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Happy-snapping pupils, parents and teachers captured the natural world around them for a school photographic challenge.
Organised as part of St Christopher’s School’s recent Environment Day activities the competition was open for nursery to Year 6 students, aged between three to 11 years, their mums and dads and members of staff.
It was the brainchild of teacher Viv Milne, Infant Subject Leader Humanities. “The images captured were amazing,” she said. “The entrants really embraced the theme of the competition which was to celebrate the natural world.
“Even photographs taken on the simplest digital cameras can look fantastic if they are well composed and the subject matter is interesting.
“I think the pupils gained a lot from the competition. It provided an opportunity for children and their parents to talk about the natural world and why it is important that we take care of it.”
On the judging panel I was joined by professional photographer Andrew Weaver and Elyse Rowland, Head of Art at the Junior School – who were called in to vote on the images put up on display at the Saar campus entrance.
All children in the school had the chance to choose their favourite photos too from the competition for the Children’s Choice Awards and learn about the democratic process.
Mrs Milne added: “There was a real buzz of excitement as they completed their voting slips. I hope that the competition helps children to look closely at the natural world around them and to value it.”
Ashraf’s Seef Mall, the electronics and photographic equipment store, sponsored the contest and provided prizes of Nikon L23 digital cameras to the six winners, as well as giving vouchers to every child to obtain a discount when printing their own photographs on a Kodak print machine.
Mr Weaver said: “The photo competition showed me just how much young people are now getting into photography, and how well they take photos even at such a young age. I found their composition particularly good, and I also liked the diversity of the images.
“The whole collection was full of life and colour. A few images stood out particularly the one of the camels, and I personally loved one of a pigeon taken through the window ... it suggested spontaneity and originality. It was a great display of imagery and there are some budding pros there for sure.”
The runners-up received copies of his book Between 2 Seas - a pictorial celebration of modern Bahrain.
The competition attracted more than 200 entries and in some cases each member of a family entered a photograph.
