BORN and bred Nambucca local Michael Donovan has achieved a great deal in the last few years. What started as a casual hobby has seen him gain international attention overseas, and recently gotten him in the running for photographer of the year.
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The talented artist entered the competition after his partner found it online and encouraged him to enter.
“My partner found the competition, and she had seen some of the pictures on my phone and encouraged me to enter; I have a lot of nice photos,” he said.
“I've been taking pictures for about five years, but only really been doing this seriously for the last few.”
“I originally took the images to help empower my three young daughters, and help them embrace their culture.”
While it is his first competition, Mr Donovan is happy to have made it this far and optimistic for the future.
“I was surprised; I didn't think they'd get back to me, I've known people, friends who have been entering for years and they never got a callback,” the artist said.
“I’m just happy it got this far, my entry is something different to what a lot of the others did, so we’ll see how it goes. I'm feeling good about it.”
Michael's portfolio that he entered is titled “Strong Woman” and has already made the first shortlist in the “People and Portrait” category in photographer of the Year 2018.
The category winners, runners-up and finalists are expected to be announced in the February 2019 edition of Australian Photography magazine. At the very least, he will receive a commendation in the competition this year.
Currently, he has two works displayed at the Matilda Street Gallery and hopes to have a full exhibition in the future.
“The plan would be to have an exhibition for the Macksville community later this year,” Mr Donovan said.
“I want to do artwork a little more full time. I try to see the art in something, then try to capture that and to showcase the story that goes with the image.”
Michael also has a business, “Yildaan” which specialises in wood crafting, designs, photography and other artistic ventures.
Everybody can check out some more of Michael's work at his Instagram page Yildaan_art.
While anybody looking to use his artistic services can contact him at 0481 988 082.