JAMES STENING
1870-1953
James
Sydney Stening was born in Sydney and trained as a jeweller. His
first job was with Fairfax and Roberts
Jewellers with whom
he remained until retirement.
Stening took up photography in
the 1890s
and was a founder member of the Photographic Society of New South
Wales in 1894 and the Sydney Camera Circle later in 1916.
He
was also active in the Ashfield District Camera Club, to which his
friends Norman Deck, Henri Mallard and Frank Hurley also belonged.
Stening
encouraged the talent of Harold Cazneaux and instigated the latter’s
one-man show in 1909.
Stening
was a meticulous craftsman, preferring the fine detail and delicate
tones of the older platinum printing
papers as in
plate
2 to the impressionistic soft focus prints done on bromide
paper.
But around 1910, Stening also began to print in the newer
manner.
He worked chiefly in landscape, in the graceful and serene
mood favoured by his close friend Norman Deck.
Stening
ceased his involvement with photographic salons and societies around
1920,
although he was one of the first to
adopt the new
Leica 35mm camera on its release in 1925 and continued to
photograph for
some time.
A collection of his negatives was donated to the
Art Gallery of New South Wales by Norman Deck.
above
text based on Gaël Newton's Silver & Grey
Angus and Roberston, Australia 1980