‘Breaks my heart’: Shutters closing on top Adelaide studio
An almost three-decades-old Adelaide photographic institution is being forced to close its doors blaming South Road construction works and cost pressures. Its alumni includes major industry names.
Hendon-based photography education studio Centre for Creative Photography is set to close its doors after nearly three decades of operation.
Centre for Creative Photography founder and director Gavin Blake announced the news on social media, citing cost-of-living pressures and low student numbers had led to the decision to close.
“Without students, we really don’t have a school. Numbers are way, way down, and we’ve still got to pay staff, and still got to pay the rent,” Blake told InDaily.
“Everyone’s just really tightening their belts. It breaks my heart actually, but without students we don’t have a school.”
The closure will see nine contract lecturers lose their position, with Blake saying he can no longer afford to keep the staff employed.
The Centre for Creative Photography originally had its premises on Richmond Road, but the South Road redevelopment and a doubling of rent forced Blake to move to its current Hendon location.
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“The reconstruction of South Road was just going to kill us. It was very much on my mind that it was going to be five years of agony,” Blake said.
“The forced move two years ago really hasn’t worked out. We’ve gone online but numbers have just been dwindling.”
The Centre for Creative Photography first opened in May 1997 with six enrolled students in its inaugural course. At its peak, the Centre had 230 students around 10 years ago when camera sales were at their peak.
Throughout its 29-year run, the centre has offered nationally accredited courses, workshops, masterclasses and a Diploma of Photography and Digital Imaging.
Blake said many award-winning photographers had stepped through the doors to learn the photography craft.
“When the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers still ran awards, out of the 17 categories, 12 of them were taken out by our centre graduates,” Blake said.
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Former student and now ABC cameraman and photographer Che Chorley has won many photography awards for his work, including the 2024 Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance SA Visual Storyteller of the Year, and a 2017 Australian Graphic Design Awards prize for his photographic journal book Land Sea You Me.
Business photographer Mark Zed is another award-winning graduate, taking home the AIPP 2019 SA Professional Photographer of the Year and 2019 Commercial Photographer of the Year.
Blake said seeing former students graduate into the photography industry and the “many friends” he made were among his favourite memories.
“It was one of our graduates that photographed my wedding,” he said, adding that it was Mark Zed.
“It’s been an absolute dream of mine to educate people properly about all aspects of photography.”
At 67 years old, Blake said he was not ready to retire and would now “look for a proper job”.
“It’s very bittersweet to say goodbye. I really hope that the centre has made a difference to the photographic scene,” he said.
“I just want to thank everybody for their support over the years. We’re one of three private schools in Australia and I’m the founder and director flying by the seat of my parents.”
Blake has set a final operating date for June 27.
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