Reflections

Community Spirit

This competition has now closed.

Winners

1st
Cutting the Tape
Michael Fogg
2nd
Morning Netting
Pranab Basak
3rd
Relay to Win
Amitava Chandra

Commended

According to Amitai Etzioni, an Israeli-American sociologist, best known for his work on socioeconomics and communitarianism, community spirit is a unity of people in society who uphold and share similar values and resources.
Community cohesion is created when individuals are willing to sacrifice their own interests and engage in activities that benefit the community.
Community spirit is a feeling of involvement in and concern for one’s local community. This may be expressed through locally organised, informal or spontaneous events and activities designed to promote the community and create a feeling of collectiveness.
Usually carried out by a group of volunteers who have a common goal, activities may include clearing rubbish or picking up litter, renovating public spaces, tending to a community garden, running a community fair, taking part in a school fete, hosting a charity event, or even taking part in neighbourhood watch schemes.
The idea is that by making small personal sacrifices we can create a larger benefit for all of us. Such activities also help to educate us about our moral responsibilities and promote friendliness and understanding between local people.
For this theme we are looking for photos that depict community spirit and the effects of actions undertaken by the community to improve society and reinforce social bonds. What has happened in your community that has created a sense of pride and enhanced the sense of belonging? Can you capture this in your images?

Competition Judge

Bob Hamilton

Bob Hamilton has spent his working life developing software but has always been most at home with either a camera or a pen in his hand, taking pictures or writing words. He only began to take his photography seriously after a friend had seen his personal blog in 2011, liked the photographs taken to illustrate some of the posts, and suggested a photo journal site called Blipfoto where the idea is to post a single photograph and some accompanying words each and every day.

Bob describes himself as an opportunistic photographer. He takes photographs of the landscapes and streetscapes he passes through, as well as the people he chances to meet along the way. He never sets out to take specific pictures. They are delivered in the course of going about his everyday life. He exclusively uses a compact, which is always in his pocket, wherever he is, whatever he happens to be doing. It means that no opportunity is ever missed. He would like his photography to be thought of as a celebration of the extraordinary that is to be seen everywhere in the ordinariness of life. Extraordinary sights. Extraordinary people.

His journey as a photographer has been very much one of learning how to see. The desire to publish a photograph every day has encouraged him to be bold in taking candid pictures and also in approaching people on the street for portraits. His favourite shots are those that are telling or suggesting a story. Bob is not so much interested in the technical excellence of a photograph but its feeling. It’s all about the emotional response. The greatest satisfaction in his own photography is when he feels something out in the world and manages to capture that in such a way that other people are able to feel it too. That’s the ultimate measure of a successful photograph.

View Archive

Cutting the Tape

Michael Fogg

First Prize

A photograph that perfectly captures a moment, one which exudes community spirit. It’s hard not to smile along with everyone involved. The photographer has involved us closely with the two ladies involved in cutting the tape, while also allowing us to share the involvement of the bystanders, every facial expression adding a little something to the feeling of shared experience.

Morning Netting

Pranab Basak

Second Prize

A beautiful evocation of the spirit of working together. With the sun rising to the left of the frame, the light adds an additional leading line to those provided by the fishermen and the rope. Combined with their reflection, these components come together to create an immensely appealing photograph.

Relay to Win

Amitava Chandra

Third Prize

A documentary image that suggests a story, the details of which we can only guess at. It shows what looks like an ad-hoc community of people working to achieve something together. It’s unusual and also puzzling. It’s an image that feels out of time and all the more compelling for that.

And that was a SIX

Udayan Sankar Pal

Commended

This photograph captures a sense of community spirit through an impromptu game of street cricket. The exuberance of the shot (in both senses of the word) contrasts with the austere setting, suggesting at how people will always seek out ways to enjoy themselves, with whatever they find to hand.

Community Kitchen

Debashis Mukherjee

Commended

The fact that we see only hands in this image gives it an almost abstract quality, while still speaking to the theme of community. The colour palette and the different skin textures in the hands make for a striking photograph.

Together

Bharat Bhambhaney

Commended

It’s always good to see an alternative take on a theme and this photographer is commended for thinking outside the box. Ants offer the ultimate example of community in the natural world. The image speaks for itself.

When Life Still Goes On

Amitava Chandra

Commended

A poignant and extraordinary image, suggesting how a community will work to keep life moving on, even in death.