Lanson photographer wins Children's Photographer of the Year 2021
Launceston-based photographer Jessica Harrison-Chu of Maddielili Photography, was awarded Children’s Photographer of the Year 2021 at the annual Societies of Photographers Awards in London on the 18th March, competing against photographers from across the world for this prestigious award.
Her winning entry, of children playing in a montage of life-size boxes, was described by the judges as 'full of energy' and 'fun and highly unusual for the category'. The Societies of Photographers are a group of international organisations incorporating the interests of all aspects of photography and is the world’s largest association for photographers. Throughout 2021, 6,636 entries were submitted to the Societies' monthly image competition, across 29 categories. Finalists for the Photographer of the Year were chosen by a panel of industry experts, with many years of experience. Jessica won from a shortlist of the top four in the category for Children’s Photographer of the Year 2021. Her first box image was also a finalist in the Societies’ Photographer of the Year 2020 awards.
The judges commented: “It is nice to see something high key in this category, it’s not something we often see! The composite has been done really well, and there’s so much energy and fun in this image, it drew our attention straight away.” Colin Jones, The Societies of Photographers’ CEO, added: “This year we have seen a fantastic range of images and the standard has been very high. The Photographer of the Year Awards represent some of the finest images entered into the competition and have competed against some of the world’s best photographers. Congratulations to all our winners.” Jessica, who is based in Launceston, said: “I wanted to find a way to photograph families whilst the strict social distancing and shielding measures were in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. I asked my husband to build a life-size box so I could photograph family members at different times and then stitch these together in a fun and dynamic way.
"Schools made use of this approach to group shots to create unique class images highlighting the separation but also camaraderie of children living through a really tough time. The box image remains a popular choice for photo shoots as kids really come alive and love trying different poses and climbing the walls!” Jessica plans to continue entering the monthly competition in the hope of one day winning the coveted Overall Photographer of the Year award!
For more details on Maddielili Photography go to www.maddielili.co.uk