Current events

Bilby trail and craft activities (self-guided)

Fri 29 Mar - Sun 28 Apr — Collect a map from the Visitor Centre

Learn about the bilby and its habitat on a children's self-guided trail.

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Bush Fragrance

6 Apr – 5 May 2024 — Visitor Centre at the Australian National Botanical Gardens

This exhibition celebrates the work of the Botanic Art Group and their love of native flora.

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Culture on the Move – Bush Animal Weaving Workshops

Thurs 18 April and Fri 19 April, 10 am and 1 pm — Banksia Centre

Create your own bush animal during the school holidays.

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Culture on the Move – Traditional Weaving Workshops

Sat 20 April 10 am - 1 pm — Banksia Centre

Sharing cultural knowledge on weaving and plant use and learning how to prepare fibres.

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Join Steve Parish for a weekend workshop that includes interactive seminar sessions combined with practical photo sessions in unique botanical settings at the peak of the flowering season. You will come away with both renewed enthusiasm and defined creative life direction.

Some of the key areas covered

• Explore, expand and take control of your creative life purpose
• Break through the road-blocks and win your inner creative battles
• Explore the world of photo-projects across all Australian content including flora, fauna, landscapes and urban environments and add purpose to your creative life
• Expand field artistic seeing and camera capture skills
• Discover the creative artist within through digital photo-art processes
• Explore online and physical sharing possibilities

WHAT TO BRING

• Bring all your camera kit for the hands-on sessions in the gardens.
• Computing equipment not required however bring one if you wish.

WHAT YOU WILL TAKE AWAY

• Renewed passion to develop and live an inspirational creative life.
• Six Session Modules as eBooks covering over 650 pages of reference information with videos, links – your’s to keep.
• Guidance in the purchase of the best equipment to service your creative life.
• Ongoing connection with like-minded creatives.

DAY ONE – SATURDAY

Session 1 Creative Life Purpose
This session explores how to identify your unique creative voice based on your passions. It gives you 25 strategies to overcome the fears and barriers to creativity that we all face, including: “I’m not good enough”, “I don’t have anything worth saying”, “I don’t have time”, and even “I don’t have a creative bone in my body”. It gives you the energy and confidence to make creativity a permanent, playful part of your life.

Session 2 Developing Meaningful Projects
Examines how to channel your passion into collections of images with meaning and value far beyond the sum of the individual images. Use your Creative Life Purpose to organise and prioritise your goals and your images to say things that only you can say. Makes your computer your creative hub with a clear purpose.

Session 4 Cameras and Capture
With over 50 years’ experience, Steve simplifies the steps to choosing and using cameras and lenses to serve your Creative Life Purpose. Discover the settings and techniques that Steve uses for every subject. Make your camera your creative voice to move people.

Session 3 The Art of Seeing Art
Includes a Photo-walk
Everyone can discover how to ‘see’ creatively – it’s part mind-set and part play. This session part in studio and part outdoors inspires your imagination and helps you to make images that express your own unique way of seeing and feeling. Discover new ways of seeing and composing dramatic, artful images.

DAY TWO – SUNDAY

Session 5 Practical Capture Techniques
A photo walk that focusses on making capture that are specific to fine art digital darkroom applications.

Session 6 The Digital Darkroom
Steve shows how editing photos can be creative and energising – not computer science. From choosing software and hardware to ways of creating and displaying artwork, discover how to add soul and emotion to your images.

Session 7 Connecting With Community
How do you get your creative voice heard? Steve draws on experience creating Australia’s largest Australiana publishing company to show you strategies to build connections online and in the real world. Whether you are sharing your voice for pleasure, for profit, or both, the act of making connections and sharing your work is fundamental to your growth. Steve helps you avoid the pitfalls of today’s connected World and gives you strategies that work.