Norman C Deck (1882-1980), photographer and dentist, joined the Photographic Society of New South Wales at the age of about fourteen, becoming its youngest-ever member. He began exhibiting in his early twenties, and began lecturing at the Society at about the same time; in 1905 he won a gold medal at its annual Salon. (In Cazneaux's photograph, he is poring over a special 1905 issue of Studio magazine entitled Art in Photography.) Having graduated in dentistry, Deck practised in Cowra and then Sydney before taking up missionary work on the Solomon Islands in 1914; he remained there until 1948, taking many photographs, prints of many of which were lost. Meanwhile, in 1921, he was made an honorary member of the Sydney Camera Circle. After he retired and returned to Sydney, he reprinted his negatives, but used different materials. Curator Gael Newton has described Deck's style as ethereal and romantic, deriving from Whistlerian tonal impressionism; 'even in retirement he produced images of Australia as an arcady of mist and luminous light', she writes. Deck's negatives are in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the National Gallery of Australia has forty-five of his prints, with titles including 'Those Stupendous Heights', 'Burbling Brook' and 'Lad with Coconuts'.
