1st Place - Keeping families connected
by Casey Hawtin - Monks Walk school
Judges' Comments
Your photo very successfully highlights one of the key features of lockdown. Communications networks and the widespread availability of digital devices, such as computers, tablets and mobile phones, enabled substantial changes in how we interacted with other people. Lockdown physically isolated people in their homes. Those communications networks created virtual opportunities to help overcome problems. Many people could work from home, log in to school lessons, zoom video with friends and family, go shopping online and access games and entertainment.
Your photo captures this by the BT sign and an excellent portrait of the man. The man is wearing a mask suggesting that his working environment is not ideal. He may not always be able to keep a sufficient distance from others. You highlight the mask by “colour-popping” and that is done very effectively here. The mask is blue and stands out in what is otherwise a monochrome black and white photo. Your photo would have had much less impact if you had presented the fully colour version – the colours may well have been distracting.