Student in final for her pollution picture
A HOT topic - plastic pollution - has proved a positive for a Hinckley photography student.
Emma Spencer, 23, has reached the final of the Sony World Photography Awards with a shot highlighting the impact on our oceans of man-made garbage.
Judges rated her work so highly she was shortlisted as one of just 10 individuals from around the world to compete in the final for the Student Focus Award.
Emma, 23, from Hinckley who is studying for a BA in Visual Media at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, impressed with her uneasy depiction of marine pollution.
She spent just half an hour on a beach in Wales but collected dozens of plastic bottles, pipes, bags and other discarded debris.
She then filled a bathtub with water and the rubbish along with a female model, adding a human element to the unease of such harmful detritus.
Having made it to the final shortlist, Emma wins a Sony digital camera and will be travel down to London for the final in April where she will could bag £30,000 worth of Sony photography equipment for her college.
As part of the final competition, Emma’s portfolio will be reviewed in detail by World Photography Organisation editorial staff and the Student Focus judges.
Describing her piece, entitled ‘Polluted’, Emma said: “For this piece, I decided to focus on the vast amount of rubbish we clutter our oceans with. The rubbish in this bath was collected from one half an hour walk along a beach in Wales. Putting this in our everyday water supply is disgusting yet we expect our seal life to live among it. This image is meant to evoke confusion and feelings of discomfort to make the viewer consider this major environmental issue.”
College principal and chief executive Marion Plant, said: “I am delighted that Emma has reached the final of this world class competition. The Student Focus Award is part of one of the world’s leading programmes for photography students.
“We strongly believe in encouraging our students to compete where they can in competitions at the highest level. Competitions provide excellent experience with the pressures and deadlines of a real-world working environment. Doing well in competitions helps students to gain confidence and an appreciation of their own abilities, and they also learn a great deal from their peers and industry experts.
“Emma has already done incredibly well to reach the final ten in the world as part of the Student Focus Award. We wish her the very best of luck for the final where I know she will be well supported by her tutors as she competes to bring home the highly valuable top prize for the college.”