Photographic Artist

Alf Caruana

About

About Alf

I started my career after studying Graphic Design at Swinburne University in Melbourne and spent most of my professional career in the Advertising and Marketing industry succeeding as a Creative Director. In 2005 I discovered photography and while working full time I completed two Advanced Diplomas in Commercial photography and Fine Art. In this time I was lucky enough to learn about B&W darkroom techniques, which is now one of my passions. In 2009 I was awarded the prestigious AIPP Student Photographer of the year winning Gold on my very first time entry in these awards.

My background in Graphic Design has contributed greatly to the aesthetic and composition in my photography. I think because of this I always try to not let myself fall into the “building my own style” pit. So for me it’s all about exploration and creating different styles. I enjoy collaborating and surrounding myself with other creative artists, models, makeup and body painters. Most of my work ends up in Fine Art publications and I have been featured in a number of internationally printed magazines and books.

My younger days where spent growing up on the Mediterranean island of Malta where tradition and religion went hand in hand. This tiny island has more churches than days in a year and house some of the most beautiful and dark religious baroque works in Europe, so my aesthetic inspiration is mostly drawn from going to mass and staring at these “religious” and “theatrical” depictions. I love telling a story using these subjects to define the contours, making the viewer take a second look and realizing that there is more going on than initially meets the eye. Stop, wonder and enjoy.

I am influenced by several Artists and have adapted a natural penchant for chiaro scuro. This comes about from being inspired by Caravaggio’s style of light and dark (chiaro scuro) as well as his glorious religious theatrical masterpieces.

My recent works push the perception of movement in still images, overlapping a few seconds of movement into one frame and delving into the subject of “ The Human Condition”, such as resilience, fragility, decay and spiritual transcendence, while using a combination of photography and digital art techniques to construct powerful and emotional images. My main inspiration comes in the tradition of Picasso and the sculptor Stephen De Staebler.