And the Winner is...
We are delighted to announce the winners of our GCSE/A-level Photography competition, which we ran to coincide with the Victorians Decoded exhibition. We were very impressed with the standard and variety of work we received and are sure you will agree that the winners have produced striking and thought-provoking images. We hope you enjoy them!
All our winners receive a goody bag (with thanks to Courtauld Institute of Art, King's College London English Department, Prof. Mark Miodownik and UCL's Institute of Making, and the Museum of London). The overall winner also has the option of a behind the scenes tour of the Guildhall Art Gallery.
Winners retain full ownership of their images and the photographs should not be used or reproduced without permission.
Overall Winner:
Untitled
Amalia Thorogood
Kingsdale Foundation School
Amalia is studying GCSE Photography. She entered this photograph in the Distance category and says:
"My work focuses on claustrophobia, as a portrayal of how someone might feel whilst claustrophobic, linking to the issues around mental health, in particular anxiety, which is not recognised enough today. I wanted to present how digital media can create anxiety and make you feel claustrophobic, even in an open space because it feels impossible to get away from your phone or online applications. To create my work I firstly shot some portraits and street scenes using long exposures,
I then created double exposures with these on Photoshop, which I printed and used a scanner to distort. I then printed these as negatives onto acetate and developed them as darkroom prints, which I finally blue-toned. I like the idea of using new and old technologies as it links to the ideas."
Distance category winner:
To be honest
Natalia Trybala
Edmonton County School
Natalia is studying GCSE Photography and her explanation of her work is:
"The word 'distance' usually describes the amount of space between two points. In my work, I used one Mask - but with two contrasting sides, to suggest that nowadays, people should be close, spend time together or just simply talk, whereas there is a massive gap between them. I'm sure that even you came today to your school or work and didn’t say the basic phase "hello, how are you?" to people around you. It's disappointing, how the world has created a huge distance between some of us and
how we put masks on our faces to pretend to be someone different."
Resistance category winner:
Magical Safeguard
Nisam Limbu
Waldegrave sixth form
A-level Photography student Nisam says of 'Magical Safeguard':
"Definition of resistance is the refusal to accept or comply with something. This image shows resistance because the man is in his own world ignoring the rubbish that surrounds him. He is resistant to normal social conventions. The giant, vibrant,
alarming looking graffiti seems like it is protecting him with the crossed arms. The graffiti itself could also represent resistance of conformity."
Transmission category winner:
Untitled
Joshua Redman
Kingsdale Foundation School
Joshua studies GCSE Photography and says of this image:
"The work looks at how people can never escape their mobile phones. I wanted to express the feeling of being surrounded by apps and social media but also of not being able to resist reaching out to check your phone and emails. These images were manipulated on Photoshop then printed in the darkroom using different methods of spraying and painting on the developer to help create a sense of chaos and what it’s like to be busy all of the time."
Highly commended entries:
Distance
Lost at Sea
Matilda Doyle
Distance
Untitled
Rosa O'Neil
Transmission
Oneness
Baraishna Khan
