Prize-winning picture: newborn baby slumbers unaware of mum’s cancer battle
The winners for the 2020 Societies Photographers’ Photo of the Year award also include a drone picture of the Norfolk coastline, a family portrait of a father and his son and a photograph of a London fox
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A photograph of a baby girl has won Rachel Burton top prize in the Newborn category of the 2020 Societies of Photographers’ photo of the year award.
Other winning shots, which were whittled down from nearly 10,000 images around the world, included a drone picture of the Norfolk coastline, a portrait of a father and his son and one of a London fox.
The image of baby Jasmine was judged to be particularly poignant, as it shows her sleeping and unaware of her mother’s fight with stage-four bowel cancer that was only diagnosed following her premature birth due to symptoms being masked by pregnancy.
Jasmine was the first newborn to be pictured in Ms Burton’s new studio.
“Amanda had had a hard pregnancy, suffered greatly with pain and different symptoms which culminated in her being admitted to hospital and the decision was made to deliver perfect baby Jasmine five weeks early as an emergency,” Ms Burton, from Fleet, Hampshire, said. “She was placed in special care for a little while as she was premature but this baby is a little fighter and proved it to the world.”
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“The final shot shows [Jasmine] blissfully unaware of everything that mum was going through, or even that fact she was a miracle,” she continued. “I am so grateful to be able to gift Amanda these images of her babies and hoped they would at least give her some comfort in the hard days when she is away from her baby, going through countless operations and rounds of chemo.”
Qasim Syed, a doctor, won the Wild Animals category with an image of a fox, which he took near his home in southwest London. Mr Syed took the photograph lying on his front, using his elbows to balance the camera, to “get an image from a very low perspective, that draws the viewer into the subject’s eyes”. he said.
He said the fox is “an individual I’ve gotten to know over some time.”
Sicilian photographer Giuseppe Correnti won the Wedding category with a photograph that captured the joy of a wedding.
The Catania-based father of three captured the bride just as she was tossed into the air during a wedding in Sicily, “at the time of the dances”, he said.
Terry Donnelly, from Liverpool, took home the prize in the Press and PR category with an image depicting the joy of Liverpool Football Club fans as they celebrated their first Premier League title in three decades.
“I was covering the story as it broke as other results in the league that day determined that Liverpool were mathematically uncatchable and had won the title,” he said.
“The picture was taken at Anfield Stadium as fans descended upon the ground to celebrate,” he added. “It was taken at the top end of the ground and the shadows were cast by red flares being lit.”
Stephanie Lachance, a professional photographer from Quebec, Canada, won the Family Portrait prize with an image of a father and his son. Ms Lachance had met the family at their newborn shoot.
She orchestrated the photograph, unplanned, at their last newborn session.
“I always thought the father had an interesting style and presence and was always mesmerised by his piercing eyes,” she said.
Ms Lachance continued: “When they came for their last newborn session I sat him with his son on a stool, put a piece of fabric around them and clicked the shutter. It wasn’t planned at all.
“I soon as I did, I saw that it would be a captivating portrait. I used natural light from the right side.”
A drone shot of the Norfolk coastline won Diana Buzoianu the top prize for the Landscape category.
The Romanian photographer, who has lived in southeast England for 20 years, had been travelling to the Norfolk coast often for the past two years “to observe, learn and document the life of grey seals”, she said.
Ms Buzoianu said: “This journey has unravelled beautiful local landscapes that I instantly have fallen in love with.
“I always find using the drone as completing the landscape shots with the added bird’s-eye view dimension.
“Often beautiful patterns, texture and colours emerge on the land and waters below.
“This shot is of the Norfolk coast, close to a nature reserve. At the bottom of the picture one can see cormorants and seagulls flying by.”
Manx Keith Burns won the Documentary picture prize with this dramatic shot of prison officers on fire as they do riot control training on the Isle of Man.
And pet groomer-turned-photographer Belinda Richards, from Australia, won the Pet Portrait prize with a picture of a cat peering through a hole.
She said the cat, named Finn, was “not a huge fan” when he first visited her, which inspired this photograph.
“He spent most of his time peering out at me from a hole in the backdrop that had been created by a very exuberant dog before him,” she said. “Finn was trying to hide so we rolled with it and created what has been one of my favourite and most successful images to date.”
Scottish photographer Liam McBride won the Events category with a picture of a jet at an air show.
Mr McBride, from Elgin, was visiting RAF Leuchars when he got the shot of a Belgian F-16A Fighting Falcon.
He said: “After a stormy start to Leuchars the weather slowly improved over the day. It was shot on base from the middle marker on the runway.”
For the Macro Category, a fearsome close-up of a jumping spider in Oman won Khaled Faraj Al-Wadihi the top prize.
Finally, Mount Teide on Tenerife was the setting for the winner of the Environmental category.
A freelance photography engineer, Kent Olsson from Sweden, was in the right place at the right time when he took this picture.
He said: “I was at the foot of Teide with my eyes on the sea and Santa Cruz when the thundercloud mixed with the air pollution suddenly pulled in below me.
“Since the height was about 2,000m, the clouds came below me and it is the sun that dramatically breaks through from below.
“The sun has set and illuminates the thunderclouds from below.”
The Societies of Photographers’ director, Colin Jones, said the competition had 9,804 images submitted before the winners were chosen,
He said: “2020 was an interesting year for us all, but here at The Societies of Photographers we continued to work tirelessly behind the scenes to support our members through a very difficult year.
“We’d like to thank everyone that supported us, it’s really appreciated.”
Additional reporting by SWNS
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