A brief step into Cambodia

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Worldwide | Monday, October 10, 2011 | 5 photos

I work as a videographer at a small production facility based at The University of Sydney. A few months ago I was fortunate enough to travel with two academics to Battambang in Cambodia, to make two video profiles of students living at a local orphanage.

I took along a stills camera also. Photography is my first love: the breadth of a story that can be told in a single frame more often than not trumps video every time.

I picked up my mum's SLR when I was at high school, and have loved photography ever since. I'm a keen bushwalker, but often I find half the joy of the journey is the joy of the one iconic photograph that can by turns encapsulate the adventure and sometimes eclipse the actual event and turn it into something altogether different.

Whilst physicists mull over the possibility of different dimensions, I know they exist right here: we can visit them through the lens and the captured image.

I believe that photography has the ability to educate and inspire.

Sometimes - like Kevin Carter's 1994 image of the Sudanese girl and the vulture - a photograph will raise questions we still haven't been able to answer.

Sometimes - like Peter Dombrovskis' beautiful landscapes - a photograph will motivate people to effect change.

Sometimes - like Max Dupain's sunbaker - a photograph will speak for a country.

Mostly - like the photographs and snippets on my fridge and in my diary - you never know who took them but you're glad they captured something that speaks to you: a moment to laugh; to reflect; to recharge; or remember.

It would be such an amazing privilege to have the opportunity to travel with an experienced photographer in the field and have the chance to learn and grow as a photographer.

Thanks for the chance!