[2] Morrison felt the need to escape Palmerston North, and moved to the South Island, attending Otago University in Dunedin, where he studied anthropology.

[6][3] While working for the underground newspaper International Times in 1967, Morrison was asked to photograph an anti-Vietnam War demonstration, leading him to purchase his first camera, a second-hand Voigtländer.

[7][1][3] Even though the magazine did not use his shots, the experience of attending the demonstration and seeing the photographs develop grew Morrison's interest in photography.

One of Morrison's first commissioned works was a greyscale photograph of Sir Edmund Hillary, which the Listener used as a cover.

[4][6] In 1978, Morrison covered the Bastion Point protests,[8] and created portrait shots for the Listener for people including Dame Whina Cooper, John A. Lee and Frank Sargeson.

[7] In the mid-1970s, Morrison began producing calendars, including one of the shops of Ponsonby prior to gentrification, and returned to Cromwell to photograph the area before the construction of the Clyde Dam.

[4] The collection received high interest from booksellers in the United Kingdom before release (originally intended for April 1980).

[5][3] After learning of a terminal cancer diagnosis, Morrison undertook his last major tour, photographing the Far North of New Zealand with Laurence Aberhart in October 1992.

The first was Robin Morrison: Photographer, held from February to April 1997, after which the exhibition travelled across the country to Christchurch, Dunedin, Timaru, Wellington and Rotorua.