Rod McNicol studied photography at Prahran College in 1974, and in 1975 co-founded the influential Photographers’ Gallery, South Yarra. McNicol is renowned for his portraiture, which forms a social portrait and time capsule of Melbourne. He has spent more than four decades capturing many faces from the milieu around his inner Melbourne studio. McNicol photographs friends, acquaintances and the people in his neighbourhood against a neutral backdrop, using natural light and relatively long exposure times. The resulting portraits have an intensity and stillness that is reminiscent of studio portraiture in the nineteenth century.