New photography competition launches in St Andrews

The Tollbooth, Market Street, St Andrews, demolished c. 1860. part of the 2016 Lost Buildings of St Andrews exhibition at the St Andrews Preservation Trust Museum.
PLEASE CREDIT Â© St Andrews Preservation Trust AND PHOTOGRAPHER POSSIBLY JOHN ADAMSON — The Tollbooth, Market Street, St Andrews, demolished c. 1860. part of the 2016 Lost Buildings of St Andrews exhibition at the St Andrews Preservation Trust Museum. PLEASE CREDIT Â© St Andrews Preservation Trust AND PHOTOGRAPHER POSSIBLY JOHN ADAMSON

The competition is part of the 2017 St Andrews Photography Festival, which in its inaugural year last year attracted visitors and photographers from around the world.

For the first time amateur photographers are being invited to submit their work to the competition, around the theme ‘Scots at Home’.

Ten winning entries will be exhibited during the festival, which runs throughout September, and the overall winner will also receive a cash prize of £500 and the chance to prepare a table top exhibition of their work.

The festival is organised by BID (Business Improvement District) St Andrews in partnership with the University of St Andrews, and will see exhibitions of photography across the town along with a series of talks and workshops.

“We’re really excited about the competition,” commented Rhonda McCrimmon, BID St Andrews manager.

“We already know there are lots of really talented amateur photographers not just in St Andrews but further afield, and we hope they will take the opportunity to have their work shown more widely.

“It’s also a chance to show the world Scotland at its best – whether at home, work or leisure through the medium of photography.

“And it really will be a wide audience,” Ms McCrimmon continued, “because as well as being exhibited during the festival, the works will also be shown on our social media sites, so their pictures will be seen worldwide.”

In 2016 the festival attracted photographers and visitors from around the UK, Europe, and the USA.

St Andrews has been home to some historic photographers.

Dr John Adamson is perhaps the most celebrated – a blue plaque adorns the wall of his former home in the town on South Street – but last year’s festival supported a host of other names including, Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair, David Octavius Hill, Robert Adamson, Thomas Rodger and Sir David Brewster.

The competition is open to entries now, with the closing date set at June 16.

For more information about how to enter, visit the festival’s website at www.standrewsphotographyfest.com.