Established within the early Nineteen Eighties, the AOP Student Awards acknowledge rising photographic expertise present in additional training establishments throughout the UK. Using massive format images to doc coal miners in South Wales, Rupert Allen has now been named the general winner of the competitors and in addition acquired Gold within the Portrait class.
Through impactful black-and-white images, Rupert Allen (finding out BA Hons Photojournalism and Documentary Photography on the University of Gloucestershire) created an impactful portrait sequence titled Church of Coal. He shot all photos on 5x4in massive format Ilford HP5 movie, documenting the coal miners who used to work, and those that nonetheless work within the final working drift colliery in Western Europe.
Rupert aims to “document these landscapes and people before they vanish under the weight of time”. Isabelle Doran, CEO of The AOP, explains that she was “genuinely impressed” with the number of nonetheless and transferring photos, highlighting that the imagery is difficult our views whereas others rejoice authenticity. Discover all winners on the AOP Awards website.
‘Church of Coal’ by Rupert Allen
Rupert explains, “In collaboration with the NUM (National Union of Miners) in Pontypridd, and the National Museum Wales, this project has taken me across South Wales, in search of answers to my question: what happened to the miners; what happened to the collieries; and how have they both adapted in the 21st century.
“Hearing their stories, and documenting them as they are now, has allowed me a glimpse into the real people and places, to understand what really happened and what a select few have done to overcome the crisis that rocked much of industrial Britain.
“As with their age now, there is not much time left before these people fade into obscurity and out of the public mind, much like the ruins of the halls and mines they once worked.”
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