Yesterday, students from secondary school all across Victoria visited our creative campus for our first Experience Day of the year. This was part our industry - awareness endeavours, where we enable the wider community to get a glimpse of a day in the life of a PSC student. Our passions for fostering interests in the art of photography and developing the visual communications skill set of students across the country, resulted in a fun filled day where a variety of insightful activities were organised.
Students from year 10, 11 and 12 attended the introduction to the day by course director, Daniel Boetker-Smith, who explored the nature of photography today with social tools, such as Instagram. Students were encouraged to think about how they could develop styles that brought out their individuality, while looking at the Instagram channels of high profile photographers from the industry. Daniel introduced them to the vision and techniques of Katrin Koenning, PinkHassov, Thomas Prior and Arto Foto, to highlight the qualities of what it takes to be an image-maker for a successful career in the field. A group workshop session then followed, where teams were led by teachers Sarina Lirosi and Anat Cossen, with our PSC mentors, Myra, Rachel, Justice and Luke who guided students in brainstorming the ideas, vision and styles of the aforementioned photographers.
Students then ventured out to different iconic spots around the Melbourne CBD - as PSC is located in the flourishing arts and business district, to capture images in the styles of their chosen Instagram photographer. Receiving hands-on feedback from their accompanying teachers and mentors, students who were relatively new to the experience achieved amazing results!
After a fun pizza lunch, where Daniel went through some of the work posted on Instagram by the students, with the hashtag '#pscexp', students were then taken on a tour around our creative campus, where they also interacted with Master Printer Peter Hatzipavlis and our librarian Allison Belcher.
Students were also enabled to have one-on-one sessions with our teachers who are practicing in the industry, nationally as well as internationally. A swift folio-review workshop was arranged where students brought in their folios to receive feedback and comments by our photography icons at PSC. Ideas on how students could further develop their styles were also brainstormed, leaving them inspired to look at their work in different ways and enhance their folio for their final assessments at school.
While students received constructive feedback, they were also led to our studios for a live - shoot, where teacher Michael Warnock gave them tips on how to work with subjects and lighting, in a professional studio environment. Students were quick to follow through, as they experimented with different moods and expressions. They were also introduced to our current Bachelor student, Taylor Ferne Morris and graduate, Lisa Frieling, who were doing their own commercial shoots as well. Secondary students were welcomed to discuss the realities of starting a career in photography and were pleased to hear about the positive outcomes that the industry has to offer, especially after getting a degree from a school like PSC.
The staff at PSC were thrilled to see such enthusiastic secondary students, who were eager to learn as much as they could, while they also found a sense of accomplishment by getting the real-world experience of the photography industry. Students enjoyed the busy and lively city environment of PSC and walked away with a new set of skills and experiences!
To find out more about our campus and courses visit this page. We hope to see you for our next Experience Day!
