You are probable wondering what it is? Well is is an annual photographic conference in its fourth year run by the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers. It runs over four days and is packed full of keynote speakers, seminars, workshops and not to mention, social events.
I attended two days as this is all I could squeeze in with work and the cost of it. But it was an amazing two days. I attended with a friend that I studied at Uni with, she is now studying photography in Melbourne and asked me to join her. We were like to kids in a candy shop on the first morning. Excited to be attending but also a little nervous to be surrounded by so many talented and professional photographers.
The keynote speaker on our first day was Michael Kenna. He is an English born photographer that now lives in America. He was so fascinating to listen to. He attended a catholic school as a boy and was going to become a priest, until he discovered art and photography. Thank goodness he did, he has some absolutely beautiful photographs. To this day, he still shoots on film and intends to do so until he can no longer get film anymore. He spoke about he journey to becoming a photographer and his 40 odd years as a professional travelling the world. This was his very first time in Australia though! He even spent 11 years working on a project photographing Concentration Camps in Europe. There are some very moving images there.
Here is one of my favourites of his, Giza Pyramids, Study 5, Cairo, Egypt, 2009.
We attended a seminar from Grant Matthews, a fashion photographer who has photographed many many celebrities including Kylie Minogue in the early years and Jimmy Barnes/Cold Chisel. There were some interesting stories there!
After lunch, we hopped onto a bus and headed out to Frogmore Creek Vineyard (formerly known as Meadowbank) for a workshop with Liam West. This workshop was a Food/Wine Shoot and also included some wine tasting! :-) I dont have much experience with studio lighting, so I found this workshop really interesting. It was amazing to see all the tricks of the trade to get the wine bottles or the delicious food looking looking perfect. I took loads of notes so maybe sometime soon I can have a little play and attempt some food photography.
Here is what he created on the day.
That evening we attended the Nikon Night at the Henry Jones Art Hotel, in the Atrium area. It was so beautiful. I love going there for brunch or coffee, but this was something else. There were fairy lights strung up everywhere and big gas heaters. Such a winter wonderland! There was yummy canapes and an oyster bar, lots of tasty wine and bubbles. Dinner and dessert were a buffet, and boy was it delicious. We were definitely spoilt.
Not the best photo, but as you can see, it was rather pretty!
I will do a seperate post about day 2, otherwise it is rather long!
Katy
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