Edinburgh College student crowned Calumet Student Photographer of the Year
An Edinburgh College student has won the UK-wide Student Photographer of the Year award from photographic equipment company Calumet. Oliver Henderson, who is studying for a HND Professional Photography at the college, beat more than 1,000 students from across the UK to the top spot and a prize of £11,000-worth of photography equipment. Oliver is the first winner of the new competition.
Oliver’s photo is of a woman in a red dress under a spotlight on a rooftop, set against an industrial background. The judges praised the imagination, passion, meaning and flair behind the photo.
Competition judge and managing director of Calumet Photographic UK, Jon Warner, said: “It was extremely difficult to pick a winner as the quality of entries was so very high, but we felt that Oliver’s image (below) not only employed a high degree of technical merit, it is also an image of great impact, creativity and style. The use of light, composition and storytelling really set it apart from some very worthy runners-up.”
Oliver said: “I feel very proud and thankful to the people who have helped me to achieve this, like the tutors at Edinburgh College who constantly push me to realise my potential – although I feel I still have far to go. My inspiration for the image was something my brother once said: “fashion is pure fantasy”, which made me think of science fiction. I loved the idea of aliens spotting this beautiful girl and wanting to try and get close to her in the only way aliens can – it’s kind of weird thought process but there you go! I would again like to thank Calumet Photographic for having faith in me too.”
Jon presented Oliver with his award at the Canon Student Conference at The Photography Show at Birmingham NEC. Canon’s product intelligence professional, David Parry, also judged the competition, alongside professional photographers Rory Lewis and Tom Barnes.
Calumet launched this new competition in January and, over the two-month entry time, saw an exceptional response. Students were given free choice of topic and style, so the competition was open to landscape, portrait, lifestyle and abstract photographers.
The award is in partnership with a host of major photographic brands, including Canon, Manfrotto, B + W, Lastolite, Veho, Rotolight, Bowens, ColorMunki, DxO Software and Eizo.
The winning photo and all of the runners-up can be viewed at www.calphoto.co.uk/studentawards
Edinburgh College offers a range of photography courses, from introductory courses to BA level. Applications are currently invited for these courses and more than 900 other courses across the curriculum offered by Edinburgh College and starting in August on its four campuses.
Visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk for more information.
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