Riley Erwin-Keirl

Photomedia

Riley Erwin-Keirl is a photographer and designer based in the outer north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Riley is studying a double degree in Design and Media Communication and will graduate in early 2024. Majoring in Photo-media and Digital Advertising Technology, Riley possesses a wide variety of skills and experience using cameras, lighting equipment, numerous Adobe programs, website builders and web analytics.

Riley’s design journey started with a love of sketching at a young age. This passion carried on throughout high school which drastically shaped his chosen degree and university. Riley’s love for photography developed once he took a foundational photography class which pulled him to choose Photo-media as his Design major. This major gave him experience in multiple sectors of photography, such as, portraiture, landscape, architectural and commercial.

Riley has a deep, life long passion for the outdoors, wildlife and experiencing nature as close as possible by four-wheel driving and camping in remote places around Australia. Therefore, for his Photo-media capstone project, Riley wanted to tackle wildlife and landscape photography in an attempt to capture what nature means to him. His dream is to be able to have a career within or around this passion for the natural world.

Kairos

Photo of the spectacular view from Reed Lookout, Grampians National Park. This was taken for my Kairos project for the Photomedia Capstone.

Yellow Rose Bourbon Billboard Advertisement

An advertisement I designed in a studio class. The lighting was difficult to get perfect to have all props correctly exposed. With the use of photoshop I combined multiple images with different lighting intensity so the image was correctly exposed.

Blue Wren

Photo of a Blue Wren I captured on my grandparents farm in Bendigo. Getting a nicely composed and sharp image was a challenge with how quick this little fella was.

Take Flight

Photo of a Cockatoo just taking flight at my local park. This was my first proper attempt at bird photography which was a fun and rewarding challenge. I used a 500mm lens which made it difficult to keep track of the birds as they flew and maintain focus but I managed to snap this.

Curious Cocky

Photo of a Cockatoo peering from it's home at my local park.

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.