Photomarathon

Photomarathon winners announced

A budding photographer from Efail Isaf, Pontypridd, has been crowned the winner of Photomarathon UK 2011, with her photographs taking pride of place in the newly launched Photomarathon Exhibition.

Emma Shepherd, 35, beat 399 other entrants to secure the coveted first place of overall winner, by impressing judges with her interpretation and execution of the 12 topics that were set as part of the Photomarathon competition.

The topics that participants were challenged with photographing were Inside Out, Community, Superhero, Drama, The Great Outdoors, Double, My Secret, Element, Movement, Obstacle, and I Have a Dream.

Upon hearing the news that she had scooped first prize, Emma Shepherd said: “I feel completely overwhelmed that I’ve won! It’s hard to believe because the standard of entries was so incredibly high this year.

“Photomarathon was such a fun day, although it’s certainly a challenge! Coming up with a photograph that captures ‘Inside Out’ or ‘I Have a Dream’ is really hard, especially at 8pm when you’ve been rushing around Cardiff all day and your brain and feet are exhausted!  But the atmosphere carries you along!”

Now in its eighth year, Photomarathon is the competition where participants must take 12 images on 12 given topics over the course of 12 hours, with all 12 images must be taken in the correct sequence.  This year’s event was a sell out once again with 400 people taking part on 11 June.

Judges then had the painstaking task of choosing one overall winner and 12 topic winners from among the 4,800 photographs that were submitted.

Now members of the public can have the chance to see the results in a free two-week-long exhibition from 30 July – 20 August at Cardiff Story Museum in the Hayes, Cardiff. Every single image taken on the day will be displayed, along with the winners of the competition.

Mathew Talfan, Photomarathon director and judge, said: ‘‘It’s really interesting to see how many different interpretations there are of the same topic, which is what makes Photomarathon so fascinating! Trying to pick winners is always a very, very difficult task.  But the judges spent two days viewing the images, and we believe that the winners have each captured the spirit of the competition.

“Emma’s set of photos, in particular, stood out because they were immediately extremely striking.  She had interpreted the topics really well, adding touches of human interest in a subtle way.”

Emma Shepherd added: “This is the second year that I’ve taken part and I’d really encourage anybody who hasn’t tried Photomarathon yet to give it a go next year!  You get to meet lots of lovely people and it really gets your creativity flowing. It makes you think completely differently about how you take pictures.”

The fill list of winners is:

Portfolio Winners
First Prize: 437 – Emma Shepherd
Second Prize: 336 – Steven Fung
Third Prize: 319 – Sarah Barnes
Junior Prize: 201 – Steffan Edwards

Topic Winners
01 My Entry Number/Work of Art: 293 Olwen Moseley
02 Inside Out: 116 Mark Turner
03 Community: 381 Victoria Ahmed
04 Super Powers: 373 Paul Evans
05 Drama: 366 Emma Thomas
06 The Great Outdoors: 357 Martin Wilmore
07 Double: 170 Sam Cornwell
08 My Secret: 183  Jo Hillier
09 Element: 166  Mark Thomas
10 Movement: 170 Sam Cornwell
11 Obstacle: 417 Richard Lewis
12 I Have a Dream: 183 Jo Hiller

The Photomarathon Exhibition is open at the Cardiff Story Museum from 30 July – 20 August. Opening hours are 10am – 4.00pm (Monday – Saturday) and 11am – 4.00pm on Sunday.