The Vitti (Vanquish World) Photo Competition – Culture of Colours
In the last issue of Vanquish World we told you about our first Photo Competition, where volunteers from the exciting Model Magic NI Facebook group were placed by random selection into teams and tasked with creating up to 3 photos within a fixed deadline. All teams were issued with the same brief, which was deliberately vague to allow for broad interpretation across the participants.
The concept itself was arrived at serendipitously when the organisers realised firstly that the deadline for the competition would fall just before St Patrick’s Day; and secondly that the Hindu festival of colour (Holi) fell on St Patrick’s Day this year. This coincidence led to the teams being assigned with a brief to showcase the best that Northern Ireland has to offer under the heading “Culture of Colours”.
Working on this project the teams faced challenges that many had never encountered before. With a tight deadline to meet, scheduling conflicts were inevitable, some of which proved to be irreconcilable. So whilst every team started out with a minimum of 4 members, not all ended up with that many. In the end some teams had to get by without make-up artists or stylists, and so a great deal of improvisation was required by the remaining team members.
As, for the most part, teammates had never met or worked together before, personality clashes were inevitable. With each strong, creative mind developing its own idea of how the project should take shape, there were sharp lessons to be learned in teamwork and co-operation. Whilst leaders will naturally emerge in any group dynamic, this project stressed the importance of encouraging all members of each team to participate and feel that they had contributed to the end product.
The final entries were submitted to a judging panel whose scores made up 60% of the overall score for each image. The remaining 40% was based on the response of the members of the Model Magic NI Facebook group who signified their support for each image through ‘likes’. This process also sparked many lively discussions within the group, where the passion that several participants put into their work was clear for all to see.
We would hope that the competition proved to be a great learning experience for everyone involved, and that all those who took part will have gained something from the experience. All those who took part in the competition deserve a great deal of credit for having the courage to vanquish their inner fears and put themselves forward for a process that will have been well outside the experience level and comfort zone of most volunteers. They also deserve recognition for their hard work and commitment to the competition, despite the many obstacles they faced. Therefore we would like to thank all of the following participants:
Mark Haslett, Liz Mullan, Chantelle Cairns, John Taylor (Taylormade Photos), Tracie Smyth Make Up Artist, Caoimhe Knox, Kevin McAllister (Trinity Photography), Carol Anne MUA, Sophie Elliott, Gemma McCullough, Gerald Gribbon, Sonya Sloan (Sonya Ethel Makeup & Beauty), Saranne Coates, Dearbhla Digney, Kita Heron, Gordon Johnston, Gayle Lindsay MUA, Maria Maxwell, Natasha Burns, Ellie Weir, Taylor Lindsay, Cliff Donaldson, Lisa McCabe (Nor-Lisa Fashion), Natasha Smyth, Yuliya Petrichenko, John Lambe, Kerry Anne McCourt, Emma McAfee, Anouska Black and Peter Dalrymple.
And we would also like to extend special thanks you to our judges: Rebecca Bryson (Make Up Artist), Lauryn Hall (LSH Modelling and Promotions), Paul Lawlor, Glen McAuley and Brian O’Neill.
- Mitch Morgan