Every year the Darkan Community Resource Centre in the Shire of West Arthur coordinates a creative workshop for its locals called West Arthur Expression. It is a wonderful initiative and workshops have ranged from painting, sculpture, short films, and photography. In 2017 I was approached so I decided to make it a photography workshop with a specific goal and an end result. Learn how to create a visual story for a community exhibition using the cameras and devices available to you.

An enthusiastic group of locals from all walks of life came to an evening workshop armed with a range of different DSLR cameras, compact cameras and smartphones then they immersed themselves in the photography project. By sharing photos into a closed FB group we could give each other constructive feedback while learning on the job! Everone surprised themselves and each other. There were so many wonderful moments captured.

The community exhibition was a huge success. Many participants had never had their photos professionally printed and mounted before so this in itself was a huge reward. A large number of the community came to enjoy the photos and social occasion. Throughout the night a multi-media slideshow ran on repeat showcasing everyone’s work and also video introduction’s of the participants which delighted the locals.

The sheer diversity of the photographers is what Photo Stories Community Project is all about. A four-year-old girl, a shire officer, a mother of four, a 13-year-old schoolboy, a store owner, a professional photographer, a farmers wife, and many more. The Photo Stories seed was planted.

Here a is a short video showcasing some of the West Arthur community.

Photo Stories Project from Astrid Volzke on Vimeo.