Royal Commonwealth Photographic Awards 2011

Exactly one month ago today - I was having a pretty shitty morning. Most of you can relate.


I came to work looking like a wreck and feeling like a wreck but little did I know what glorious news was waiting for me in my inbox. So I continued with the usual routine - made a latte, checked my work  inbox, chatted to my work colleagues about my shitty morning and then finally made it to my personal inbox.


BOOM!


There it was the pivotal moment when my shitty day took a turn for the best. An email from the Royal Commonwealth Society announcing that I was a Senior Bronze Winner for the 2011 Commonwealth Photographic Award.


WOW!


I entered this competition at the beginning of summer - the primary reason was simply to enter a competition. I have only been doing photography for one year and 2 months and I wanted to "push" myself to enter a photo of mine into something... anything.


And the second reason - was not only the well recognized Society but also the theme that the photograph needed to embody: "Women as agents of change". I like boundaries and outlines and in this case themes: it makes me more creative and ultimately challenges me.


So I entered the following image:

My main goal was to get an image to illustrate that Women are agents of change through generations. I did a little write up to go with my photograph and it can all be found and read on the society's Flickr account. You can also browse through the other winners - Amazing stuff :)

And to quote the congratulatory email: "We received hundreds of entries from young aspiring and professional photographers from every corner of the Commonwealth. Just 22 photos have been chosen for exhibition and 8 have been awarded these top prizes. The standard of entry is always extremely high and entrants competed with their peers from 46 countries. Congratulations!

As a special prize commissioned by the Western Australian Government, your photo will be exhibited at the Commonwealth Festival Perth. This will take place during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (23-30 October), attended by 54 leaders from across the world. Every two years all Commonwealth leaders come together, with Her Majesty the Queen, to discuss important global priorities. The 2011 CHOGM in Perth is a special event as it is here that the findings of the Eminent Persons Report into the future of the Commonwealth will be released."

There will also be an exhibition of the winning photographs during the Commonwealth Week in March 2012 in London, England.

BLIMEY!!

You can check out more about the Royal Commonwealth Society on their website. They also have a competition running at the moment: Jubilee Time Capsule - go check it out!

And on top of all this lovely stuff already - I just got an email yesterday saying 12 photographs (mine included) will be featured in the October Edition of Silvershotz - the International Journal of Contemporary Photography.

BOY OH BOY!!! 

Below you can see some other photographs I was able to snap that morning. The biggest challenge was photographing inside the house on a cloudy day with no external lighting (need to work on my flash photography skills) - I used a 50mm 1.8f and it worked :)

Drawing on Toilet Paper

Norma and I

So 1 photoshoot, 1 photograph and 1 award later - I have decided to take this photography thing a little more seriously. I am participating in the Barbados Photographic Society's events. In the last month I have done one workshop (macro photography) and one photowalk (a rundown sugar factory) and I am signed up for another photowalk this Saturday morning.


So look out for photographs!!