Thursday, July 30, 2015

Seeing the Light - Photographer Aaron Bellette

This week I'm writing about someone I work with - because he is doing such incredible things not only with his art, but with the sharing of this art. Aaron Bellette is a another lecturer in the Arts Faculty at Avondale College (Lake Macquarie, Australia) and he teaches photomedia and film. He is a talented photographer and his latest exhibition... well... take a look for yourself.



Aaron Bellette has just finished putting the final touches on his second Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery exhibition in as many months. It is a collection of photographs that he developed during his time as artist in residence at the gallery from May – July of this year.


It has been a busy year for Aaron, who completed an undergraduate degree at Avondale and his Honors program and Masters degree at Newcastle University, with the a six week emerging residence at Lake Macquarie City Gallery, a group show at University of Newcastle Gallery entitled “GIFTED 50: 50 Gifts to our University Collections” and his continuing study, a PhD dealing with the development of photographic visual learning in online environments.
Aaron uses medium format film and digital photography to record visual experiences. He distorts and layers photographic imagery to present his own interpretation
of time and space. A lot of his art takes place in camera, where he utilizes techniques such as double exposure, filters and intentional camera movement. Living by the lake on Bonnell’s Bay, Aaron is inspired by the local landscape and it features heavily in his work. His photography is also heavily influenced by his own struggles with dyslexia, which has makes his view of the world, and thus his photography unique. Aaron’s dyslexia means that there is a focus on the peripheral visual field and many of his works involved images overlaid one on top of the other to represent the blurred cognitive reality of the dyslexic photographer. He hopes his creative work will encourage his students to make that communicate more effectively with their audiences and inspire them to “develop a photographic eye that moves from taking images to making images that convey messages, ideas and emotions.”
The next stage for Aaron will be applying to a commercial gallery to represent his artworks and he is also in the planning stages of creating and curating work for a major exhibition, with Associate Professor Mark Roxburgh, examining abstraction in photography.
Aaron’s work can be seen at the Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery until the end of August , via his Tumblr and on Avondale’s travel blog Ytravel, where he presents a mini-masterclass in travel photography.

 If you want to purchase the digital file or a print of any of these photographs, contact Aaron here 
-The Scout