Calling on all 14 to 25 year olds who love to take photographs

In 2020 Photography and Photojournalism Are As Important As Ever
By Milton Wordley

Closing date for applications is 5pm Friday 7 August.
https://www.onkaparingacity.com/shimmer/Events/Shoot-the-south

'SHOOT the SOUTH’ will be a series of Photo Essays of Onkaparinga life in 2020 from a young person’s viewpoint.

The shoot will take place during the month of Shimmer, and be online all month, finishing with a major public event on the final weekend. We plan to exhibit a collection of the photographs at next year’s BALLARAT INTERNATIONAL FOTO BIENNALE. Prior to Shimmer we will hold a series of documentary photography Master Classes focussing on Documentary Photography and Photojournalism.

As well known American photographer and a member of Magnum Photos since 1954, Elliott Erwitt is quoted as saying “The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.” and “You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organising them. You just have to care about what’s around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy.”

The Masterclasses will look at the history of Photojournalism and involve a number of local well-known Photojournalists.

Current estimates suggest more photographs will be taken this year than in the entire history of film photography. Time magazine named an Ellen DeGeneres selfie (taken by Bradley Cooper) at the 2014 Oscars in its list of 100 most influential images of all time. The image was retweeted 3 million times, more than any other image in history, Time reports.

Photographs are important

The current International Black Lives Matter movement would not have been so far reaching, if someone had not photographed the murder of George Floyd.

Many other photographs have led to major changes in people’s view of the world.

Whatever your age, you’ve probably seen this Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken in the town of Trảng Bàng by Huỳnh Công Út (a.k.a. Nick Ut) during the Vietnam War on June 8, 1972. It’s a hard image to forget. A young girl, naked, runs screaming toward the camera in agony after a napalm attack incinerated her village, her clothes, and then her skin.

Or Eddie Adams’ image of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the South Vietnamese police chief, killing Nguyen Van Lem, a suspected Viet Cong officer, on the streets of Saigon.

These images and many others changed the American public’s view of the Vietnam war.

Jeff Widener’s Tiananmen Square ‘Tank Man’ image in 1989 is another well known photo. This image is so evocative and powerful it has been censored (along with much other content) on the internet within China.

There are countless other examples of photos that have changed the world’s opinion on things, or are just simply very memorable like Matthew Zimmerman’s 1954 image of Marilyn Monroe.

If you are 14 to 25 years old and love to take photographs, care about what’s happening around you and want to improve your photography, apply now to join the 'Shoot the South’ team.

The only rule is that all the photographs must be taken in the Onkaparinga Council area during the month of Shimmer. The project is being organised by AIPP Master Photographer Milton Wordley.

Applications must include your name, age, photographic interests and the topic you’d like to photograph as well as ten of your recent photographs. Please send all applications via email to Milton at milton@wordley.com.au. The image files do not have to be large, jpegs at 1000pixels on the longest edge is adequate.

Closing date for applications is Friday 7 August.

For more information and application criteria contact Milton on 0408 850 667.

Supported by the

• City of Onkaparinga
• The Centre for Creative Photography
• Australian Institute of Professional Photography

Milton would love to hear from you. Feel free to forward this onto anyone you know who might be interested