professional photographer, was working in Victoria during the 1860s. He was in Pakington Street, Newtown (Geelong) in 1861, at Queenscliff in 1866, and in Moorabool Street, Geelong, in 1866-67. At the 1861 Victorian Exhibition Ormerod exhibited stereoscopic views of Geelong and suburbs. Five years later he purchased the local photographic business of Thomas & William Roberts . On 12 April 1866 he announced in the Geelong Advertiser that he had invented a new photographic process that allowed him to enlarge portraits from carte-de-visite to any desired size 'without losing their natural aspect’.
Ormerod was commissioned by the Borough of Queenscliff to photograph fifteen views of the town for the 1866 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition. These included the churches of St Andrew and St George as well as the temporal world: Craig’s, Bryant’s and Henley’s stores, Mr Simpson’s chemist shop and the Royal Hotel. He also photographed the Queenscliff Battery and a number of its artillery against a background of vessels moving through Port Phillip Heads. When he took views showing the upper and lower lighthouses, the height and position of the former offered him a spot from which to photograph a panorama of 'nearly the whole township with the Bay as background’. Finally, he captured the best of the local coastal scenery, taking 'a magnificent piece of rock scenery at Point Lonsdale’ and 'another fine piece of headland scenery’ which included Shortland’s Bluff with its lighthouse and flagstaff. At the Melbourne exhibition Ormerod was awarded an honourable mention for his collection.
- Writers:
- Fox, Paul
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
