Over three weeks ago we launched a photography competition on Instagram called ‘Abstract City‘ to capture the uniqueness and character of Cardiff city centre – photographs that are expressive, imaginative and unusual.
Since then we received over 500 Instagram entries which we’ve shortlisted to just five.
We are now asking you to help us crown a winner by voting for your favourite photograph!
The winner will receive a £500 photography commission.
The public vote closes on Sunday 12th May at 23:30 and the winner will be announced on our Instagram channel on Monday 13th May.
Find out more about the five shortlisted photographs and vote below.
Tom Damsell
www.tomdamsell.com
Truth be told, the image was take a few years ago, just a couple of months after my daughter was born. We decided to take her on the train for her first trip to Cardiff and it served as a much needed excuse to get out with the camera for the first time in months to escape the craziness of recent parenthood. I’m a sucker for slow shutter and wanted to grab a typical ‘city traffic’ shot with cars whizzing past the castle.
I ended up snapping a passing bus and was chuffed that you could see part of the tower through the blur. Little did I realise until I got home that I’d also managed to catch the reflections from Castle Street behind too. That’s why I love photography, there’s as much skill as there is luck and patience. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time to freeze that moment. Typically, as so many photographs sadly do, the image sat dormant on a hard drive for years – until now!
I’ve since gone full time as a self-employed photographer and love working in new situations! Every day is a different challenge and the people and places you see on the way can make for such memorable experiences. I’ve recently started reaching out to try and work more with local people and businesses.
To win this would be another thrilling opportunity to work with – and around – some fantastic local culture; and to spread some art and passion further around Wales. Our capital has so much to offer, as is beautifully demonstrated by this competition alone! I’m overwhelmed to have made it this far with such amazing competition, but it’s been hugely inspiring and reminds me why I love what I do. Plus it keeps the cat fed…
Daniel Carbis
I’m 24, I’ve been taking for photos self-taught for about five years, and have always enjoyed making every day scenes interesting through street photography, and the challenge of making something that’s typically boring, interesting.
I discovered photography as a creative outlet, I enjoy having something that I can share with others and see their interpretations of it, especially when they’re wildly different to my own. I do street photography routes in cardiff at least once a week, which always includes Cardiff’s arcades, and an image similar to my entry is something I’d been trying to capture for a while, so to do that and also have it be shortlisted is great, as it took multiple days of shooting to get the correct conditions for that photo.
It would be great to win mostly because I’m finally coming into professional work post COVID, having just gone part time in work to allow me more time for professional work, a £500 commission would allow me to invest into my own gear/professional work. Find Daniel on Instagram.
Sameer
My name is Sameer and I have been taking pictures on my phone of random things here and there as far as I can remember. Decided to take on the hobby seriously during covid lockdown as many others where I bought myself a professional camera and created a separate photography Instagram account called ‘Grandsnap’.
Since then I have specialised in landscapes, streets photography and currently I have been doing some portrait shoots as well. My most noticeable achievement till date is one of my photos being published on the front cover of a local Cardiff magazine.
Photography, even though my secondary job and a hobby, has helped me express my emotions through visuals and has served as a stress buster to cope with some unwanted emotions. My goal as any aspiring photographer is to create images that make people happy and more importantly create a visual story telling experience for my audience.
I took this photograph on a Friday evening while I was driving back from work. I witnessed rainbow by the principality stadium and of course I immediately turned back, managed to park my car in the city as quick as I could, got my camera out which I carry with me daily and started taking pictures.
While everyone on the street was capturing the rainbow I decided to turn my camera on the other end towards the castle and I knew I just had to capture the action on the street which was complemented by the dramatic skies and the harmony of Welsh and English flag in the frame just did it for me.
Ashley Stillman
My name is Ashley Stillman, I am 32 and live in Barry, I have always had a keen interest in photography, living in south Wales gives me the opportunity to capture diverse images from countryside, coastal and every day city life.
I enjoy photography because it is something that I can do any time, any place and all I need is my phone. I enjoy photography because it has allowed me to capture moments in my own life that I don’t want to forget and share it with others.
I took the shortlisted photo as its a visual that many people overlook everyday. This competition has given me the opportunity to show my photos to a wider audience. Find Ashley on Instagram.
Marcus Smith
I’m Marcus a designer with my own business (MARCA Design), but photography is a major hobby of mine and it crosses over into my work a lot. So much so I started my own YouTube channel (Latitude 35) where I talk about film photography.
This photo I entered into this competition was shot on 35mm film, the type of film I used shifts the colours of the photo to a purple colour palette and I just love the surreal effect it creates.
The photo was a double exposure I took in Cardiff Market by the fish counter. I often shoot double exposures on film cos it’s always an experiment that surprises you when you get the roll developed. Find Marcus on Instagram.