Rennie Ellis
Rennie Ellis (born Reynolds Mark Ellis, 11 November 1940 – 19 August 2003) was an Australian photographer known for his social and documentary images of everyday life. He also ran Australia’s first dedicated photography gallery, Brummels Gallery, and built a studio and agency. He published 17 photo books and held many exhibitions in Australia and overseas.
Ellis grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton and went to Brighton Grammar School. He won a scholarship to the University of Melbourne in 1959 but left early to work in advertising. He studied at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, but spent two years traveling the world and took up photography during those trips. He was outspoken and controversial; in 1968 he rode a penny-farthing bicycle along St Kilda Road to protest air pollution.
In the late 1960s Ellis worked in advertising and then became a freelance photographer in 1969. His early work included a photo essay on Kalgoorlie published in 1970. In 1971 he and fellow photographer Wesley Stacey published a book on Kings Cross, Sydney. He also worked as the still photographer on the Australian film Alvin Purple.
In 1972 Ellis and Robert Ashton launched Brummels Gallery of Photography, Australia’s first privately run gallery devoted to photography. The gallery showcased Australian photographers and hosted innovative events, like a Polaroid party in 1978. It later became Pentax Brummels Gallery and closed in January 1980, having helped elevate photography as an art form.
In 1975 Ellis opened Rennie Ellis & Associates in Prahran and started Scoopix Photo Library, which became the exclusive Australian agent for New York’s Black Star. He ran his studio for the rest of his life. His work covered Australian popular culture—beaches, beer, graffiti, railway stations, the Rio carnival—and he published and exhibited widely. He also appeared on the Nine Network’s lifestyle program Looking Good from 1993 to 1996 and contributed to magazines such as Playboy and The Bulletin.
After his death from a cerebral haemorrhage in 2003, his second wife, Kerry Oldfield Ellis, and assistant Manuela Furci established the Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive and continued presenting his work. Exhibitions have included Aussies All: Portrait Photography by Rennie Ellis (2006), No Standing, Only Dancing (2008), and Kings Cross 1970–1971: Rennie Ellis in Sydney (2017). His work was also shown in Candid Camera: Australian Photography 1950s–1970s (2010).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:18 (CET).