Nick Orloff

In his recent keynote presentation at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Platon said “as a portrait photographer, my job is to tell the truth and to capture someone’s spirit on a certain day”.

It used to be assumed, without much real evidence, that in many ‘ancient’ cultures, there was a belief that the camera could steal your soul.I have not been trying to steal souls, but rather to capture something of the portrait sitter’s spirit, by trying to build genuine connections with them, to hopefully record something of their character and nature in the images.

Photography, since its earliest days, has been seen as a way of stopping time and capturing a moment in, what becomes as soon as the shutter is pressed, history. While I hope all my portrait subjects age slowly and live to very advanced years, none of them will ever look exactly the same as they did the day they were in front of my camera. 

My intent, since starting my formal photographic studies, has been to develop the competency and the necessary technical skills to launch a commercial photographic practice, ideally concentrating on portraiture and related work such as head shots.  

In this my final semester of study, I’ve worked on very little else, and as a result, I feel my practice has evolved and improved. In addition to formal portraiture, I have also undertaken a few fashion-inspired shoots, some headshot projects, ‘action’ images of a theatrical dress rehearsal, event photography, and worked on my ongoing personal projects, including documenting owners of older ‘classic’ cars and creating still life images.