RMIT Bachelor of Arts (photography) Graduate Folio

Three years and varying degrees of headbutting with lecturers over my inability to conform later, I had my final folio assessed. I decided from the get go, on the go big, or go home style of folio. To put all of my proverbial eggs into one basket and run all the way to the bank. Why use a model if you have access to a supermodel right? Hence a month long 5-dollar-9-grain-honey-oat-bread-oven-roasted-chicken-breasted-footlong-sub Subway fueled roadtrip around the USA like, Robert Frank [link], Edward Weston [link], Joel Mayervitz [link] and Terry Richardson (O.K maybe not Terry) et al before me, only with more Subway and no 8x10. The supermodel in question was Frank Gehry [link] or more correctly 17 of his buildings and Yosemite National Park [link]. The choose-your-own-adventure style presentation method for assessment I used was maverick, using the floor of the cyc as a canvas on which to set the adventure caviliar at best. Turns out people want to be lead by the hand.  

I've always disliked the linear narritave dressed up in plastic sleeves (that produce glare seemily no matter what angle you view the image from (just which is the same with prints behind glass (but that is another topic for another day))) that is the standard graduate folio (excluding all the zine loving fashion folks). I wanted something more free form where the viewer had control over the viewing experience to find there own relationships between the images and have the glove preciousness . This was achieved by attaching wet mounting 1mm backing to the prints then putting them through a matte laminiation process, so that each print was bombproof, with any hint of preciousness removed by been able to spill the beer you were necking with your other hand, whilst viewing the images all over it. each print was sperate. and placed randomely on the ground. that would allow the viewer to see both the whole and the singular at the same time and to alter by moving the images around to a sequence that made sense to them.            

I guess the key point is to me they are not art, merely pretty pictures. What holds the series together loosely is my own visual aesthetic which is graphic and listing toward abstraction rather than a conceptual. underpinning.   

RMIT Bachelor of Arts (Photography) Entrance Folio

Displayed here is the folio I presented to gain entrance into the Bachelor of Arts (Photography) program, at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). I've heard varying numbers on the exact number of people I was up against to land a spot (one of 70 or so) in this covenanted degree from 450 to 1200+.   

Whilst the exact number is largely shrouded in marketing hyperbole, tinged with elitist pride that only acceptance into exclusivity can provide, it's true to say there were more people applying for the course than there was places on offer. Spoiler Alert: I was accepted. 

This was one of those moments where I nearly psyched myself out. I kept putting up roadblocks as to why I was not worthy enough for the course, why should I take the place of someone who was more passionate about it, who wanted to make it their career and who's whole life had been leading up to that point. Truth be told at the time, I was just seeking validation. Seeking validation from people who knew their shit and might just think my stuff wasn't half bad. That the very fact that the gaping void of not having a life was filled with memory card after memory card of hack photographs, might in some small way have been justified. All the reassurances from friends, loved ones and well wishers that the photos of your cat are really stunning never quite has the same impact as Terry Richardson giving the thumbs.....................or something to that effect.

The interview was not quite what I expected. Only a few questions were asked, of which I felt I gave pretty poor responses that would illicit a simmering contempt within the professional ranks of photographers the types.

Q1: So what do you shoot with?  A: A Kodak point and shoot. I've never used a SLR

Q2: So how long have you been shooting? A: Only four years

Q3: Have you undertaken any study? A: No. Completely self taught

Q4: Do you understand the high costs associated with the course? A: Yes. I know Nicholas who finished the course this year and he explained that all to me. 

Q5: Did you shoot this using a tripod (referring to one of my images). A: Yes. I like shooting at night. Some subjects come alive during the day and some at night.      

I though I dropped the ball majorly with the interview and didn't recieve any feedback on my work like I really like this imag or that image or I like the graphic style you have developed here et al which was why I applied in the first place. So I was surpiriesd when I got a letter in the mail saying I got accepted. Back handed validation received, now I had to figure out if I actually wanted to do the course, ah the joys of deferral.

After spending a year up in Bendigo doing a Graduate Diploma of Outdoor and Environmental Education, at La Trobe University and for the most part been without my own camera ((O.K technically my Dad's Lumix point and shoot he allowed me to borrow because the Kodak died) after an altercation with the salt water at the mouth of the Barwon river) resulted in  relying on friends to borrow their cameras when and if it was possible, I realised that the absence of photography in my life, left a pretty big hole and figured that having three years to dedicate my life to nothing else but photography, didn't seem like such a bad option all things considered and the rest they say is history.