Queensland College of Art - Photographic Education at QCA

Photographic Education At QCA

Photographic education at the Queensland College of Art originated from the photographic needs of Commercial Art students attending art studies conducted by the art branch of the Central Technical College in the early 1950s. Photography, as a subject in its own right, steadily grew to become a structured evening studies programme conducted by Jack Geddes, then a technical officer with Kodak Aust.

By the late 1950s, the need for formal vocational photographic education in Queensland began to emerge. This requirement was met with the introduction of a two-year part-time Certificate in Photography course. The period from 1960 to 1970 saw the appointment of full-time photography instructors, notably John McKay, and an increasing demand for education accompanied by a steady though painfully slow accumulation of photographic equipment.

The 1970s witnessed the appointment of a second full-time photography instructor and a move from two dark, sparse and ill-ventilated rooms in the old Central Technical College in George Street to spacious new air-conditioned premises at the Seven Hills campus. The combination of this modern teaching facility, emerging industry support for photographic education and the extensive groundwork undertaken by John McKay, who had travelled through Europe and America gathering information and visiting photographic teaching institutions, culminated with the introduction of Queensland's first full-time, professionally oriented photographic course of study. While previous courses relied entirely on vocational night schooling for employed students, this tradition was broken in 1978 with the development of a two-year, full-time Certificate in Photography which included a provision for specialist training conducted at industrial locations.

During the early 1980s, a three-year, full-time Diploma of Arts (Photography) course was developed to complement the existing Certificate course which continued until 1987 when it was consolidated into an Associate Diploma (Applied Photography) Course. By 1984, the Diploma of Arts course was itself extensively revised, upgraded and accredited to become the Bachelor of Arts (Photography). During this period, the Department of Photography expanded substantially, employing ten full-time and eighteen part-time staff and occupying two floor levels, while the student population grew steadily to stabilise at approximately the two hundred currently enrolled in Degree and Postgraduate programmes.

Overall, the eighties were a time when traditions and activities such as the trade show, conducted at the beginning of each academic year, the (now defunct) annual Birdsville Races excursion and the combined Graduating Students Exhibition and Awards Presentation Night were established.

The Queensland College of Art was the last major tertiary institution to amalgamate in accordance with the Dawkins reform of higher education in Australia. The amalgamation with Griffith University in 1991, which has ensured a continuation of long-standing traditions and the existence of the Queensland College of Art and its constituent departments, only resulted as a consequence of intense lobbying and repeated street demonstrations by committed staff and students.

The Australian Photojournalists Association, formed by graduates in 1994, continues to grow as well. The Australian Photojournalist, originally a quarterly newsletter, is now a full-colour journal, published yearly. The journal is brought out by an editorial board consisting of photojournalism students under the guidance of David Lloyd and Earle Bridger. The Australian Photojournalists Association also organised and co-sponsored the Hurley Awards for Suburban and Regional Photojournalists. The Hurley Awards were a national photographic competition organised by the APA which ran annually from 1995 until 2000, when they were mothballed due to the move to South Bank and lack of a sponsor.

In 1995, the Department established its first Digital Imaging room equipped with modern scanners, computers and printers.

The Bachelor of Visual Arts (Photography) Programme was completely re-written the following year. It became the Bachelor of Photography, incorporating a foundation year followed by studies in one of four major areas. Students studying photography could now major in Applied Photography (which became Commercial Photography in 2001), Creative Advertising Photography, Photo Art Practice or Photo Journalism.

In 1996, the Department of Photography also embarked on a successful campaign to internationalise its programme, becoming the first non-Chinese educational unit permitted to offer a Master of Arts in Visual Arts Photography course from the Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA) in Beijing, China. The Department now runs exchange programmes with Miami University and Ohio University in the United States and supports a strong international student contingent, in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

The Department also has a long history of involvement in community-based projects, which have benefitted both the students involved and the organisations sponsoring the projects. Projects which students have collaborated on include:

• The Back O' Bourke Project with the Back 'o Bourke Tourist Centre, documented the region over five years, with yearly exhibitions
• Creative Advertising and Design students collaborated on a campaign for Sirromet Wines
• Image resource for website and large image displays with Creative Advertising students photographing for Santos Corporation
• Social Documentary students have photographed and exhibited images for the Annual Art Exhibition as part of Schizophrenia Awareness Week in conjunction with the Schizophrenia Fellowship
• Photojournalism students produced an exhibition on refugees living in Brisbane with the assistance of Austcare as part of Refugee Week
• Photographic Art Practice students worked with South Bank Corporation to produce art works for the Arbour Exhibition
• In collaboration with the Brisbane City Council, photography students were involved with both photographing and working with high school students to produce an exhibition of Women of Brisbane, called Holding Up the Sky
• Photojournalism students produced an exhibition, Enlighten, and catalogue for Wesley Mission Brisbane on the lives of people with disabilities
• Creative Advertising students produced images for the 2004 Doggett Calendar
• Photographic Art Practice students, working with Architecture students from QUT, produced art works for the South Bank Parklands as part of the Art and Architecture project.
• News and Creative Advertising students worked with the Stanwell Corporation to produce a website highlighting their corporate activities and community-centred activities
• News students have worked with the Queensland Government as part of the International Conference on Engaging Communities
• The Queensland Arts Council, through their QAC Photographer for a Year Scholarship, offers work to an honours student in Photography photographing artists and events throughout Queensland for their publications

Other areas of involvement include support for the Queensland Centre for Photography, a non-profit organisation formed in 2002 by graduates of the Department of Photography, who identified the need for a Queensland-based organisation similar to the Centre for Contemporary Photography (Melbourne) and the Australian Centre for Photography (Sydney) to cater to the needs of both photographers and a photographic exhibition-hungry public. The QCP, which is now based on South Bank, offers exhibition spaces for photographers, artist talks, slide nights and other photography-related events. In addition, staff of the Department of Photography are actively involved in producing work for exhibitions and publications as well as ongoing involvement with industry.