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THE kingdom’s celebrated diversity has been captured perfectly by children putting their photographic prowess to the test and showing ‘faith through a lens’.
Helen Boyle, a teacher of Religious Studies and History at St Christopher’s School, came up with an inspired suggestion to all students from Year 7 -13 to capture faith in all its wonderful variety and ways, using photography as a medium.
“The response was amazing and really inspiring,” she said. ‘Faith through a Lens’ brings together photography and religion in everyday life. The students’ creative reaction was truly wonderful.
“Faith, religion and spirituality is all around us and interpreted by us all in so many interesting and diverse ways. All the competition entries really reflected this and our international diversity.”
More than 75 students registered their interest and 43 students, from all year groups, submitted entries.
The children were asked to submit up to two photographs, had to state where each photograph was taken and produce a title that reflected their interpretation of faith through a lens.
They used a variety of cameras, including smartphones, to snap their pictures of faith not only in Bahrain but around the rest of the world during their visits back to their home countries or when travelling on holiday over a two-month period.
The judges were James Harper, head of media and English teacher, publications officer and photographer Bronwen Kruger and professional photographer Tasneem AlSharqi, who is also a support technician at the school.
They described compiling a shortlist deciding on the winning entries as a ‘tremendously tough job’.
After deliberating over the entries that were shortlisted, an outright winner was selected as well as second and third place and six highly-commended photographs.
The judges looked for how well the photographs had interpreted the competition title and the overall composition of the picture. Consideration was also given to the use of light and arrangement.
Filipino Christy ILagan, 14, who lives in Muharraq, captured her winning image on a trip back to the Philippines featuring her six-year-old cousin by a shrine, entitled: ‘From the little things’. “I was so shocked to win - it was such a simple photograph,” she said.
The photograph captured a moment of innocence and faith. “My cousin still has yet to understand the concept of religion but she believes in the concept of God,” Christy explained.
Judge Tasneem said: “This is a beautiful image so warm and tells its own story. There is very strong lighting contrast between the deep colour inside the church and the light coming from the window.”
The prize-winning talented young snappers received shop vouchers and certificates and were presented with their prizes at a school assembly.
Plans are already in place to stage a second Faith through a Lens competition this summer.
