The winners of the EEF Photography awards, designed to portray a more modern image of manufacturing, have been announced from a total 883 entries.
It was smiles all round at the House of Commons Terrace today, as the winners of the EEF Photography Competition 2012 were revealed.
Mike Smith won the Professional category from 197 entries with a striking, artificially-lit image of a marine bearing made by Rolls-Royce Michell Bearings. Ray Troll’s stunning image of an unmanned aerial vehicle on the runway at BAE Systems Warton was the runner-up.
“I used different flash-heads, and colour gels, at different angles to capture the sections of the bearing structure,” said Newcastle-based pro Mr Smith. “I varied the angles lot and – thankfully – illuminated the operator in one shot, for the client, and left him silhouetted in another, for me. The silhouette won it!”
In the Amateur category, Jean Illingworth’s entry shot at sunset from the Boothbury Bridge of the Drax power station and featuring wind turbines was highly commended. Ms Illingworth said she submitted a ream of photos taken that day at a nearby factory, none of which were shortlisted, but snatched the honey-kissed image of the “clean and not so clean energy sources” by chance on her way home.
Runner-up in this category, which received 580 entries, was Steve Watts’ picture of the Infinity Bridge in Stockton-on-Tees. “I’m overwhelmed and didn’t expect this,” said Steve who said the timing of the image was crucial as the sun was just starting to drop. “You may have noticed, I deleted the sun,” said Mr Watts, of his post-production skills. The bridge was built by Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering and steel fabricator Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company.
Claiming top honours in the very competitive Amateur category was Robert Watkins with
a photo of a “wizard’s hat” conical filter. “I wanted to capture the complexity of this type of casting with lighting set to catch the perforated steel. I submitted others, but this was the one that did it and I can’t believe I’m here.” The component was manufactured at Croft Engineering in Warrington.
Introducing the Young Photographer category for 16 to 19-year olds, David Clark, executive secretary of sponsor The ERA Foundation, said he looked forward to tomorrow’s Autumn Statement where he expected “government to provide more incentives to bring manufacturing back into a more prominent role in the economy.”
The winner of the Young category, which attracted 106 entries, was Tamika Morris with a colourised photo of the Olympic torch taken in the Olympic park, framed with a fellow snapper photographing the torch from the opposite side.
“I really wasn’t expecting to win this. I went to the Olympic relay and I was trying to get a close-up of the torch for my photography coursework. I just caught the image, and decided to make the torch a higher contrast so it really stood out against the background.”
Highly Commended in the category was James Speakman’s photo of scalding hot Rosy Apple sweet mixture at Uncle Joe’s sweet factory.
“This is a 100-year old industry,” said James. “I wanted to get the labour component of pouring this hot sweet mixture into a giant table – and I think it looks really good.”
Runner-up was Shane Butler’s black and white photo of casting moulds shot at automotive parts maker Chamberlin and Hill in Walsall. The award was collected on Shane’s behalf by Richard Halstead, EEF Director for the West Midlands.
Business minister Michael Fallon who introduced the awards, acknowledged that the high number of entries and the standard of photography showed that manufacturing’s image was on the rise.
“The competition powerfully demonstrates the range of manufacturing across the whole of the UK, and thusly, the range of job opportunities available to our young people,” he said. “It’s [the competition] a way in which manufacturers can directly communicate the breadth and diversity of manufacturing to a much wider audience.”
Jocelyn Bailey at Policy Connect commented “We’ve been really impressed with the standard of the entries and range of different industries that are represented. It paints a very good picture of the strength and diversity of UK mfg, and we want to do whatever we can to promote this collection of images further especially, regarding how the media portray manufacturing.
David Clark, executive secretary of The ERA Foundation: “The reason we support these awards is because manufacturing is so important to the future prosperity of the UK. We’re particularly proud to be presenting the award for the Young Photographer because we believe for the future of manf it is important to attract young people into the industry.”
Kathy Riley, marketing director of EEF, commended the judges and the hard work of her team behind the scenes in making the event, in its third year, a success. She singled out marketing executive Stuart Biddle for special mention.
EEF hopes the competition, which is open to all sub-sectors, will attract more than 1,000 entries in 2013.
The full list of shortlisted entries in each category were:
Amateur photographer category: Adrian Beasley – Andy Clegg – Bianca Wallis-Salmon – David Baker – David Hoyle – David Weightman – Emma Weaver – Geoff Mullins – Geoffrey Butler – Helen Longdon – Jean Illingworth – Juliette Packham – Mark Tomlinson – Matt Steward – Paul Dooley – Paul Mason – Paul Whitehurst – Philip Hart – Piotr Krzysiek – Robert Lloyd – Robert Watkins – Rory Trappe – Steve Watts – Tom Walke
Professional photographer category: Abhimanyu Bose – Annette Ward – Brian Hennessy – George Macdonald – Jane Widdowson – JJ Churchill Ltd – John Angerson – Jon Parker Lee – Karen Turner – Katy Haylor – Keith Gooderham – Lee Dobson – Martin Avery – Martin Chainey – Mike Smith – Paul Crowther – Ray Troll – Richard Pardon – Simon Mackney
Young photographer category: Adam Cox – Alex Pollard – Anna Schlautmann – Gareth Humphreys – Holly Barraclough – Isobel Taylor – James Speakman – Jessie Leong – Matthew Prescott – Shane Butler – Tamika Morris
The winners
