Award-winning Australian news photographer John Grainger has been found dead on Sydney’s northern beaches. He was 64.
In a statement, the NSW Police Force said that Mr Grainger’s body was discovered in Elanora Heights on Wednesday morning.
He had gone missing in Ingleside about 2.30pm on Tuesday, sparking concern from loved ones.
Mr Grainger’s death is not being treated as suspicious.
Mr Grainger’s career in photography spanned more than 30 years, beginning in the mid-1980s, when he first began covering news events and building up a portfolio for full-time work.
Over the years, his work earned him numerous accolades, including a 2018 Walkley Award for his famous photo for The Daily Telegraph that confirmed Vikki Campion was pregnant with then Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce’s baby.
Grainger was also a two-time Kennedy Award winner, with his most recent gong for a candid photograph of newly-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his front porch.
That image, taken the morning after Albanese won the 2022 election, showed the incoming PM stepping out onto the front porch of his home in a Newtown Jets footy jersey with messy hair to pick up a copy of the morning newspaper.
Renowned Australian photographer, John Grainger, has been found dead after going missing on Tuesday afternoon in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Over the years, his work earned him numerous accolades, including a Walkley Award in 2018 for his photograph of Vikki Campion published at the Daily Telegraph
In 2021, longtime rival and fellow photographer Nicholas Moir reflected on their years working together – and in competition with one another.
‘He is hands down, one of the most difficult photographers I’ve ever had to compete against as his knowledge of Sydney, breaking news, the people involved and how the story will evolve is exceptional.
‘His skill forced me to always be thinking about the next move, the next image.
‘We have spent thousands of hours having to watch each others backs from fires, floods, murders and brutal thugs.’
Grainger departed the Daily Telegraph last year and his last working day in June brought another major news story – the Hunter Valley bus crash which killed ten wedding guests.
Grainger’s passion for storytelling through photography never wavered, even when the job put him in harm’s way.
‘I was assaulted many times. I had to have police track people down. I was strangled once. Some people just see red, and that’s it – if you are in their way you’re it,’ he told the Pittwater Online News in 2023.
While his career was spent taking breaking news photos, Grainger’s love for photography extended beyond the headlines.
In his later years, Grainger turned his lens to nature, capturing stunning images of birds and the landscapes of Narrabeen, which he described as ‘one of the best photographic locations in Sydney’.
