I have been a photographer all of my adult life. My father was a prominent photographer in our local area for 50 years and I grew up with a firm knowledge of the business side of picture making. I photographed my first wedding when I was just 17, my mum had to drive me to the wedding. During a 3-year stint of study at the RMIT where I was exposed to a previously unknown high standard of technical quality, I saw my first taste of darkroom based “Alternative” or “Historic” photographic processes. I was enthralled and seriously hooked.
For the next 35 years this fascination has been a driving force behind my personal photography and art endeavours.
Although my career has always been a professional photographer, my desire to create artistic pieces of work has always been with me. I became deeply involved in the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) to compete in their annual print awards. The level of quality presented in this forum is world class. It has been a personal goal to raise my standard of visual storytelling and physical presentation to the highest level and I have succeeded in winning many state and national awards.
Giving my work a point of difference has always been important. Commanding the audience’s attention is more than just making a pretty picture. I try to create images that have a visual mood about them, sometimes through the subject itself, sometimes through the photographic process, sometimes through the method of presentation.
I immerse myself completely in the work I create to the point of building my own cameras, darkroom equipment, chemical mixtures and the final framing and other creative display methods. My final works are completely infused with my personal skills and abilities.
As to my subjects, whether it is a pebble in the sand or a constructed scene, I endeavour to make the viewer “feel” the image, not just see what is before them. That connection creates mindfulness and empathy and is a signature of my work. I am always finding new themes to work with, and working on new ways of communicating these to the viewer.
Click here to download Trevor Foon’s CV
