A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

“A picture paints a thousand words” is a skill that Rotary Clubs around the country wish to encourage. Members of Thornhill Rotary Club have certainly embraced that ideal by organising a regional heat of this competition for budding young photographers from Wallace Hall Academy and Sanquhar Academy. The competition entries were judged last week with Gregor Black (S6, Wallace Hall Academy) taking top spot in the senior section and Iona Menzies (S1, Wallace Hall Academy) winning the intermediate section. The two winners will go on to compete in the next stage of the competition against winners chosen from other regional heats.

Jessica Dickson, S1, said: “I really enjoyed taking photographs for the Rotary Young Photographer and struggled to choose my final entries. I was particularly pleased with my toadstool photo and how the judge praised my excellent use of contrasting colour.”

Iona Menzies, S1 and winner of the Intermediate section, commented: “I am over the moon to have been awarded 1st place in my age category and really excited about my photos going forward to the next stage of the competition. I have always enjoyed art and taking up photography is the logical next step for me. My photographs were taken on my phone which just shows that you don’t need a fancy camera to do well.”

Owen Davies, one of our S5 pupils who is already establishing a good reputation as a promising young photographer, commented: “The Rotary Young Photographer competition has been a great opportunity for me to showcase my work in front of a very good judge and I have taken on board the comments made. I was particularly pleased with how my photograph of Dalswinton Church turned out and was delighted when the judge described the image as ‘striking’. I am currently studying Higher Photography at Wallace Hall and plan to build on this further by progressing onto HNC level with the aim of making photography my career.”

The winner of the senior section was S6 pupil Gregor Black. Gregor said: “I was delighted to be chosen as the winner of the senior section as the quality of the photographs from the other competitors was very high. The judge took a lot of time to give all of us some very useful feedback and this will help in our photography development. I was particularly proud of my fly agaric toadstool image as it combines my love of nature with my interest in photography.”

Mrs Simpson, PT Expressive Arts at Wallace Hall Academy, said: “I was delighted that so many of the Wallace Hall pupils chose to take part in the Rotary Young Photographer and they engaged really well with the creative and technical skills required for this level of competition. Thank you to Keith Shedden and members of Thornhill Rotary for organising this fantastic opportunity for our local young photographers.”