Exactly a week before graduating with her Bachelor's degree, emerging photographer/publisher Clare Steele, was in charge of PSC's very own photobook exhibition stall at the National Gallery of Victoria Art Book fair of 2016. Third year students Sophie Pigram, Olivia Mroz, Sarah Walker, Mac Lawrence, Nathan Larkin and Lucie McGough were involved in selling photobooks - all of which were created and published by them and their fellow classmates.

There were more than 71 stalls during the weekend of April 29 to May 1 - with photobooks made by Nathan Larkin, Olivia Mroz and Clare Steele selected by the National Library of Australia for their permanent collection.

Image of Clare Steele at the National Gallery of Victoria, by Daniel Boetker Smith

Clare Steele was excited to be at the event, as she always looks forward to getting feedback from interested audiences who are keen to find out more about the thought processes behind the books. Clare loves being part of the photobook community, thanks to her course at PSC where she was introduced to the particular area of the industry. After publishing her first photobook for her final folio piece last year, she has gone on to publish more work on her own, submitting them to international competitions.

"I very much appreciate the amazing photographers/curators/writers ( Katrin Koenning, Hoda Afshar, Pippa Milne, Daniel Boetker-Smith) who have enlightened me and opened my eyes to what photography can be, and given me the rare opportunity to have complete creative freedom to work really hard on my project. Likewise, receiving great feedback and support for that work while also being informed about the difficulties real-world photographers face."

Clare plans to travel to Ireland and be a part of Photo Ireland - thanks to the industry connections facilitated by teacher Katrin Koenning.

"I'm looking forward to the chance of sharing and talking about my work to those who've never seen it before, hearing their different views and interpretations... to travel and open my eyes even more, while always improving my craft and continue to develop photographic series from stories I'm passionate about."

We are proud of Clare and are excited to see her graduate this Friday, May 6 !