Emily Skelton is currently in her 1st year of the Advanced Diploma program and is preparing to lead high school students, graduates and parents through PSC classrooms and facilities, (such as the PrintShop, Digital Labs and Studios) on PSC Open Day. Our creative will also be adorned with new photographs produced by students, as part of the Mid-Year Exhibition that will be in full swing by 14 August.
The experience of being a part of our Open Day will be significant for Emily, who attended the event last year and was motivated to join PSC especially after seeing the work on display. She was encouraged by her parents to print her folio entry professionally at PSC’s PrintShop by master printer Peter Hatzipavlis, who also taught her about image editing.
“Peter was so nice and helpful. I didn’t know much about my camera at the time and had no idea about what shooting in RAW meant or how to adjust the exposure. Peter explained the process of creating high quality images while shooting, and how to tweak the results in post-production for printing.”
Most of Emily’s work for her folio entry comprised of portraits stylised in black and white, as her skills in image editing were limited. In school, she had picked studio art as a way of working towards her passion for photography. The lack of focus on the particular discipline made it a struggle for Emily to create her folio – however her determination pulled her through. Despite the extra work she had to put in, she was able to create a photobook for her presentation at school and at PSC.
Since joining PSC, Emily’s skill set has expanded considerably. She loves editing images on Photoshop, as she enjoys being part of the creative process of changing certain aspects of images to make them more three-dimensional and lively.
“I can now make out what techniques were used in every image I see and apply my knowledge to my work, instead of happily snapping away as I used to. I’ve come up with a lot of creative ideas, as a result of bouncing ideas off my classmates. People around me have seen a dramatic change in my photographs, especially when they compare the work that I do now to what I produced before. I’m also beginning to challenge myself a lot more than ever.”
Emily comes from Bacchus Marsh and makes the journey to PSC every day for her classes. Travelling from the country to the city has transformed her quite a lot, as she is exposed to a wide range of diversity, in terms of the people she meets and things she learns about. Her confidence has grown when it comes to approaching others and openly discussing ideas with them, which she hardly did before. She is excited about new possibilities in photography and hopes to see her work on billboards or magazine covers in the future.
“My world has opened up as a result of being a student at PSC. I would like to have an eclectic professional life for example, doing fashion shoots on one day, a story for a documentary piece on the other, all while developing my personal work.”
As her skills in photography have become more advanced, Emily has recently seen a success in booking professional assignments within her network through her Facebook page. From taking pictures as a three-year-old, Emily is definitely living her dream of being an emerging photographer with a multitude of opportunities awaiting her. Follow her Instagram channel @em.skeltonphotography to see her latest work and feel free to ask her questions about studying photography at PSC Open Day.