For the past 8 years the London Image Festival has run an open photo competition for both photography and cinematography. The LIF celebrates the power of images as a force for change and of artistic expression.
The line up of finalists is as diverse as ever. The photographers are all searching to either express and convey a feeling, or make us witness to their world. As Kseniia from the Ukraine says, ” Creating photographs is the only source of inspiration and peace for me.” And as the Swedish photographer Isabelle Larsson put it, “I find myself wanting to capture the less seen, the forgotten…others might think it as common…but I can see it as interesting and beautiful.”
Jacha Potgieter’s Two Pelicans in Flight, is a stand out entrant in the nature category, as it forces the eye to check and check again, to work out the shot as two identical birds are perfectly reflected back in the water beneath them and somehow merge. There is equal beauty and a playfulness to the shot that instantly engages the viewer.
There is also a strong selection of street photography but often there is an absence of others in the shots and often reflects the solitude in the city life we live.
The importance of photo competitions like the London Image Festival is that is forces us to view photos as an artistic form and an important form of expression.
Article S.Coates