When a change in trajectory leads to the discovery of a passion

Outside of his corporate career, Mark Stevens occasionally dabbled in photography, but it wasn’t until he retired that he could jump at the opportunity to chase his passion.

Although based in Sydney while studying at Photography Studies College (PSC), Mr Stevens said he was “very thankful” to have chosen to study in Melbourne, adding that he would “recommend the course to anyone”.

“When I retired from corporate life, I looked at it like I had an opportunity in life to do something a little bit different and so I started researching courses, and thought, you know what, I am going to do photography full-time,” he said.

I am enjoying the process even if I don’t know where it will lead me.

While studying online isn’t without challenges, especially when it comes to not being able to be with other students in-person or use the campus facilities, Mr Stevens said it was a course that lended itself to remote learning.

As well as being involved in classes virtually, Mr Stevens has been able to still receive one-on-one feedback from the lecturers, all who are more than happy to offer their suggestions on how to improve, stretch, and challenge oneself.

“The college staff are incredibly helpful and inclusive, and they go out of their way to help make it as easy as possible for me,” he said.

“When the class did a gallery visit, the lecturer brought a laptop, and the students took turns carrying me around on the laptop.”

As a first year, Mr Stevens said he was already finding himself leaning towards street and landscape photography.

“I like street photography and just grabbing a camera in the morning, getting on the train, going to a town, walking about and making a day and adventure of it, and then I look forward to the process of going home and going through the photos,” he said.

“But I’m also enjoying learning all types at the moment. Lecturers at PSC look at photos very differently, so I’m also liking the process of understanding how to read and interpret a photograph and how I have started looking at photographs very differently.” •