Creations from her art and soul

By Jennifer Champan, first published in the Fraser Coast Chronicle, 2010

Jocelyn, your next-door neighbour, is an accomplished artist and photographer. Yet she is so modest that many people on the Fraser Coast would never have known.

That is, until friends persuaded her to share her talents with the wider community.

Photojournalist Jocelyn Watts received her first camera, a Box Brownie, when she was about 11 years old. Soon after, she won her first prize at a regional photography show.

Since then, she has rarely put a camera down.

“For me, photography is about capturing moments in time,” says the Maryborough resident of 18 years.

“That includes the ever-changing light in landscapes, fleeting moments in sport, family gatherings and social events; things that happen too quickly for an artist’s brush to capture.

“A camera lens can also block out distractions and focus on patterns, shapes and colours, as in macrophotography, revealing details the naked eye might otherwise miss.”

Jocelyn enjoys photographing travel experiences, sport, people, nature, landscapes and architecture.

She has always used Canon equipment and recently upgraded to a Canon EOS 5D Mark II with a 17–40mm EF wide-angle lens.

Jocelyn belongs to both the Hervey Bay Photography Club and the Australian Photographic Society.

“My goal is to keep improving and create the best images I can. If a travel company wanted to pay my expenses so I could travel, write and take photographs, I certainly wouldn’t argue,” she laughs.

“But realistically, I’d love to exhibit my work one day or publish a coffee table book or calendar. Winning a few more awards along the way would be a bonus.”

She has already collected an impressive list of honours.

In 2009, she won the Hervey Bay Photography Club’s Colour Print of the Year award.

In 2003, she dominated the Australian Photographic Society B9 Print Folio Awards, taking five first places in Open Print categories.

Between 1998 and 2009, she also won four first prizes at the Fraser Coast Show.

Earlier, in 1999, she claimed the Queensland Country Press Association’s Sport Photo of the Year title.

Her work has also attracted international recognition through the prestigious Black and White Spider Awards.

Jocelyn may have inherited her creative flair from her father, an internationally awarded photographer who first placed that treasured Box Brownie in her hands.

Beyond Photography: The Artist Next Door

Photography is only one side of Jocelyn’s creative life.

“I’ve always drawn, sketched or dabbled in some form of art or craft. Art wasn’t offered at the outback school I attended, but soon after leaving school I enrolled in an oil painting workshop at the town’s cultural centre, which my parents helped establish.

“During the 1980s, I designed motifs that I machine-appliquéd onto T-shirts, tops and cloth nappies.

“After moving to Maryborough in the early 1990s, I worked part-time and spent my spare hours painting again, this time experimenting with pastels and acrylics as well as oils.”

Jocelyn describes her artistic style as realism, although she hopes to move more towards impressionism.

“I’d probably make a great counterfeiter if I wanted to earn a few dollars on the black market,” she jokes. “Seriously, though, reproductions could become a speciality.”

At the time of publication, Jocelyn had not yet held a solo exhibition of either her artwork or photography, but she hoped that opportunity would not be far away.

Editor’s Note: Jocelyn held her first photography exhibition, Ex Post Facto Collection, at Gatakers Artspace in Maryborough, Queensland, in July 2019.