On the same assignment, he also made images of author Patrick White, dancer and choreographer Sir Robert Helpmann, actor John Bell, and painter Sidney Nolan.
These include fellow photographers W Eugene Smith, Don McCullin, Jeff Carter, Max Dupain, David Moore, and Trent Parke; political figures such as Bob Hawke, Gough Whitlam, Charlie Perkins[3][5] and Pauline Hanson; surgeon Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop; jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli; boxer Henry Cooper; and Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun.
His theatrical work saw him cover a number of plays featuring Steven Berkoff, and he photographed the early performances of Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, and Robyn Archer.
McFarlane also worked as a stills photographer for film directors such as Bruce Beresford, John Duigan, Gillian Armstrong, Esben Storm, Phillip Noyce, and PJ Hogan.
[citation needed] A prominent exhibition was Received Moments, a 48-year career retrospective, which began touring Australia in December 2009[5] and concluded in Adelaide in late 2011.
He also wrote and maintained a website called OzPhotoReview, a blog focusing primarily on fine art and documentary photography in Australia while also discussing technical developments.
Gael Newton, senior curator of photography at the National Gallery of Australia, has written about McFarlane's approach and quotes him as saying "I see making pictures as a receiving of the image.