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Source Photographic Review - Go to Home Page
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Graduate Photography Online 2015 - Go to Main Index
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To accompany this year's submissions Source has asked a number of respected figures from
the world of photography to select their favourite sets of images from all the work submitted.

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Special Guest Selector - Lu Bowan

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Special Guest Selection by:

Lu Bowan

Photography Consultant & Head of Talent @ Making Pictures

Overview: It has been a pleasure to take some time to review the graduates work, and an exceptionally hard task to select just 6. There were some, which really stood out and left me with an excitement and intrigue for their future development and evolution. There were clear themes and trends with approach and practice: Time and memory, presence and absence alongside the idea of self-exploration and self-portraiture. I was stirred by the discovery of fresh and distinctive perspectives on the documentary and reportage genre. All submissions demonstrated a passion to explore their own visual language in different ways. I was reminded of what a pivotal moment graduating is for any photographer, and equally how important it is to keep on developing your ideas and pushing visual boundaries and narratives. Moving beyond influence. I spent some time looking at websites for some of the submissions and delving a little deeper, the idea behind Making Pictures Award was reinforced as there still seems to be a huge gap that needs to be bridged between graduating and guiding students in how to present themselves in a way that allows them to be commissioned both creatively and commercially - whilst remaining distinctive. In the future it would be fantastic to see courses factor more emphasis on what happens next in the final year alongside the actual creation of work. Well done to everyone and here are my 6.

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Courses:

Sebastian Bruno

University of South Wales, Newport - BA (Hons) Documentary Photography

Sebastian BrunoSebastian BrunoSebastian BrunoSebastian BrunoSebastian BrunoSebastian BrunoSebastian BrunoSebastian Bruno

Selector's Comment: An engaging and curious series, one that I kept returning to, each time observing a little more detail. This personal photographic journey through the region of Castilla La Mancha captures moments and cultural obscurities with striking and distinctive compositions imbued with subtle humour. At times leaving you unsettled with a sense of intrigue and a narrative beyond this captured moment. Throughout there is a sense of moving in and out of the modern day and the past, which is reflected in the artist's aesthetic in these at times surreal, but poetic images.

Melissa Arras

Middlesex University - BA (Hons) Photography

Melissa ArrasMelissa ArrasMelissa ArrasMelissa ArrasMelissa ArrasMelissa ArrasMelissa ArrasMelissa Arras

Selector's Comment: This abstract documentation of intimate moments shared with refugees in Calais as they are in a state of limbo holds a sensitivity and less obvious representation of a poignant subject matter. The artist's choice to give her subjects anonymity and explore the more mundane carefully juxtaposed with still life allows a slowed down story telling, which unfolds through that which can't be seen. These faceless moments allow the viewer to form a deeper sense of each individual's experience and identity, in some way allowing us to connect through a more imagined empathy rather than the literal interpretation or response that often comes with the documentary and reportage genre.

Emma Bäcklund

London College of Communication - BA (Hons) Photography

Emma BäcklundEmma BäcklundEmma BäcklundEmma BäcklundEmma BäcklundEmma BäcklundEmma BäcklundEmma Bäcklund

Selector's Comment: Limbless bodies evoke a sense of beauty and destruction. Emma has created an unnerving stone-like serenity in these portraits, which paired with the sculptural representations which separate the body from it's natural form, fragment our sense of the familiar creating a space, a void which separates us from the experience of corporeal form and issues of the boundary of our own bodies arise. By cropping off the head the artist presents these depersonalised images of the body as an intriguing object.

Vera Ryklova

IADT Dun Laoghaire - BA (Hons) Photography

Vera RyklovaVera RyklovaVera RyklovaVera RyklovaVera RyklovaVera RyklovaVera RyklovaVera Ryklova

Selector's Comment: I found myself fascinated by Vera's imagery, there is a displaced strangeness tangled with a theatre of performance and desire. At times the role-playing aspects shift between gender, leaving a sense of confusion or loss of identity and the sense of self. Vera's (confrontational) gaze is maintained throughout, unsettling and demanding our attention. You can't help but consider the artist's Eastern European origins - bringing up themes of Western sexualisation of Eastern European women along side the effect of colonialism on individual identity.

Aimee Mumford

Falmouth University - BA (Hons) Photography

Aimee MumfordAimee MumfordAimee Mumford

Selector's Comment: I was struck by the rawness in Aimee's work, and whilst this type of photo-therapy is no newcomer to the visual arts (I was reminded of Jo Spence) - embracing the camera's ability to capture our self-image and using it to heal holds a uniqueness to subject alongside an intense and intimate window into the world and experience of the individual in question. Sparked by a series of major operations, Aimee responds to her illness and treatment through photography. Her work exemplifies her vulnerability, her powerlessness as a patient and there is a sense of her regaining ownership of her body by documenting herself. The resulting images are confronting, intimate and uncomfortable - but open.

Keziah Porter

Manchester School of Art - BA (Hons) Photography

Keziah PorterKeziah PorterKeziah PorterKeziah PorterKeziah PorterKeziah PorterKeziah Porter

Selector's Comment: This playful exploration of male vulnerability experiments with form and metaphor whilst being reminiscent of surrealist representation and explorations of masculinity and the idea of the 'convulsive beauty'. What I liked about this series was the focus on the male - there is an imagined fragility of the male body through a series of staged performances and oddities that leave a discomfort.

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About the Selector: Spacer Other Selections:

Lu is the Head of Talent at Making Pictures, a leading photographic agency in London. She is also founder of Bowan Creative acting as an independent photography editor and consultant. She joined the Making Pictures family in 2012 - recent projects include launching the MP Award and collaborating with Southbank Centre and Hannah Starkey to create 'Acts of Looking' digital projection and online platform, which champions and explores female image-makers of our time. She works closely with photographers to develop their commercial and artistic careers and during her 14 year career she has edited & produced photography books, exhibitions and multimedia projects for artists including Corinne Day, Valerie Phillips, and Nick Ballon. She is currently working on a title with Niall O'Brien.

Read Source's Q&A with Lu »

Emma Bowkett »
Picture Editor, Financial Times
& FT Weekend Magazine.

Malcolm Dickson »
Director - Street Level Photoworks.

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Courses: Categories:
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University of Bedfordshire
BA (Hons) Photography and Video Art

Arts University Bournemouth
BA (Hons) Photography

University of Bradford
BA (Hons) Photography for Digital Media

University of Brighton
BA (Hons) Photography

University of Chester
BA (Hons) Photography

Coventry University
BA (Hons) Photography

University of Cumbria
BA (Hons) Photography

University of Derby
BA (Hons) Photography

Dublin Institute of Technology
BA (Hons) Photography

IADT Dun Laoghaire
BA (Hons) Photography

Edinburgh College of Art
BA (Hons) Photography

Edinburgh College
BA Professional Photography

Edinburgh Napier University
BA (Hons) Photography and Film

Falmouth University
BA (Hons) Photography

University Centre Farnborough
BA (Hons) Photography

Glasgow School of Art
BA (Hons) Communication Design (Photography)

City of Glasgow College
BA (Hons) Photography

Griffith College Dublin
BA Photographic Media

Hereford College of Arts
BA (Hons) Photography

University of Huddersfield
BA (Hons) Photography

University of Central Lancashire
BA (Hons) Photography

Leeds College of Art
BA (Hons) Photography

London College of Communication
BA (Hons) Photography

Manchester School of Art
BA (Hons) Photography

Middlesex University
BA (Hons) Photography

National College of Art and Design
Photography and Digital Imaging Certificate

National College of Art and Design
BA (Hons) Fine Art Media

University of South Wales, Newport
BA (Hons) Documentary Photography

University of South Wales, Newport
BA (Hons) Photographic Art

Plymouth University
BA (Hons) Photography

University of Portsmouth
BA (Hons) Photography

UCA Rochester
BA (Hons) Photography

Southampton Solent University
BA (Hons) Photography

Staffordshire University
BA (Hons) Photojournalism

University of Wales Trinity Saint David
BA (Hons) Photography in the Arts

University of Wales Trinity Saint David
BA (Hons) Photojournalism

Ulster University
BA (Hons) Photography

University of the West of England
BA (Hons) Photography

University of Westminster
BA (Hons) Photography

University of Westminster
BA (Hons) Photographic Arts

Documentary/Photojournalism

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Commercial/Fashion

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Landscape

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Portraiture

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Staged/Constructed

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Urban/Suburban Landscape

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