Photos in Focus

The VCE 

Sheridan Dinsdale

Teacher - VCE Media

The BSC Year 11 Media cohort were so fortunate to experience a tailored tour and educational talk at the State Library Victoria recently. 

This included tours of the 'Searching for Sanctuary: A journey of survival by Barat Ali Batoor' and 'Melbourne Out Loud: Life through the lens of Rennie Ellis'. 

The purpose of this excursion was to prepare our students for an exciting and challenging learning task: developing and producing their own unique photography series. This project is an integral component of the VCE Media curriculum, specifically within the unit of Narrative, Style, and Genre. 

Through this task, students will have the opportunity to apply their understanding of various narrative techniques, stylistic approaches and genre conventions to create a cohesive and visually compelling photography series. They will be encouraged to explore and experiment with different themes and techniques, fostering their creativity and honing their technical skills in the process. This hands-on task aims to deepen their comprehension of media production while allowing them to showcase their individual perspectives and artistic vision.

Attending the State Library exhibitions gave our students an excellent opportunity to consider two photographic exhibitions providing two very different perspectives on life, delivered by two photographers living and recording their experiences a world apart from each other. To see their images in side-by-side exhibitions was captivating and encouraged so much comment and discussion amongst our group.  

Students have the opportunity to delve into how each artist has both adhered to and expanded upon their chosen theme. While individual images can be captivating and invite further exploration, a well-curated photographic collection can unfold a richer, more profound narrative—one that has no need for words. Each photograph functions as a chapter in a visual story; as viewers progress through the exhibition, they uncover layers of meaning and gain deeper insights into the photographer’s experience.

I know that our students really enjoyed this experience, and I am really looking forward to seeing how they apply the knowledge they learned form this excursion to their own projects.

Kiara Wong

Year 11

The photography excursion was very informative. It helped to build our understanding of how genre and narrative can be shown in photography, giving us an idea on how we can develop our own narrative in our GAT. The curators Georgia and Ange provided us with many insights into how and why these photographs were taken and chosen to be exhibited. I really enjoyed the Melbourne Out Loud exhibition which featured Rennie Ellis’ photographs of Melbourne citizens in the 70s and 80s, it was entertaining to see everyday life captured in a documentary genre.

Isabella Beaton-Ortega

Year 11

I think the Searching for Sanctuary exhibition is a beautiful way to show the struggle that many people go through every day. I loved how the photographer doesn't show it in a calm way - he shows every inch of the struggle on the journey. 

Our tour guides at the Library gave us a lot of good insight of the story behind each photo on display. I learned that things like life jackets and basic human necessities are so much harder [for these refugees] to get hold of and they would have to sell everything they owned just to buy them.

Seeing this exhibition has helped me to understand how using a narrative and style can show the inner depth of documenting life and can help to describe all the rough and struggling times in life.

Click on the gallery to enlarge.

We extend a heartfelt thank you to the State Library of Victoria for inviting us on this excursion.

We especially thank our tour hosts, Georgia and Ange, who invested their time, effort and expertise in delivering an amazing and enriching learning experience for us all!