My resume

Samantha Jefferson

Photojournalist

With a professional history in the arts, education and journalism I’ve worked as a teacher, guest speaker, consultant, journalist and photojournalist.

In 2008, after three years with News Ltd working accross the circulation, marketing and editorial departments, I completed a Master of Arts (Journalism & Mass Communications) majoring in ePhotojournalism.

Specialising in feature writing, news photography and photoessays, I also produce multi-media content suitable for online publication and have desktop publishing skills.

Currently working as a freelance writer and photojournalist, I continue to write education resources and provide media workshops to schools and colleges.

Hi, I’m a photojournalist

Internships

Digital photographyPhotoshopInDesignAudacityFlash

The Gold Coast BulletinThe Courier MailThe Sydney Morning Herald

SoundslidesFinal Cut ProIllustratorDreamweaver

Technical skills

A storm front descends on preparations for the Surfing the Coldstream festival in Yamba, NSW. September, 2008.

Professional history

Referees

The Gold Coast Bulletin - Education ConsultantAPN (The Daily Examiner) - Photojournalist/ReporterFreelance PhotojournalistPresident - Pineapple Press Club

Heather FaulknerLecturer ePhotojournalismQCA Griffith UniversityP: 07 555 27780

Steve HollandLecturer PhotographyQCA Griffith UniversityP: 07 555 28135

Rain falls on a Rememberance Day service in Maclean, NSW. November, 2008.

Singles

Students from Toogoolawa School follow their teacher into the classroom for meditation and reflection time.Toogoolawa is a last chance school for boys who have been excluded from the state school system. Yatala, Queensland. August, 2007.

A rider rolls out of the path of the bull he was riding at the inaugural Bulls and the Beach Rodeo at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast. September, 2007.

Students from Silkwood Steiner School participate in morning circle with their teacher Shaun McGurgan. Mt Nathan, Queensland. March, 2008.

Seas are whipped up by a low pressure system off the coast of the Gold Coast causing severe erosion and damage to beaches.August, 2007.

Fashion shoot conducted in a bus shelter.Ashmore, Queensland.

A young competitor in the Brisbane Break Dance challenge held under the Turbot Street overpass.October, 2007.

A collage of the moon at four stages of the lunar eclipse from Southport on the Gold Coast, Australia.September, 2007.

Idan Rachiel pictured during a media call at the Sydney Opera House.Sydney, NSW. March, 2008.

Martin Ball stands in front of his portrait of musician Tim Finn for which he won the Packer’s Prize in the Archibalds.Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. March, 2008.

Dancers in the 30th Annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade in Sydney.March, 2008.

Life Under CanvasIn 2008 I had the unique opportunity to spend time with the performers and animals of Lennon Bros Circus, one of the last circus’ in Australia to still have lions in their show.

With an increasing number of municipal councils banning circus’ which include exotic animals, Lennon Bros represent the last of dying breed of entertainment.

A rhesus monkey rides a pony as one of the acts in the Lennon Bros show.

The big top of Lennon Bros Circus as it is illuminated at night.

The ringmaster keeps people entertained with some audience participation while the lions cage is disassembled.

A young performer on the high hoop.

A rigger in the circus walks through a pane of light shining through the big top.

Jessica, one of the circus’ oldest lions waits in her cage for her family to return from the ring.

Riggers check the poles and structure of the big top before their first matinee of the season in Ipswich.

In the glory days the circus offered a doorway to the world; foreign cultures, extraordinary acts and exotic beasts otherwise out of reach of the everyday citizen. The circus was a traveling testament to man’s greatness, colourfully presented through demonstrations of remarkable strength, ingenuity and beauty. In the sparse landscape of Australia, where distance isolated so many, the circus was a cultural event not to be missed and for many the first time they ever saw an elephant, lion or monkey was at a traveling circus. The animal trainers bravery and dominance over wild things was to be marveled at and further evidence of human triumph during an era defined by discovery and conquest.

Expanding technologies shrink the distance between people and places and accessibility to information gives us quick answers leaving us without wonder or anticipation. Culturally diverse and flooded by multiplatform entertainment choices we are not amused so easily today. As the repercussions of our past conquests are revealed there is no glory found in man’s dominance over the beasts, instead sadness and foreboding replaces the marvel of our supremacy.

Yet in this crowded entertainment landscape, there is a place reserved for the unique experience found at the circus. In its simplicity it captures what is splendid and strange about humanity. There is an uncommon intimacy in the big top that cannot be replicated in pixels or bytes, ensuing honesty between performers and audience. Most of all, there is the sense of awe one gains from being close to the mighty beasts of the circus, their greatness not diminished by the peculiarity of the place but strangely magnified in this context, under the canvas.

A performer on the Wheel of Death, one of the circus’ international imports, a family of performers from Chile.

Samantha Jefferson

Photojournalist

ContactP: 0414 647 956W: samanthajefferson.com.auE: [email protected]