Tracey Schramm is a Sydney-based artist and photographer working across both silver-based and digital photography, alongside oil painting. She is best known for her extensive career as a theatre and production stills photographer, as well as her painted still-life works.
Schramm completed a four-year Professional Photographic Diploma at TAFE Broadway. At the age of 24, she began working as a freelance photographer, initially as a stills photographer on feature films and television before specialising in theatre photography. Her first theatre production was Les Enfants du Paradis at Belvoir Street Theatre, starring Geoffrey Rush.
In 1993, Schramm was appointed production photographer for The Phantom of the Opera, produced by Cameron Mackintosh’s Really Useful Company in Melbourne. The following year, she commenced a long-standing relationship with the Sydney Theatre Company as their production stills photographer, documenting numerous productions including Oleanna, starring Geoffrey Rush and Cate Blanchett shortly after their time at NIDA. Over her career, she has photographed countless productions and worked with many of Australia’s leading actors, including Ruth Cracknell, John Bell, Bryan Brown, Gary McDonald, Jackie Weaver, Barry Otto, Rose Byrne, Pamela Rabe, among many others.
Through her work in theatre, Schramm developed close collaborations with performers and the production professionals working behind the scenes. She also served as Resident Photographer at the Sydney Opera House, where she was responsible for the promotion and archival documentation of a wide range of events.
Her client list includes the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Bell Shakespeare Company, Belvoir Theatre, Stables Theatre, Lyric Theatre, Marion Street Theatre, Glen Street Theatre, the Really Useful Company, and the University of Sydney.