[2] Beattie is prominently remembered for his photographs which captured many aspects of New Zealand's social history in the twentieth century.
Beattie also took photographs of the Duke and Duchess of York, later to be King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1927.
In 1963, Beattie won an international photography competition where he took top prize in the Pacific Travel Association Awards.
The competition was to promote travel in the Pacific and Beattie's photograph of sheep mustering at the Ruakituri Station in Hawkes Bay, taken in 1937 won first place.
[8] This photograph was also used by National Geographic in a double page spread in a pictorial article used to promote New Zealand.