Scots Shortlisted for 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Words : Nigel Duncan
Photo Editor : John Preece

Three Scottish photographers have been short-listed in the world’s largest photography competition.

‘Sixteen’ is an ongoing project looking at the experience, dreams, aspirations and fears of sixteen year olds from all walks of life in the UK.

Over 227,000 images were received from 183 countries and the winners in the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards will be confirmed in the next few weeks.

Craig Easton was shortlisted in the Portraiture category of the Professional competition.

Jimmy Reid was shortlisted for a single image in the Motion category and commended in the Architecture category of the Open competition.

Stewart Main was shortlisted for a single image answering the brief Memories in the Student Focus competition.

Craig was born in Edinburgh and grew up in England and in Germany.

‘Sixteen’, the project, is a collaborative process with the young people: in each case they are asked to write a personal handwritten testimony to be presented alongside the photograph.

He studied physics before moving to photography and joining The Independent newspaper in London. 

In 2012/13 he was awarded the title of World Travel Photographer of the Year and continues to travel extensively for both commercial clients and personal projects.
His series Sixteen is a series of collaborative portraits of 16-year-olds from all walks of life all around the UK in which each person is asked to prepare a short handwritten testimony about themselves, their lives, their dreams, ambitions and fears for their future and for the world they will soon inherit.

An image I captured of my Betta splendens (Siamese Fighting Fish)jumping for his food when I feed him. I use flash above the tank to capture the motion

Jimmy is based in Loanhead and spent 15 months travelling in South East Asia which galvanized his love for photography. Photographing the flora and fauna of India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia and Nepal inspired his love of macro photography, particularly of insects and fish.

Returning home, he embarked on a formal course in professional photography at Edinburgh College.
Stewart went to college in Glasgow before continuing his studies at Edinburgh Napier University where he is currently in the third year of his BA (Hons) Photography.

His work mainly consists of portraiture and creative still life, while he also receives regular commissions for fitness photography.

His shortlisted image Fort Badass reflects upon childhood memories of owning a private space.

“Fort badass” reflects upon those childhood memories of owning your very private space. A place where you could hang out with your friends until the streetlights came on.

Prizes include the latest Sony digital imagery equipment, a trip to the awards ceremony in London and $30,000 US dollars in cash prizes and the work of all the shortlisted photographers will be shown at a exhibition in London from 21 April to 7 May.