Australian war photographer and cinematographer.
Parer served a photographic apprenticeship under Arthur Dickinson, whom he credited, along with Max Dupain, as his primary teacher in the field. He then moved into film-making, working with Charles Chauvel on the film Heritage in 1935. By the outbreak of Wolrd War II, Parer's experience in both photography and film-making was such that he was named official movie photographer to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).
Parer photographed and filmed troops in Libya, Greece, Syria, and New Guinea.
He was killed by enemy fire in 1944 in Palau.
Parer was the cinematographer for Australia's first Oscar-winning film, Kokoda Front Line!, an episode of producer Ken G. Hall's weekly newsreel, Cinesound Review.
Parer's son, also Damien Parer, is a television producer.
