Winners of Aberystwyth’s first photomarathon were announced on Sunday 23 October 2011.
The photomarathon took place on Saturday 22 October and saw dozens of excited individuals roaming the streets of Aberystwyth, armed with a camera or mobile phone, looking for a creative angle for their photography. Organised by FfotoAber, a new festival of photography for Aberystwyth, and supported by the Aberystwyth Business Club, the photomarathon tested the photographic skills of competitors in a race against time. The competition challenged participants to take six photographs on six themes in six hours.
The themes, two of which were released every two hours from 10am were:
- patterns;
- community;
- secret(s);
- move;
- age;
- freedom.
In a ceremony held at Morlan Centre on Sunday evening, the participants and their supporters learnt who took the winning photographs and were able to view the images deemed by the panel of judges to have excelled in each category.
Rolant Dafis, professional photographer and one of the judges of this year’s photomarathon said: “We were very impressed by the variety and standard of images entered and the way in which each entrant had interpreted the themes. We were all delighted to be able to award prizes to worthy entries and select a number of other images which we felt should be highly commended.”
Rhodri ap Dyfrig was announced as the overall winner for best collection; Rosie Wilson took the prize for the best collection for the category 16 years and under and Kim James won the best collection taken on a mobile phone.
The winners for the best photograph for each theme were: Tanwen Haf (patterns); Rosie Wilson (community); Hefin Jones (move); Simon Moore (secret(s)); Jamie Dearden (age) and Abigail Jane Lewis (freedom). These were all presented with a large print of their winning photograph, printed by Jessops in Aberystwyth.
Rhodri ap Dyfrig commented: “Winning the competitions was a real shock but it’s a fantastic feeling to receive independent judgment of my photographs and to see them framed as part of an exhibition. My daughter Lleucu and I had such fun on the day wandering, chatting and taking photos together.”
Winners of the collections were also given additional rewards for their efforts with Rhodri ap Dyfrig presented with a £50 voucher from Gwesty Cymru; Rosie Wilson presented with a £50 voucher for a book of her choice by communications agency 52°4° and Kim James received a voucher from Aberystwyth delicatessen, Ultracomida.
Catrin MS Davies from FfotoAber said: “We’re thrilled by the enthusiasm shown towards Aberystwyth’s first photomarathon and are delighted with how this event has brought everyone together to celebrate the art of photography by either taking photographs or by viewing the images presented as part of the photomarathon. The response was so positive and encouraging for next year”.
The winning images are exhibited at Y Morlan until 18 November, and will be projected onto a large screen on Aberystwyth’s promenade on Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 October. The photos will also be available to view on the FfotoAber website shortly at www.ffotoaber.com.
