding started at The Sydney Morning Herald in 1985, photographing news and sport in Australia and overseas. He has covered international sporting events, including Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and
the Rugby World Cup. In 2008, he left the Herald to pursue a freelance career.
Golding has won more than 75 national awards for his photography and more than 45 international awards, including six World Press Photo awards. This is his second Walkley Award; he also won this category in 2007.
Judges’ comments:
“Craig Golding presents a body of work that shows the skills of a visual storyteller. His series demonstrates his skill in observation and composition, all while working at a fastpaced event. The black-and-white treatment reduces noise and strengthens the story. Golding captures moments that provoke a conversation and are never contrived. Powerful.”
