PSC graduate Graeme Passmore has been announced as the winner in the Advertising category of Australia’s Top Emerging Photographers Awards!
The awards are run by Capture Magazine and recognise, encourage and promote talented Australian photographers in the early stages of their careers. Congratulations Graeme!
Check out Graeme's award winning work below and read about his photography journey:
I’ve always had a creative flair. Growing up as a kid in Alice Springs I relied on my imagination for fun but I didn’t really explore photography until I was 25. I grew up drawing a lot, cartoons and landscapes and thought I would go down the path of architecture, but soon realised it’s more about numbers than creativity so I tossed it in and went travelling.
I taught myself to use the cheapest DSLR I could find to take some decent travel photos for my family. I had no idea what I was doing, it was a lot of trial and error and when I came across another keen photographer I’d pick their brains. During my travels I met some amazing photographers traveling the world for work which inspired me to start to take this photography thing seriously. A good travel friend of mine Nik Buttigieg had just started studying at PSC and talked me into moving to Melbourne to give it a crack!
Straight away I was inspired at PSC, surrounded with amazing work and meeting like minded people and I took in every bit of advice the tutors had to offer. I felt I learnt just as much off other students also, it was really interesting watching everyone improve so much over the three years. The first two years was about learning as many skills as I could and experimenting, lots of experimenting, and the third year I was really pushed to find my own style - a mixture of graphic design and photography, kind of hyper-real or cartoonish. I choose commercial photography as my major and Julie Wajs was amazing and helped me grow and be confident in the ideas I had and executing them. By the end of my time at PSC I had looked back at the work I had done at the start and couldn’t believe how much I had improved.
After graduating a lot of students are thinking what next? It’s time to get a job but how and where!? I was motivated to never work for anyone else again! So after an adventure to the Sub Continent with my lady, I applied for the NEIS program (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme) and I am now the proud owner of my own photography business. I live in Byron Bay and I take on weddings all over the country. I return to Melbourne for my commercial clients every so often, from fashion look books, catalogues, corporate work and video work etc. At PSC you get to choose what photography work you do and the style but in the real world you have to do whatever work the client wants. At the start to make a living you will need to do anything and hopefully you come across a client that gives you full creativity. Now after my Capture magazine award hopefully I can really push into the advertising industry and get some work in my style! As long as I keep working hard the future looks bright!
