science

Richard Woldendorp

Richard Woldendorp is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Richard Woldendorp rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Leo Woldendorp AM (1 January 1927 – April 2023) was a Dutch-Australian photographer known for his aerial photography of Australian geography. Early life Born in Utrecht in The Netherlands and brought up by his mother, a sole parent, in Leeuwarden, from 1934 Richard Woldendorp was educated at boarding school in Berkelouw and studied design in his teen years before joining the army at nineteen.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Richard Leo Woldendorp AM (1 January 1927 – April 2023) was a Dutch-Australian photographer known for his aerial photography of Australian geography.

Early life Born in Utrecht in The Netherlands and brought up by his mother, a sole parent, in Leeuwarden, from 1934 Richard Woldendorp was educated at boarding school in Berkelouw and studied design in his teen years before joining the army at nineteen. He was posted to Indonesia, and after 3 years was presented with the choice of returning to Holland or migrating to Australia, and decided on the latter. On his way to Sydney on 5 January 1951 he stopped in Fremantle, he stayed with a friend's family in Darlington and worked as a house painter, earning enough money to buy land there. Before a return trip to Holland, traveling via the Suez Canal and then overland through Europe in 1955, Woldendorp bought a folding Voigtländer 6x9cm. Impressed with the creative potential of photography, he visited galleries in Holland to see work of contemporary practitioners Henri Cartier-Bresson and W. Eugene Smith who used 35mm film cameras. Accordingly, in the late 1950s, he too purchased a Leica, but desiring better resolution, traded that for medium-format Pentacon single lens reflex (SLR) and Rolleiflex square format cameras.

Professional photographer Returning to Perth, Woldendorp joined the Cottesloe Camera Club and in 1961 won 1st and 3rd places in the Craven A National Portrait competition which encouraged him to become professional. Moving to the east coast he networked with other photographers and through his work for Walkabout magazine its editor Brian McArdle introduced him to the association of Australian photographers Group M, which he joined, exhibiting documentary imagery in his first exhibition, the group's Urban Woman of 1963 in Melbourne's Museum of Modern Art Australia, which toured Australian cities including Perth and internationally. In Sydney Woldendorp met Max Dupain and David Moore whose example encouraged him to show his work to government departments and magazine publishers, before recognising that the largely undocumented cultural landscape of the west and its resources boom were attractive subject matter to them, so returned to WA. Government and other agencies sought his imagery of a vast outback, mining, government programs interacting with indigenous cultures, new infrastructure and attractive housing, to promote Perth and WA for immigration, industry and tourism. With no need of a studio, his contracts with Warnock Sandford Advertising, the Australian Tourist Commission, Australian News and Information Bureau and other Government bodies, his freelance work satisfied his love of travel and provided a living selling also to magazines The Bulletin, Walkabout, Australian Women's Weekly Vogue, government journals and many newspapers and RealTime.

Aerial photography As he took the opportunity to make photographs during long-distance travel by plane over Western Australia for assignments, Woldendorp became especially known for his semi-abstract aerial colour photography, which he exhibited as a professional artist in his first solo exhibition at David Foulkes Taylor's Triangle gallery in the Perth suburb of Crawley in 1964 and in a collaboration with bird photographer Peter Slater, published his first book The Hidden Face of Australia in 1968. He followed it with A Million Square (1969) in partnership with writer Tom T.A.G. Hungerford. He returned to Indonesia, reviving his earlier familiarity with the country and its people and published Indonesia in 1972. Subsequently, he has produced over twenty books on land, industry and people. In 1979 Woldendorp and his wife Lyn established the first picture agency in Western Australia; Photo Index, a success which over twenty years provided freedom to travel and to make work with artistic integrity. In 2007, Woldendorp's imagery was used for projections onto performers' bodies in Aureo's Skadada, directed by Katie Lavers, at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, 17–20 January.

Recognition Woldendorp was made a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography in 1991, and an Honorary Life Member in 1997. In 2004 he was made a State Living Treasure of Western Australia for his contribution to the arts, and in 2012 he was recognised "for services to the arts as a landscape photographer" and made a Member of the Order of Australia. His work was celebrated in a retrospective in the Western Australian Art gallery in 2009, and another, Woldendorp: A Black and White Retrospective at Mundaring Arts Centre, in 2018.

Death Woldendorp died in April 2023.

Publications (1969) Hungerford, T. A. G. and Richard Woldendorp A million square : Western Australia . Melbourne: Thomas Nelson (Australia). ISBN 0-17-001823-7 (1983) Australia's West Perth, W.A Day Dawn Press. ISBN 0-9596934-1-6 (1985) Australia, the Untamed Land photographs by Richard Woldendorp. Sydney: Reader's Digest. ISBN 0-949819-61-1 (1986) Scott, John (1986). Landscapes of Western Australia. Claremont: Aeolian Press. (text by John Scott, photographs by Richard Woldendorp) (1992) Journey through a landscape : Richard Woldendorp's Australia. West Perth, W.A : Sandpiper Press. ISBN 0-646-09386-X (1994) Australia's flying doctors: the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia photographs by Richard Woldendorp; text by Roger McDonald. Chippendale, N.S.W. : Pan Macmillan ISBN 0-7329-0793-4 (1995) Australia, the untamed land photographs by Richard Woldendorp. Sydney : Reader's Digest. ISBN 0-86438-933-7 (1999) Down to Earth: Australian Landscapes. North Fremantle, Fremantle Arts Centre Press in association with Sandpiper Press (text by Tim Winton) (2001) Design by nature photographs by Richard Woldendorp; text by Victoria Laurie. North Fremantle, W.A. : Fremantle Arts Centre Press in association with Sandpiper Press, ISBN 1-86368-349-6 (2003) Woldendorp, Richard (2003). Wool: the Australian story. Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press. ISBN 1-86368-396-8. (with text by Roger McDonald and Amanda Burton)

Notes

References

Further reading Seddon, George (1991). "Journeys through landscape : a discussion of the work of Richard Woldendorp". Westerly (December 1991). Reprinted in Seddon, George (1995) Swan Song. Jacobson, Ingrid (8 August 1999). "Photo finish". Sunday Times. pp. Home section, p.28. Australian Style, January 1993, p. 82. Landscope, Spring 1987, p. 51–54. Western Outlook, October 1993, p. 28-29

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard Woldendorp

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard Woldendorp claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Richard Woldendorp before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Richard Woldendorp ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Richard Woldendorp

In research: Richard Woldendorp appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Richard Woldendorp in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Richard Woldendorp is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1927 births, 2023 deaths, 20th-century Australian male photographers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard Woldendorp outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Richard Woldendorp in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is Richard Woldendorp in simple terms?

Richard Leo Woldendorp AM (1 January 1927 – April 2023) was a Dutch-Australian photographer known for his aerial photography of Australian geography. Early life Born in Utrecht in The Netherlands and brought up by his mother, a sole parent, in Leeuwarden, from 1934 Richard Woldendorp was educated a…

Why does Richard Woldendorp matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Richard Woldendorp?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Richard Woldendorp.