Classics Department Photography Competition : Rome 2007

Following on from the highly successful photography competition held during our FI & II trip to Hadrian’s Wall in October, we offered three prizes for the best shots taken during the recent Easter trip to Rome. Mr. Vanstone kindly agreed to act as judge, which proved a hard task. The winning entries are displayed here, together with an appraisal of each photograph.

Click on pictures for larger images.

1st Place Carol Roberts (FIII)		2nd Place Elizabeth Allan (FVI)		3rd Place Carol Roberts (FIII)
This photograph of a tomb near the entrance to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome is captured with dramatic clarity and focus. It is an unforgettable image, and a worthy winner.		Several photographers chose the Colosseum as their subject matter, but this shot stood out as being by far the most dramatic. There is a real feel for colour and lighting in this photograph. Above all, it captures the building’s faded grandeur - and through it, Rome’s.		It takes a real photographer to see the possibilities in this material. Tellingly, there were no other entries like it. This is a mature photograph. Its tone and texture are appropriately muted, given the symbolic significance of ruined columns laid out like corpses. This is a real photograph, which does not rely on intrinsically interesting or dramatic subject matter, but creates it.