Congratulations to PSC student Elena D. San Roman who received a Gold Award at the Canon AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards. As well as achieving gold status, Elena's print was the highest scoring print in the portrait category which is an outstanding achievement!

Originally from Spain, Elena is currently completing the art major in her final year of studies at PSC. Find out about her award winning image below and read about her photography journey and experience as a student at PSC.

Image by Elena D San Roman - Gold Award & Highest Scoring Print in Portrait category of AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards

This photograph is part of my final year folio, which will be exhibited as part of the Fresh15 exhibition towards the end of the year. It's part of a series of work which deals with the experience of remembering childhood trauma and the emotional transformation that comes from it.

I feel very grateful to have received this award, especially for the acknowledgement of an image that means so much to me. I’m also very grateful for the encouragement I received from my teachers to enter the awards.

I remember being interested in photography since I was a child. I took photographs almost every day for fun and as a way of expression/documentation of events. However, I started to have quite ambitious ideas about the work I wanted to make but couldn’t accomplish because of my lack of technical skill - that’s where PSC came in!

As a world traveller I had also been wanting to come to Australia for a very long time, and getting accepted into PSC allowed me to not only study and focus on one of my passions, but also to experience this beautiful country and grow my roots.

Being at PSC has been a very unique journey, the highlight being the amount of support you get from teachers and professionals in the industry. Folio classes have always been my favourite - I think it’s very important to explore the creative process, to be able to talk freely about ideas and receive honest feedback and critique.

Although it might sound a bit cliché, I believe it’s very important to be true to yourself, without worrying about what others think or say, be ready to work hard, break your own rules, celebrate accidents and get out of your comfort zone.

The best work comes when you’re not afraid to dig deeper and are truly honest about what you find.

You can view more of Elena's work on her website  www.reflectivestate.com