Australia will pay respect to legendary British rugby photographer Colin Elsey, who passed away recently, by dedicating a photographic exhibition to his memory.
To be held at the National Museum in Canberra, Snapshots of Glory: Rugby World Cup Images from the Archives of Action Photographics will honour a man who was at the trigger of many of rugby’s most defining photographs and a man who is responsible for much of how rugby has and will be remembered.
The moustachioed gentleman known as the 'Big C' was a pioneer of specialist press photography in rugby and founder of the Colorsport agency in 1969.
Elsey captured the game’s close up intensity like no one before him, his most famed portrait known as ‘Mudman’ an emblem of how his unique perspective shaped how the game was seen.
Possibly the most identifiable snapshot in rugby history, ‘Mudman’ captures prop Fran Cotton caked in mud after a British Lions and Junior All Blacks match in 1977.
‘Mudman’ recently made Observer magazine’s world’s all time Top 50 sports pictures.
The National Museum exhibition will be officially opened on 15 October by the Minister for Arts and Sports, the Honourable Rod Kemp.
Elsey died on 11 September at the age of 64.