photographer, took up photography after her marriage in 1943 to the photographer Leo A. Lyons. They lived at Port Kembla, near Wollongong, on the south coast of New South Wales. In 1947 Molly was awarded a certificate of merit at the Adelaide International Salon. Molly and Leo exhibited regularly, taught photography and judged amateur competitions, especially Salon ones held in Maitland (NSW). They did not, however, belong to any photographic society.
Molly Lyons stated that she “always approached photography for the fun I got out of it. My work was aimed at the beauty of pictures. I loved Pictorialism and worked very hard to do something different from Leo – he was a lot more interested in technical, architectural kinds of work.”
An early work, Smokes of Industry more closely shares Leo’s interests.
The Lyons were keen travellers and often collaborated on articles based on their experiences for Australasian Photo-Review ( AP-R ). They once wrote that they preferred visiting places “that are both educational and photogenic; indeed, one can hardly encounter the former quality without finding subjects worthy of his or her camera. Photographs need not be 'pictorial’ (contentious word!) to be interesting.”
Together with their family, Molly and Leo travelled through Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, following Leo’s interests in chemistry, metallurgy and, later, vulcanology. They sold their photographs to popular publications such as the Australian Women’s Weekly and Walkabout as well as to photographic journals. In February 1949 Molly’s photo of Port Arthur, Tasmania, appeared on the cover of AP-R .
- Writers:
- Riddler, Eric
- Date written:
- 1995
- Last updated:
- 2011
