Few days ago I had a call from Bristol Evening Post newspaper congratulating me on winning their photo competition! :) It was a very pleasant surprise for me, especially because I had already forgot I applied for that competition! And now I won it!
I rushed to the nearest newsstand to get todays “Evening Post” and here it is, on page 9:
The headline says “Latvian zooms in to snap up Bristol Harbour Festival picture competition prize” and displays my winning photo along with a photo of myself.. Oh, it feels somewhat unusual seeing photo of myself rather then photos captured by me!
The subject of competition was to capture a moment which describes Bristol Harbour Festival at it’s best. I took the winning photo when capturing moments on Bristol Harbour Festival a few weeks ago. There was so much going on that it was hard to capture just one moment which describes it all! However, it was a first time I saw balloon tossing which was taking place in Castle Park and I felt some nice shots coming, as ballons were bursting all around and that moment made people look funny and surprised..as if they didn’t know that burst was coming… It was so fun, I even tried it myself the next day! It didn’t go too well though, I must admit.. :)
Quoting Julian Bracey from Cirque Bijou: “This photo captures what the festival is all about: performers and audience coming together and trying to knock each other over with giant water balloons. The popularity of the balloon toss is a bit of a phenomenon, people literally come from across the country to take part.”
Anyway, back to competition.. Winners were chosen by Bristol City Council’s art and culture department and Simon Galloway, the Evening Post’s picture editor who said: “We wanted to find an image which captured the occasion and we were sent many different shots illustrating the wide variety of activities available at the Harbour Festival. We decided on Martins’s image as the winner because it had all the elements that are needed for a great picture - It captures the fun of the Harbour Festival coupled with a technically perfect image.” ..and I am very glad Simon saw that in my picture!
David Pyne, the festival’s marketing and sponsorship manager, added: “We love the winning photo of the fabulous annual Balloon Toss at the Cirque Bijou circus stage. It really captures how the festival entertains and engages with people of all ages – both residents of the city and visitors as well. The balloon toss is an annual institution, run by Bristol’s very own Desperate Men – one of the city’s longest-running street theatre companies. It’s unique to Bristol and this was the largest one ever, with around 500 people taking part”
..”The photo is very striking, using a wide angle lens and filters to really dramatic effect. A very worthy winner, and we like it so much that we’re in touch with Martins to see if we can have some more of the photos he took.” ..Yes, Mr. Pyne, I’ll be glad if You do so! :)
Thanks to judges and everyone who made a fantastic Bristol Harbour Festival possible! I really loved the event!
Here is an online version of the article: Latvian zooms in to snap up Bristol Harbour Festival picture competition prize
P.S. My photo along with other shortlisted pictures will be displayed throughout next month at Bristol’s new Tourist Information Centre at E Shed, 1 Canons Road. Come by if you can!
Photos by Martins Kikulis – Reportage photographer covering Bristol, Somerset, Gloucestershire and the whole UK. © Copyright 2010 Martins Kikulis. All Rights Reserved.
