St Sampson’s student wins 14-16 photography competition
CONVEYING a message rather than simply representing beauty has gained success for Aimee Le Prevost, who has been named winner in the 14-16 category of the Channel Island Student Photography Competition.
Guernsey Photography Festival artistic director Jean-Christophe Godet, who was one of the three judges, said many entries – and Aimee’s in particular – had embraced innovation.
‘The standard was very good,’ he said.
‘Contemporary photography is very much about concept and experimenting with new media, with new technology and with new ideas.
‘It’s not too much about how beautiful the photo is but more about what this photo brings me as a message.’
Aimee’s entries to the competition were selected from the coursework she produced during her recently-completed GCSE in photography at St Sampson’s High School.
During that time, she took inspiration from a century-old avant-garde tradition to represent the very modern topic of international anti-racism protests.
‘I did a mock exam for the coursework and the theme was movement, so I took up the theme of political movement.
‘With the Black Lives Matter protest coming to Guernsey, I just went and took photos there and I think that’s where I probably got my best stuff.’
Inspired by the work of the Dada movement in general, and especially by civil rights-era photographer Bob Adelman, Aimee then set about creating a montage of images to give a historical context to the event and thereby relate a sense of hope and change.
‘The idea behind it was to show what the achievements have been and how far we’ve come and how far we’ve still got to go,’ she said.
Aimee’s art and photography teacher, Richard Pitman, said she had developed a keen eye to see and reflect on the subjects she photographed.
‘Her picture-taking responded to a variety of themes, from the Black Lives Matter movement to Guernsey’s ingrained history of Occupation into the popular psyche, to taking inspiration from David Bailey for more relaxed and fun portraiture shots.’
Mr Pitman said he valued the role of such a competition because it allowed students to see their work exhibited alongside successful professionals’ and enforced a belief that the creative arts provided viable career opportunities.
Aimee has chosen photography among the A-levels she will be studying at the Sixth Form Centre later this year.
n Elizabeth College student Oscar Bailey was awarded second place in the competition for his black and white images of an eerily deserted St Peter Port.
The over-16 category was won by Chloe Best, a student at Hautlieu School in Jersey.
