Howard Moo Young, Contributor

John Issa is seen receiving his prize from The Hon. Aloun N'Dombet Assamba, M.P., Minister of Tourism, Entertainment and Culture, at the National Awards Presentation Ceremony, at Shortwood Teachers' College on July 29. - Contributed

Emerging from the 2006 JCDC Visual Arts Competition are three successful participants, each from different backgrounds and varying ages. The photography section of this competition has always attracted photographers from a wide cross section of our society, and the entries have increased tremendously over the past few years.

After interviews with each individual, I realised that they all had one thing in common, a growing passion for photography, which grew out of a hobby that they all took up in their earlier years, one at the tender age of nine. The love of photography continues to consume a good amount of their spare time.

Never gave up

John Issa, hotelier and businessman, finally got his gold medal after entering the competition for 15 consecutive years. He never gave up, but was encouraged when his daughter, Muna, got her first gold medal last year. Spurred on to excellence, John decided that this was the year to go for it, and was rewarded with his well-deserved award with an image he took while waiting for his family in a shopping mall in France.

As a young student at St. George's College, both he and his brother Francis became members of the school's camera club. As active members, they both learnt to develop their own film at home, where they set up a temporary darkroom by covering the windows. They even acquired an enlarger to do their own printing.

It was not until he started a family sometime after leaving high school, that he took up photography seriously once again. These were pictures of his family, as he started to record the lives of his children growing up, including his twin daughters.

In 1991, his daughter Zein was encouraged by Mrs. Chang of Photo Express to enter the Festival Photo Competition with a particular photograph she had just printed for her.

"Well, I was so proud of my daughter when she was awarded a certificate of merit," John exclaimed, "Next year I will enter; that was 15 years ago."

Up until now John was using a little conventional point-and-shoot Minolta or Pentax camera, until he got a Sony digi-cam that could easily fit into his side pocket or briefcase.

Good eye

Roy Sweetland receives his prize from Vivian Crawford, chairman of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission at the awards function . - Contributed

He quickly pulled his 8.5-megapixel camera that helped him capture the gold medal and proudly showed it to me. "Don't ask me to adjust the speed or set the aperture, it's set permanently on full automatic; all I do is concentrate on the composition, that's it!" explained John, who seems to have a good eye when it comes to composing the image in the viewfinder. "I think that is one of my strengths, and I love to take pictures of buildings, interior or exterior, I'm fascinated by their shapes and designs."

The gold medal black-and-white print was actually emailed to a custom lab near Hollywood, Florida, from his overseas sales office after his return from France, where it was printed and sent down to Jamaica.

"I have made an effort to broaden my categories, and this year I received awards in flora and fauna, adult portraiture and photojournalism," said John, who assures me that participating in this annual competition has caused him to take a more serious interest in the quality and variety of the images he is now shooting.

He says he will continue to enter pieces in Festival each year as both his daughters, his wife and himself are now ardent photographers.

He was also encouraged this year when a picture he took of his wife was secretly entered and earned him a certificate of merit. John also revealed that in the late '60s he was in charge of sponsorship and awards for Festival.

He thoroughly enjoyed the Grand Gala street parade and the Costumed King and Queen Show at the National Arena. Again, congratulations on your gold medal!

Roy Sweetland spent 28 years with Cable & Wireless, and was trained all over the world including Canada and Japan, having been made responsible for network maintenance and the fibre-optics network in downtown, Kingston. "It was a high stress job, and when I told my colleagues that if and when I leave the communications field, I don't ever want to see another telephone, they thought I was crazy. I've actually lost two cell phones in the last month," so said this outstanding photographer in the 2006 photography competition, who has now replaced phones with cameras.

Entering for the first time, Roy captured 28 awards in all, including one gold, one silver, 6 bronze and 20 merits. He always encouraged other photographers to enter, but never did so himself until this year. "It takes a lot of discipline to give it all the attention it deserves, and that's what I learnt from my former years at C&W," he exclaimed.

Photography has been a hobby for Roy for the last 25 years. He started going to weddings and taking pictures, but really got into photography when his first daughter, Candy, was born. His first SLR camera was a Minolta SRT101 which allowed him to learn the whole manual side of his craft. It was all about F-stops, aperture, making all the mistakes, and with his own child as the main subject, that was enough inspiration.

'Events photography'

Roy describes himself as into " Events Photography," and credits Pat Chin of VP Records for all the encouragement he got every time he visited Randy's Records to purchase his music. She usually asked him to take pictures of some of the recording artistes of the day. So I started with singers such as Yellowman and Dennis Brown, and ever since, I got into entertainment and events photography.

"It has allowed me to travel to New York, and even to Ohio to cover football for Jamaica USA, many events, and meet many people. I've photographed all the major music festivals from Air Jamaica Jazz, Sumfest, Sunsplash Eastfest, Rebel Salute, and all the major parties like Passa Passa. It's helping me in my goal to record this generation, images for the next generation," remarked Roy, as he proudly presented me with a few copies of BUZZ magazine, of which he is senior photographer. Some of the Jamaica's leading reggae and dancehall performers have good relationships with him and he ends up doing many personal photos for them.

His eyes were opened when he became a member of the Photography Club of Jamaica. He learnt to develop a tolerance with other photographers judging his images in the monthly slide clinics, and to correct his mistakes. Today, his photographs can also be found in VIBE magazine, BILLBOARD, and SkyWritings. Roy has certainly found a niche while building his client base.

He still finds time to do his personal kind of photography, apart from his assignments. He was photographing a stone the other day and was told blatantly that he was wasting his time, because "no stone ever paid him yet." But he still has a lot of respect for those guys who go into public parks to earn their bread.

"Thanks for the digital camera, I wouldn't be able to afford film and processing now. Can you imagine shooting a thousand images today on film? It would cost a fortune. For the past five years, I've been photographing every day that goes by. I'm actually recording this generation's images that is truly reflective of us. I also photograph outdoor billboards and dance posters to show the trends of change over the years. To me, photography is a lovely creative endeavour and a lot of people don't even know that they have the knack for it until they take up a camera and experiment with it. I would encourage others to read a lot and learn from the masters. Just start shooting in the area, neighbourhood, and community in which you live.

One of the best things that can happen to you is when your own recognize your work, and I felt so overwhelmed and honoured to have won so many medals at the first go. Yes! I'll give more thought into the type of images I need to record at the National level."

Peter John Thwaites at 9 years old is the youngest competitor in this year's JCDC Photography Competition. As a student of Hillel Academy, he is excels at mathematics, science, reading and creative writing. Entering the competition for the first time, Peter was encouraged to do so by his mother who spotted the talent in her son. He walked away with two silver medals and three certificates of merit.

Started to shoot

"Two years ago, my aunt gave me a digital camera as a gift and I had no idea what the buttons did. I did not even read the camera manual (this is not recommended), I just put in the chip and started to shoot, I loved it and it was so much fun," described Peter John excitedly. He is now the official family photographer.

Among his favourite photographic subjects are flowers, nature, and old buildings. He loves to do sketches, but admit that he is not a very good painter. He is attracted to very bright colours when looking through the lens of his camera, and his mother's garden is filled with exotic flowers, from trumpets to "teeny weeny" specimens as he described the varying sizes to me.

Big smile

Nine-year-old Peter John Thwaites, winner in the youth category, is completely overwhelmed as he receives his prize from Kent Reid of the panel of judges who presented the judges' report (right). - Contributed

"I will switch the lens to the close-up mode to get real close to the petals, flowers make me happy!" Peter John admits with a big smile. He plans to do photography for a long time to come, as he dreams of becoming a lawyer or a forensic scientist. His two sisters are a continued source of encouragement in his hobby, along with his parents who tell me that they are proud of him and will continue to help him in any way they can.

As co-chairman of the Visual Arts Committee, I would like to congratulate these three successful photographers for their support and all the other competitors whose photographs helped made this year's competition one of the best ever. We will exhibiting the medal winners at the Montego Bay Civic Centre for one month with the official opening on September 5, 2006, and also on October 10, 2006, in Mandeville.

Howard Moo Young is an advertising/graphic Design/photography consultant with over 40 years experience.
Email: howardmooyoung@getcaughtmedia.com