Profile

Why did I choose photography?

Three things led me to this career:

The first one being the Arts; a love of paintings, light, shade, colour and composition; the appreciation of masterpieces through the eyes; learning to see through and artist's eyes.

The second one being chemistry; a love of experimenting with a chemistry set as a kid; mixing potions; changing wine into water; growing crystals and making bad egg gas. All this led to mixing my own developers, coating my own emulsions, watching pictures appear magically under and amber light in a stuffy darkroom. (I still have the smell of Hypo in my nose)

Lastly, the technical aspect of photography or the hardware. Any camera, be it a simple box camera with springs, buttons and knobs or a large camera with tilts and swings, to today's technology, still is box with springs, buttons and knobs. The only difference being the substitution of film emulsion by electronic sensors and the darkroom with a computer program.

A combination of the loves led to a perfect and rewarding career.

Ilia Starkovsky - Biography

​Born in Tientsin, China of Russian parents.

Studied Photography at RMIT Uni in Melbourne

Employed as photographer at the Weapons Research Establishment in Woomera South Australia.

Returned to Melbourne, worked as commercial photographer and later as Manager of TRIGRAPHICS Photo Studio in Melbourne.

Sojourn overseas, where he met his Swiss wife.

​Return to Australia and subsequent decision to return to Switzerland

Extensive experience in commercial, industrial and technical photography in Great Britain, Europe and North Africa

Established “Photo Studio 8” specializing in advertising,commercial and catalogue photography of artworks and antique art

Return to Australia and set up “Beerwah Photographics” studio and retail outlet specializing in commercial photography, amidst the Glasshouse Mountains National Heritage Area on the Sunshine Coast/Queensland.

A lot of people approach me and say "WOW, what a great photo; what sort of camera do you use?" My answer to them is "Did one ask Ernest Hemingway what typewriter he used, or Picasso which brand of brushes?" Of course it helps immensely if you have the right and good tools for the job to achieve a desired result. I have used everything from a pinhole camera constructed from an OVALTINE tin, a 10x8" plate camera and attended workshops using a 50 x 60 cm Polaroid monster (one of only 6 in the world) and almost everything in between. But if one doesn't have the eyes and the mind, the best cameras and computer software will never equal the images produced by the like of Man Ray, Edward Weston, Brassai and Eliot Porter, to name just a few.

​The wide use of post production seems to have given way to pre-visualization of imagery. Many photographs are take with no intent but more in hope that it can fixed up later with the magic wand or computer mouse. But this is not the case. Film or digital sensors are useless unless we breathe life into them through our mind and eyes.

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