Photography Studies College (PSC) in Melbourne has proved that education at an independent, private institution is hard to beat these days, after winning the AIPP Australian Tertiary Photography Institution of the Year for the sixth consecutive year.
Front row centre: Managing director Julie Moss together with Australian Photography Student of the Year Tayla Nuss-Soeharto, drector, Communications & Students Jenny Heron, course director Daniel Boetker-Smith and fellow PSC staff and students. Source: Supplied
PSC also achieved one of the highest scores for a Creative Arts institute in the Student Experience Survey, a Government-funded initiative which surveyed 145,000 students nationwide.
‘We listen to our students and really try to be responsive to their needs, this is often quite different to the experience someone has in a large institution,’ Carmen Edwards, PSC coordinator for communications and students, told ProCounter. ‘PSC values education and learning – we really want students to be in an environment where they feel invigorated, nurtured, challenged and immersed.
‘Our valued and close relationship with the photography industry and profession is continually growing with many events, image makers’ seminar series, and master classes now held at the college.’
The college offers diploma and degree courses in photography with commercial, art, or photojournalism as major study disciplines. It has a two double-sized photography studios, with a 7x6m cyclorama and Broncolor and Elinchrom lighting; and a print shop with Epson inkjet printers.
Industry partnerships have been forged with the AIPP, ACMP (now part of the AIPP), Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Australian Photojournalists Association, and the National Association of Visual Arts.
Winning the AIPP award – as well as student Tayla Nuss-Soeharto taking home the AIPP Student Photographer of the Year award – along with positive feedback from students and steady enrolment numbers, demonstrates the strength of the independent institution as an educator, Edwards said.
Photos from Nuss-Soeharto’s winning series, ‘pop, crack, bang’. Source: Supplied.
PSC is the only tertiary institution in Australia specialising exclusively in photography – and focussingstrictly on the medium has won it industry recognition.
Some public universities have reshaped dedicated photography courses into mere units within an Arts degree, yet enrolment figures in photography courses across the nation are set to increase.
The Federal Government Job Outlook website, which gathers data on employment characteristics and trends, published statistics indicating that employment for photographers ‘is expected to grow strongly’ in the next five years, following strong growth in the previous five years.
In 2015 the Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Survey recorded 13,000 professional photographers in the country. A sharp rise from the 11,700 recorded between 2008 and 2011, which dropped suddenly to 7900 in 2012 and bounced back to 12,000 in 2013. By 2020 it predicts there will be an additional 1300 photographers entering in the workforce, with the number forecast at 14,300.
Only 47.7 percent of the 13,000 photographers work full-time – a relatively low proportion compared with other industries.
Not surprising given there are Master Photographers – arguably the best in the industry – only shooting part-time.Some are involved in a separate job in another industry, but many more turn to teaching.
The sheer number of photographers running photography-related workshops, seminars, classes, or tours suggests there’s serious income to be made from those with an unquenchable thirst for learning photography.
The AIPP also cashes in on facilitates education – with seminars, awards and functions its second largest revenue stream, pulling in $742,000 in the 13/14 financial year. It increased its emphasis on its Continuing Professional Development program, which requires members to attend (and pay for) industry events to maintain their skills.
Aside from the one-off workshops and intimate photography tours, which may be the avenue pursued by a future generation of photographers, the current batch have arrived at pohotography via more formal tertiary education, with 86 percent having a Bachelor Degree or Diploma.
Compared with other occupations education levels among photographers are quite high.
Melbourne’s photography students are spoiled for choice. There’s public university degrees offered by reputable institutions like RMIT, Melbourne University, Deakin, Swinburne, Victoria University, and La Trobe (Bendigo).
TAFE institutions offer diplomas, such as Melbourne Polytechnic – which came second in the AIPP Tertiary award, Holmesglen Institute, and Chisholm Institute.
And finally there’s a range of private institutions that focus solely on the visual arts, such as CATC Design School, Photo Imaging College, and of course Photography Studies College.
‘PSC has a highly dedicated and talented group of teaching staff who focus on the students journey and outcome. They get to know their student’s hopes and dreams and really work with them to open up new worlds and possibilities,’ Edwards said.
Faculty teaching staff include respected photojournalists Michael Coyne and Bill Bachman, and fine art and documentary photographer Hoda Afshar, who won the 2015 National Photographic Portrait Prize. Photographers Julie Wajs and Sarina Lirosi are also faculty staff, and both have upwards of 20 years’ experience.
‘And our unique courses have been written by PSC to be responsive and dynamic. There is a career and industry focus together with a continual emphasis on conceptual exploration and visual realisation that is then embedded in strong technique. Students thrive with this approach – it’s tried and tested,’ Edwards explained.
‘Our students love producing bodies of folio work and being immersed in in-depth exploration of the medium, and the result is excellence in the work they produce. They develop an identity as part of a class, then as part of a larger photographic community. This imbues them with a sense of belonging.’
In their final year PSC students are placed in a mentoring program which links them with a contemporary photographer to gather feedback and experience first-hand how a pro does his or her job. For some it’s a foot in the door; those matched with the right photographer can land work alongside them.
Once graduated the alumni program keeps them informed on industry updates, and offers mentoring and support. A larger university may struggle to offer such an industry-specific alumni program given it covers degrees spanning multiple study disciplines, from science to arts.
‘We believe that photography is central to contemporary culture and is an integral part of our daily lives. Today so much is captured, shared and communicated through images and digital technologies – it’s a powerful medium,’ Edwards said. ‘For today’s photographer that means being responsive to technology and its ever changing forms! These attributes are what sets our students and graduates apart and sees their continued success within the industry.’
At the AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards’ ceremony Julie Moss, PSC managing director, was also awarded an Honorary Fellow Achievement Award for contributions and exemplary service in photography and education.
A 2015 Opinion piece on photographic education from Emeritus Professor, Des Crawley…