CREATIVE 2020: TOP 20

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WINNER, CREATIVE CATEGORY, PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2020
BEC LOWE, 'UNCONFINED'

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Mother of three from Brisbane Bec Lowe says she usually has her camera close at hand with photography being her primary creative outlet. Her Creative category winning self-portrait is the result ofcombining flash with a slow shutter speed.

“Flash helps to define me, then with the slower shutter speed I move slightly to create the softer edges and generate movement,” she explains. “Sometimes when I create an image, I have a clear vision of what I want to accomplish. It can be thoughtful, slowly cultivated, with props, planning and patience. Other times I follow my mood. It’s a blur of emotions and thoughts, which is what I did with this image.

“In part of the image, I am clearly defined and surrounded by softness – I am strong yet incredibly fragile. It represents life (much like creativity) - it has no limitations except the ones we place on it, we can strive to hold onto it, but it comes best when we simply let go."

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Lisa Michele Burns: The movement in this portrait stood out immediately and caught my attention. It suggests emotion and perhaps turmoil but is also very beautiful and calming, like being caught up in a dream. The eye area paired with the gently curved lines created by hand motions is executed so well. Beautifully captured by the photographer!

Helen Whittle: Self-portraiture at its best. This beautiful, painterly image, with muted tones, really captured my attention. Using movement to create blur this image feels ethereal and graceful. A creative masterpiece.
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RUNNER UP, CREATIVE CATEGORY, PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2020
RUTH WOODROW, 'MELBOURNE IN ISOLATION'

Ruth Woodrow’s collage Melbourne in Isolation may initially look simple, but then you start looking at the details. The product of more than four months of pounding the pavement and more than 250 images, her image impressed our judges with its deliberate use of colour and clever and quirky repetition.

“Each image represents a happy memory of time spent walking my neighbourhood with my husband, Paul, over a period of three months, from March to June 2020,” Woodrow explains.

“When I found out that I would be working from home, I decided that I was going to go for a walk every day for both my mental and physical wellbeing. During my walks I started noticing the various signs and markings on the ground. The lack of people and traffic was making me see many things as if for the first time. Photographing my feet with these signs and markings seemed to be a way that I could capture my experience of lockdown and isolation. Before long, I noticed that I had hundreds of these images, and it seemed like a good idea to combine them into a sort of collage.

“I thought I could arrange the images from red through to violet, but what I discovered was that I didn’t have enough magentas and violets, but I had heaps of grey, so my collage ended up fading from the rainbow through to grey. In the end, it talks to me of the gloss and excitement of early lockdown fading into what we now think of as the new normal.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Anthony McKee: In a year when Melbournians spent at least three months bound to a 5-kilometre radius from home, with just one hour a day allowed for outdoor exercise, Ruth Woodrow has proven that you can still turn these limitations into visual adventure.
Ruth’s collage, “Melbourne in Isolation”, is a union of 256 unique photographs that together create a very clever and visually exciting work. The common theme within each image is blue running shoes, and yet the colours, textures, and signage (and even the odd cat) take us on a wonderful journey that will be very familiar to most Melbourne city dwellers. As an artwork I believe most people could easily live with this work for a long time, and that is what I consider to be one of the best measures of any artwork. Well done, Ruth.

Mark Galer: There is a little bit of ‘the collector’ living in many photographers. This series is a shining example, that things of interest, can be right at our feet and that there is strength in numbers. The meticulous eye for detail and structure, both during capture and in the final layout, only add to the glorious final outcome.
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