Belinda Mason has worked as a freelance photographer in Sydney since 1990 providing photography services for a range of corporate, fashion, industrial, advertising, and media clients. Digital since 1999, Belinda Mason’s work ranges from highly creative fashion photographs for Messini Menswear and still life images for Chanel, to architecture for Westfield and catalogues for Fantastic Furniture and Sony PlayStation's games. Mason has provided images for Annual Reports for mining companies such as Delta Gold in WA and construction industry projects including the building of Sydney’s Anzac Bridge and Eastern Distributor Tunnels and Sydney Airport’s third runway. Corporate clients include IBM, Optus, and CSC. Editorial travel assignments include ice climbing and heli-skiing in New Zealand and crocodile hunts in the NT.
Belinda is the 2008 winner of the richest photography prize in Australia, The Moran Prize with her image entitled “Four Generations”. Also in 2008, Belinda was awarded “most emotionally intense image” at the CCP 2008 Kodak Salon for an image from the “Beyond the Burn” series. This same image of survivor won the Perth 2008 PCP Iris Award. She has been part of exhibitions such as, Head On, Josephine Ulrick (Highly Commended 2002) and Olive Cotton Awards, the Alice Prize.
She has been a speaker at the Melbourne Festival of Arts 2002, the International Festival of Photography in Sydney 2004, and Australian Centre of Photography 2006 and the AIPP Conference 2009.
Images from her Maningrida series won her the 2008 Human Rights Award for Photography. This series also won the BHP Images of the Outback award for 2003 and 2004 and 3rd Place in the International Spider Awards for Photojournalim in 2008. The Maningrida series is part of the ACMP Collection 10, and one of the images has been exhibited at the NSW Art Gallery as part of the Shoot The Chef exhibition.
Since 1998 Belinda's work has focused on taboo social issues that explore the very personal and sometimes difficult subjects of grief, body image, identity and family. With the assistance of Accessible Arts and Visions of Australia, her work about sexuality & disability “Intimate Encounters” toured Australia extensively for seven years. This exhibition continues to tour internationally and has been shown in London, Barcelona, New York, Toronto and Auckland.
Belinda’s series “Only a Man” which examines the role of men as society’s disposable commodity. This exhibition is a forum for men who rarely feel able to freely express their vulnerability and emotional needs, and are dis-empowered by societal expectations. “Becoming Woman” is a project following the journey of Paula Kaye, who has chosen to challenge stereotypes and popular misconceptions of the transsexual woman. Belinda’s award winning project entitled "Beyond the Burn” examines the emotional complexities of burn survivors.
Belinda currently working on a series about the diversity of gender called entitled "Shades of Grey” and a project called “Fertile Ground”, challenging who has the right to have a child.
Belinda Mason began her career as an advertising photographer for the Ogilvy group in the 1980s before being contracted to the SA Department of Tourism and the Federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs. This lead to the opportunity to become a Press Photographer for News Ltd where she covered stories including Federal election campaigns, Royal tours of Queen Elizabeth, the Prince and Princess of Wales, major sporting events including five Formula 1 Grand Prix, and celebrities such as Tina Turner, Archbishop Desmond TuTu. Always being aware of the new developments in digital photographic technology has been critical to Belinda’s success and has afforded her the role of being a regular supplier to magazines and newspapers around Australia.