Joshua Holko, successful award winning wild life photographer and Global Arctic Photographer of the year 2015, was recently awarded AIPP Victorian Documentary Photographer of the Year 2018 for his exquisite wildlife images shot in the most remote and harsh regions of our planet. Joshua started his photographic journey at Photography Studies College many years ago, completing the first semester of the Advanced Diploma (the 20 week Creative Photography Certificate) before embarking on a lifelong career doing what he loves. Joshua, took some time out of his hectic schedule to answer a few questions about his journey.

Image: Joshua Holko APP M.Photog I 2018 AIPP Victorian Documentary Professional Photographer of the Year

What have been your favourite moments on the job?

In the business of photography you are shooting 2% of your time and the rest is running a business. For me it’s the 2%, being out on the ice with the polar bears, with nature. The rest of it is just “waiting”. Steve McQueen once said racing is life and everything else is just waiting around, and it’s like that with photography for me. 

When I'm not out on the ice, I am just counting days until I will next be back doing what I love most.

Final Year Advanced Diploma of Photography student Nish Paranavitana had a chance to kick some of his own goals recently. Nish is majoring in commercial photography, with a keen interest in sports photography. Recently he met up with renowned sports photojournalist and PSC Tutor, David Callow. Here Nish shares his photographic journey and the value of a mentor relationship.

 Photo of Nish by David Callow

What got you started in photography?

I loved sport as a kid and was always flicking through sports magazines, mainly to look at the photographs, rather than reading the articles. I’d always thought how cool it would be to be a sports photographer and to capture great sporting moments. I was lucky enough that my Dad bought me an SLR when I was 15, but then when I finished school and wanted to do a photography course, he said it wasn’t the kind of career that I should be aiming for. At that stage I didn’t have the courage to chase my dream and so I took another road. There is a long story that follows from here but it took me another 27 years before I finally enrolled myself into a course and followed my passion for photography.