Aspiring photographers encouraged to enter a unique photography competition to celebrate ‘Life connections’ made possible by public transport.
Have you ever been curious about where the person sitting next to you on the bus or train are going and for what purpose? Today, Translink is launching an innovative new photography competition called ‘Translink Connections’ to help answer that question and is challenging student and amateur photographers across Northern Ireland to capture striking and emotive images of ‘life connections’ by public transport.
Public Transport brings people and communities together every day, enabling connections of many kinds and purposes to be made. As part of a new ‘Life Better.Connected’ campaign Translink’s new photography competition aims to celebrate and promote the importance of human connections across our society.
Aspiring photographers will be tasked to capture meaningful moments made possible by Translink services and its people across Northern Ireland, based around five key themes of education, economy, environment, health and community. These could be connections to family and friends, connections to work and services, connections to events or key life moments, to communities, to our planet or to ourselves.
Encouraging photographers to enter Neal Brown, Executive Officer from Translink said:
“We know our passengers have their own stories, adventures and moments of connection using public transport. This creative competition aims to capture these stories that animate the value and importance of public transport.
“We are very excited to launch this initiative, so whether it’s with a professional camera or the smartphone in your pocket, the competition is easy to enter and open to all ages and abilities.
“As well as having the potential to win prizes, the shortlisted and winning images will feature in a Life Better.Connected photo exhibition, which will travel across Northern Ireland visiting both Translink stations and other public venues, giving a significant platform for local photography enthusiasts to show off their work.”
The competition has already attracted interest from local students in universities and colleges across Northern Ireland as well as amateur photography groups and individuals.
One of the competition judges Dr Clare Gallagher, photography lecturer at Ulster University commented:
“Telling human stories through photography is an important art form. Our students at Ulster University are really looking forward to getting involved in this initiative as it offers lots of ways to get creative as they explore those important human connections and interactions that impact on our people, place and planet.”
Further information including a detailed creative brief outlining key criteria that needs to be met is available at Connections Photo Competition (translink.co.uk) Terms and conditions will apply, and these can also be found on the website. The competition will close at 5pm on Friday 3rd November.