Exploring the wide world of photography with an open mind 

Emilia Furfaro has always had a keen interest in photography, but it wasn’t until she studied it as an art form in high school that she realised there was more to it than just clicking a button. 

Now using photography as a creative escape, Emilia finds joy in the fact that it isn’t as “daunting as drawing”. 

“With drawing you start with a blank page, but with photography you can use things in the real world, make art with it, and express new ideas,” she said. 

“I thought that side of it was really cool.”

While high school was where Emilia’s interest in photography began, she soon realised there was much more to learn about the craft of taking a photo and understanding the camera’s capabilities. 

“In high school I found that it was more about the ideas and the history, but not so much about the technical side of things, such as using the camera, while understanding the settings and lighting,” Emilia said. 

“I came across the course at Photography Studies College (PSC) and thought it was exactly what I needed to learn those skills and get more into photography as a job.”

Upon signing up to undertake the six-month Certificate IV in Photography and Digital Imaging, Emilia has been able to push herself more into the realm of photography, saying the course teaches its students “everything you need to know”. 

Learning everything from how to use a camera and its settings, to learning about exposure, different types of lighting, and printing, has now left Emilia sure that photography is what she wants to continue to do, even if she has no specifics of what that future looks like. 

“I honestly think photography is something I will continue exploring, because it is so broad and doing this course has helped me to narrow down where I want to go with it,” she said. 

“Short term, I hope to do it as another job and get myself started doing anything I can. I’m not too sure where to go with it long term, but I hope it is something I can continue to do and something I enjoy doing for a long time.”

As for now, Emilia’s work can be seen alongside the other students within the course, with their upcoming class exhibition Fructus Sem - A Harmony in Mixed Photography fast approaching. 

Held at SAE Creative Media institute in South Melbourne, the exhibition will open from Friday, December 13, at 6pm. 

The exhibition will be a chance for the students to showcase the work they are most proud of, with Emilia stating that the work she was most proud of was the photos where she had been able to use specific skills she had recently learnt. 

“I managed to create a blue moody scene in a bedroom, and get the blue light into the camera, rather than having to add it in when editing, and that was something I learnt and then was able to apply,” she said. 

“We also learnt about composite images, and I created a photo where I have chopped my head off and it shows my headless body with the head then sitting on the floor. It’s supposed to be horror but with a comical take on it, and I am really happy with what the end product was.”

This interest in constructing images is strongly influenced by Emilia’s love of coming up with a concept and story, and it is through using these skills that she hopes to continue to experiment and explore various ideas long after the course officially wraps up. •