Winners announced for 2024 Photography Competition

The Photography Leaders convened last week to judge the 44 submissions received for the Visual Art Department's annual photography competition. We were pleased to see a distribution of submissions across all five year levels, demonstrating both high student engagement with the visual arts and some impressive up-and-coming talent. 

The Visual Arts Department typically organises several competitions every year. Last term, the department ran a highly successful Character Design Competition, where students were asked to craft a character from scratch. These competitions are not only a chance to recognise and reward some of the best artists in our school, but an opportunity for us to identity new talent, particularly among those who might not be taking a visual arts subject this year. 

This year's photography competition has been valuable in doing just that. Many of this year's finalists are not enrolled in a photography course but have nonetheless demonstrated immense enthusiasm and remarkable technical and conceptual understanding. 

For instance, this year's senior category winner, Rose Leader (Year-13), is in her first year of taking Photography as a subject. In addition, second-place winner Hyuk Jang previously took Photography, but has opted to pursue other subjects in his final year. 

The photographs were judged based on aesthetic appeal, demonstration of technical skill, and the level to which they conveyed the theme of "In Motion". Participants were also asked to submit a short paragraph explaining the story behind their photograph and the process by which their work was created. 

This year's winners are: 

1st Senior: "Anguish", Rose Leader (Y13)
2nd Senior: "Splash of Silence", Hyuk Jang (Y13)
3rd Senior: "Mary's Cross", Eva Woods (Y12)

1st Junior: "Racing Through Childhood", Rudy Keane (Y9)
2nd Junior: "Retro Revival", Jacob Aldiss (Y9)
3rd Junior: "Glow", Isabelle Chan (Y9)

The winners were awarded a range of prizes. Rose Leader and Rudy Keane were awarded a $50 Westfield voucher and an Ilford disposable film camera, respectively. You can see a full list of prizes here. 

The winning photographs are on display in the visual arts gallery next to E4. You can see a preview on the image carousel below. 

Rose Leader was awarded first place in the senior category for her intimate and evocative photograph, "Anguish" (header image). The judges were impressed by her composition and controlled use of slow-shutter to illustrate the physical transcendence of grief--a pain which knows no bounds. The artist's manipulation of lighting and digital editing techniques demonstrates both technical skill and personal connection. Rose said of her artwork, "I wanted to focus on the detachment and the dissolution of identity that comes with grief. I used a slow shutter and increased contrast as well as darkening and adding more texture to the image. This is meant to show the agony and anguish of the ghostly figure--he is not a man anymore, but a fractured shadow of a person in pain." 

Rudy Keane was awarded first place in the junior category for his photograph "Racing Through Childhood". The judges were impressed with his use of panning--an advanced technique that requires the photographer to track a subject as they move through the frame, keeping the moving subject in focus while blurring the background. The precise execution of technique shown (above) is remarkable for a junior student. Rudy wrote, "This is a picture of my brother running down a hill at Owairaka...This photo captures the uninhibited exploration of a carefree childhood."

Photography TiC Teina Smith said, "I was impressed by the depth of conceptual thinking...For instance, with [Jacob Aldiss] he had really thought about colour and technique and how it affects the message. The tie between skill and concept was very strong and interesting among our winners."

Congratulations to the winners. Their work, along with a dozen finalists', are displayed in the visual arts gallery next to E4. We encourage you to view the photographs in the format the artists intended for them to be seen.