Exhibition highlights winners of photo competition
It’s Tourism Week and one of the BTB sponsored special events is a photo contest. Ann-Marie visited the opening at the Image Factory and discovered that there’s more to tourism photography than sea, sand, mountains and Maya ruins.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
This is the Belize Photo Challenge Competition 2001.
Richard Holder, Winner, Professional Category
“The winning piece is called “Boil-up” and basically depicts a window with a list of menu. The window is closed and boil-up (Belizean dish) is mentioned twice. I guess you have to see it to understand what I’m saying, but I like the picture and it’s full of colour.”
The dozens of other entries are also full of colour and depict Belize’s cultural diversion. Richard Holder’s fist and second place entries are only two of many in the professional category. Golda Tillett placed first in the amateur division.
Golda Tillett, Winner, Amateur Category
“It was a photo of a gentleman fishing on Glover’s Reef, and I thought it was a very nice picture. I had some better pictures, but that was my favourite picture, so I just thought for the heck of it to see how would do.”
And to her surprise it did well.
Golda Tillett
“I was like “Me? No.” Because the other people in the amateur category were very good as well. Actually the gentleman that came second, his picture was my favourite. I would have chosen that picture to win and not mine, so I was very much amazed and happy at the same time.”
“It was my favourite picture because it took me a while to actually get the picture taken how I wanted it with the clouds and the person standing up in the right position. It was kind of a challenge, and I was on a kayak, so that’s more of a challenge. So it became my favourite picture because I had fun doing it.”
Tourism Director Tracy Taegar says Belize Photo Challenge Competition 2001, was looking at a different promotional angle for Belize.
Tracy Taegar, Director of Tourism
“We try to discourage regular shots of the country because there’s so much diversity in Belize and we know that our strength is our diversity in terms of promoting tourism. So we wanted to stay away from the traditional kinds of pictures and I think that was captured in this competition.”
“The photo competition was to encourage both professional and amateur photographers to submit their work to the tourist board so we can use it in promotional and marketing activities. We always talk about Belizean ownership and Belizean participation, and most times we have to use talent from other places when we know that the talent is available here. The competition was a way of getting exposure for these photographers and giving us an opportunity to see their work.”
And the work will be on public display at the Image factory on North Front Street in Belize City for the rest of the week, during normal working hours. Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
