Born in 1872.
Coulson was the winner of a design competition for the Australian Natives’ Association ex-president’s certificate in 1903.
According to Camera Craft magazine, October 1915, Coulson’s work was given “special prominence” in “Harrington’s Photographic Journal” in July of the same year.
Coulson enlisted in the AIF on 1/4/1916, listing his trade as “Litho Artist + Photographer” and joined the AFC as a photographer.
While enlisted, Coulson produced various pieces of mainly photographic work for the AFC, contributed photographs and cover illustrations to “Kia Ora Coo-ee” service magazine as well as producing illustrations for concerts and postcards.
In his autobiography, Sir Richard Williams said of Coulson: “When it came to cap badges I called on the photographic officer I had in No. 1 Squadron AFC, Lieutenant O. H. Coulson, who was quite an artist and he designed them. I wanted to introduce the wattle into these badges and it was quite successful in those for other ranks in brass.”
Two of Coulson’s colour paintings of an aerial dogfight feature in “Australia in Palestine,” published shortly after WWI.
After the war, Coulson worked as a photographer for “Coulson & McPherson (Late Official Photographers A.I.F in Egypt)” describing his line of work as “Photographic Experts” – his letterhead from 1922 notes “Commercial photographers, enlargements, copying, lantern slides and color photography.”
- Writers:
-
Daniel McKeown
- Date written:
- 2016
- Last updated:
- 2016
