Do you know that cheesy line about the journey to finding happiness is the journey itself?
Well, it’s true. There is so much to be said for navigating years of ups and downs, getting those scars, and living to talk about them.
The amount of knowledge you gain from the failures is where the real success comes.
As a professional photographer or hobbyist photographer who love what they do, they simply couldn’t imagine giving up.
This has been the case for four local Ipswich photographers who are now achieving recognition and success within their desire creative practice.
Grant Quinn, Jason McNamara, Andrea Baumert Howard and Mel Sinclair have all scored success in recent art shows and competitions.
Jason McNamara just received a Highly Commended for his work ‘Alexis Diamond – Green’ at the highly prestigious Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Awards.
Jason is one of the selected artists who will be a featured at the upcoming Ipswich SPARK festival. His images will be projected onto the old Commonwealth Bank building on the Tuesday, July 11.
Andrea Baumert Howard has also just received a Highly Commended at the Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Awards for her artwork ‘Out the Back’.
Andrea also scored a further Highly Commended at the recent Milburn Landscape Art Awards. Andrea’s artwork is a combination of two mediums, photography and mix media which are typically perceived as entirely independent practices.
However, Andrea has combined the two to make visually stunning artworks in some cases showcasing Ipswich buildings and landscapes.
Grant Quinn recently won the Quota Jimboomba Art Show Photography section with his image titled ‘Old Meets New’.
Grant currently has an exhibition, ‘Architectural Layers’ in its final weeks at Ipswich Art Gallery.
Mel Sinclair is another local artist making a name for herself in the world of photography.
You may remember Mel as the winner and Champion of the Photography Section at this year’s Ipswich Show.
Mel’s photography was also shortlisted for three prestigious Art Prizes in Southeast Queensland. Firstly, her image ‘Linger’ was in the Lethbridge Gallery Landscape Prize earlier this year.
Followed by being shortlisted again as a finalist for her image which was a new and experimental artwork titled ‘Keeping Score’ at the Milburn Landscape Prize at the Brisbane Institute of Art.
To complete a trio of achievements Mel was again shortlisted as a finalist in the latest Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Awards.
All the finalists for The Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Awards can be viewed online or visit the Gallery in Paddington. Mel tells me she has a big event planned for later this year but is all hush hush at this stage.
I’m so excited for all these artists and can’t wait to see where their journey goes.
