butterfly

From Hipstamatic to Kodachrome

Faroese Whale Hunt, Adam Woolfitt

Two exhibitions are drawing to a close next week, which, if you happen to be in London and have a bit of time to spare, it’s worth dropping in to take a look. Given what they’re displaying, they also make an interesting compare and contrast exercise.

You might want to start with Hipstamatics at the Orange Dot Gallery in Bloomsbury. Six inch by six inch pictures taken on a mobile phone, where blue takes on a green hue, greens look yellow, and yellows turn orange. Even if you took the picture yesterday, it can look as if you pulled it out of a shoebox of prints you found in your attic.

Cara Gallardo Weil

Then head down to Shoreditch, to the Association of Photographers Gallery, where there’s an exhibition celebrating the colour-perfection produced by the now-discontinued Kodachrome film; from seas dyed red with blood to desolate railway tracks extending across the plains. There’s a selection of images from AoP members, as well as the public, and you can even walk away with one of Adam Woolfitt’s slides. (Mine’s of a butterfly.)

Ian Dawson

Some people might say it’s unfair to mention them in the same breath. Think of it this way, though: It’s a quick reminder of the diversity of photography, from how pictures are taken, to who takes them, to how they’ll look, maybe even to why we take them. Enjoy what you can do with a camera.

Hipstamatics is showing at the Orange Dot Gallery, 54 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9RG until Friday 11 February.
A Celebration of Kodachrome is showing at the Association of Photographers, 81 Leonard street, London, EC2A 4QS until Thursday 10 February.

(Featured image: Faroese whale hunt by Adam Woolfitt.)

A child's eye view of the world

Trapped, by Heather Elisabeth Bailey

Ask kids to take photos and you’ll get amazing results. That was the premise that Photobox and Childline worked on when they launched their Young Photographer of the Year award, and that was exactly what they got. The competition was pretty simple: entrants had to be under 18 and their photos had to show their view of the world. The results? Not so simple: the standard was so high that four prizes had to be increased to five. Take a look for yourself.

Winner of the Under 8s category was six year old Amelia Spain. She snapped My Sister’s Red Boots when she was lying in a pile of leaves, trying to photograph a mouse with her Mum’s camera!

My Sister's Red Boots, by Amelia Spain

The competition for the 9-12 category was so strong that the prize had to be split between 10 year old Daniel Adams and 11 year old Chris Pritchard. Daniel’s Butterfly was photographed in Muscat, Oman, whilst Chris took his shot of the Lemur Tree in Fuengirola Zoo.

Butterfly, by Daniel Adams

Lemur Tree, by Chris Pritchard

Heather Elisabeth Bailey’s superb Trapped came out of her going through a tough time, but wanting to make something positive and creative out of it. Can you believe she’s only 14?

Trapped, by Heather Elisabeth Bailey

Finally, Elisha Hook took the prize in the 16-18 year old category, with her surrealist-inspired photo, Shadow.

Shadow, by Elisha Hook

All five of them have won an overnight stay at one of the UK’s favourite tourist attractions, as well as a digital camera, and a stash of Photobox goodies!

To take a look at all of the entrants, head over to the competition website.