professional photographer and inventor, was probably the 'Balk’ briefly in a photographic partnership with Nathaniel Batchelder and his brother at 348 George Street, Sydney in December 1858. If so, he then moved to Victoria. De Balk exhibited photographs of Geelong and nearby scenery at the Geelong Art, Science and Industry Exhibition of 1862, as well as a composite image (made from several negatives) depicting a 7-year-old girl saying her prayers at bedtime. This is a very early example of composite photography in Australia, predating Bernard Goode by three years.
In April 1865, advertising himself as photographer to the Governor of Victoria, he took over Turner 's studio at 60 Moorabool Street, Geelong, and renamed it 'E. de Balk’s Photographic Atelier’. In 1866 he published an album containing forty street scenes in Geelong, including a view of his studio (NLA, LT and Geelong Historical Records Centre). This appears to have been a purely self-promotional, commercial venture, not commissioned by a municipality as was then the norm (as, for example, with Norton , Ormerod and Turner). On 3 October 1866, the Geelong Register reported that de Balk’s photograph of Pardey’s pharmacy in Moorabool Street showed the chemical and medical contents of the shop window in remarkably clear detail.
De Balk was not only a 'photographic artist’ but also an inventor. In November 1865 he applied for a patent on 'improvements in an amalgamating apparatus principally adapted for saving the fine gold in sludge and other similar matters’. By 1870 he was again in Sydney and as 'Baron de Balk’ had a studio at 328 George Street. He showed portrait photographs at the Sydney Intercolonial Exhibition from this address. On 2 November 1870, the Geelong Advertiser reported his recent death in Sydney and stated that his wife (who had given birth to a daughter in February) was carrying on the business.
- Writers:
- Fox, Paul
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
