“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” So says renowned English primatologist Jane Goodall.
The 81-year-old scientist made these remarks in an American newspaper in 2014. Today, they’re being used as the theme for the 2015 Green Week photo competition. Opening on Monday 13 April, the competition is “a collaboration with our Ultimo neighbours – the ABC and Ultimo TAFE,” says UTS Sustainability Coordinator and Green Week photo competition coordinator Seb Crawford.
The precinct event was initiated by UTS Green and ActivateUTS in 2012 as part of an effort to raise awareness of and celebrate World Environment Day on 5 June. But before those celebrations can begin, the photographs need to be submitted.
For that, Crawford says, “There are no limits on your creativity. You can do whatever you want.
“There are some technical requirements you need to meet in order for the images to be blown up to A3 size and a high enough resolution to look good when they’re mounted, but there are no limitations on artistic technique.”
All UTS and TAFE staff and students, as well as ABC staff are eligible to enter.
“We get a really broad spectrum of entries,” says Crawford. “That’s what’s really interesting about the competition, you get some very highly choreographed and constructed images, through to some people have just snapped with an iPhone.”
Each year an exhibition of the 25 shortlisted photos goes on display in the ABC’s foyer. It’s here that an expert panel of judges select the winner and runner up. But, that’s not the only prize up for grabs. A people’s choice award is also run on the UTS Green Facebook page.
“Last year,” says Crawford, “the winner was from the ABC and the runner up was from TAFE, but a UTS student – John Hanna – won the people’s choice award.
“He uses light in a really beautiful way. There’s the vertical green of the new engineering and IT building, but then it’s juxtaposed with the flashes of the horizontal lights of cars moving along Broadway at twilight.”
Hanna, who is now undertaking a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Environmental Science, says, “I found out about the competition by chance through the UTS Insider email.
“I've been studying at UTS for four years and never knew about the competition. All those lost opportunities made me want to get involved in 2014.
“There were a few concepts I initially had in mind, but I took a more literal approach and spent time reading into the quote to ensure I understood what it meant rather than just a casual interpretation.
The self-confessed, “slightly above average photographer” says, “taking the photograph itself was probably one of the easiest parts of the competition. However there was a lot of post-production that went on behind the scenes.
“For example, I turned all the traffic lights green and the light trails along the bottom of the image from red – which has a negative connotation of destructive practices – to green – to symbolise positive conservation being embraced and acted upon.”
But, Hanna says, “It's not all about post-production – a good composition which is staged can also go a long way. And you can never go wrong by entering work you are happy with and enjoyed doing.”
The UTS Green Week photo competition opens Monday 13 April and closes 9am Thursday 21 May. The exhibition is from Monday 1 to Friday 5 June. For more information and to submit your entry, visit green.uts.edu.au or email seb.crawford@uts.edu.au
- The 2015 Green Week photo competition opens Monday 13 April
- The compeition is open to all UTS and Ultimo TAFE staff and students, as well as ABC staff
- The photo competition aims to raise awareness of and celebrate World Environment Day on 5 June, with an exhibition of winners from 1 to 5 June 2015