Neville Jones

“My artist/photographer daughter, Bel inspired me to literally ‘seize the day’ and a large part of my life changed from business travel to photographic journeys,” says Jones.

“In my corporate life I saw much of the world from inside sanitized, air conditioned cocoons. I travelled to dozens of countries but I came to realize that I hadn’t learned much about those places in airplanes, hotel suites, meeting rooms and expensive restaurants.

“I’ve been a National Geographic Magazine subscriber for many years and read a feature article on ‘The hundred most beautiful places on earth’. In conversation with my daughter, I said that those hundred places would be my ‘Bucket List’. The following Christmas she gave me a hand crafted journal with one page for each of those destinations. My future was changed by my daughter’s encouragement to see the world properly.”

Whilst at a Board Meeting in Hong Kong, Jones decided to take the first steps on his new journey. He looked up his list and found Guilin, a short flight into mainland China. From there he travelled by car to a tiny fishing village and negotiated to spend the dark hours of a morning with a cormorant fisherman, taking photographs of him at work. One of those photos, Going Home won the award for best Australian photograph in the World Photography Awards. That photograph was exhibited at Somerset House in London for a month.