Angie Connell - 2016 AIPP Australian Emerging Photographer of the Year

Proud, astounded and chuffed - all wrapped up into a neat package of "Holy S#@t!!" It is a humbling process being judged by your peers, but I come out the other end more knowledgeable and inspired to keep of creating and improving my skills. Winning the Emerging Photographer of the Year was the delicious topping on a very educational cake!

ABOUT ANGIE

Angie is a Melbourne Based Pet Photographer who is completely over enthusiastic about all things weird and quirky. Fervently committed to daydreaming, Angie brings the resulting illogical ideas to life via her camera and some fancy footwork in digital post production. The result bringing laughter, a place for escapism and a healthy dash of “what the!?”. After an almost career as a water diviner in Coober Pedy, she somehow completed her diploma in Photo-imaging at NMIT in 2014. Angie has gone on to win multiple awards, been part of group exhibitions and was recently awarded both Victorian and Australian Emerging Photographer 2016 by the AIPP. But most of all, inspired by the joy that pets bring to their people, Angie is in her happy place when working on commissioned pet art and her current bodies of work “The Carnival of Fur and Four Legs” and "Rabbits are not human"

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Angie Connell - The Balancing Act is part of a series called The Carnival of Fur and Four Legs that I am developing into a exhibition and book. A lot of work went into this image, teaching a dog to unicycle was much easier in my head then what it turned out to be in reality. -insert your polite awkward laugh- I had always envisioned a big clumsy looking dog, as a theme running through the whole carnival series is that the characters are not necessarily very good at their 'acts'. Having a Dalmatian made sense in the end, with it’s spots resembling a clown costume. I had originally tried for a different type of expression, something goofy, but unfortunately it can be somewhat difficult to coach animals into certain expressions! In the end the look of concentration (for the bone that was being held up) was perfect, especially once the rat had been placed on his nose.

Angie Connell - Introducing The Wicked Magician who takes his job of making the rats disappear a little too seriously. If you try explaining to this mildly wicked cat that it is all meant to be an illusion, well you will come out second best. Because as far as he is concerned, the only place rat should disappear to is his stomach. Please note: No rats where harmed in the making of this image! True story. The Wicked Magician is part of my current series - Carnival of Fur and Four Legs which I'm building up to be an exhibition and book. The set was set up in the cat owners lounge room, I had painted the background and floor boards to suit the scene of a 'back stage portrait'. The cat was photographed in the bow-tie and cape on the red stool. But the cat is made up of two images - the expression is one and the body is another. The hat and rats were photographed separately and brought together in post production.

Angie Connell - Lentil, the ridiculously good looking mini-lop, has been part of my folio in both States and Nationals for the last 3 years. Someone had said to me after I had first photographed him, Angie, there is only so much you can do with a rabbit, I took that on as a creative challenge. This particular image was playing homage to the fact that he considers himself to be the royalty of the house, dressed in what he values the most... his food.