To accompany this year's submissions Source has asked a number of respected figures from the world of photography to select their favourite sets of images from all the work submitted.
Special Guest Selection by:
Angela Glienicke
Picture Editor, Greenpeace UK
Overview: It was a great privilege and pleasure to review this year's graduates' portfolios which were submitted to Source Photographic Graduate Online. To choose only 6 photographers out of this pool of highly talented and creative artists was an incredibly hard task. The re-occurring themes featuring in various photographic works were either subjective expressions of individual experiences connected to loss, emptiness, mental health, personal identity, upbringing and sexuality or documentations of social and political issues like the refugee crisis, poverty and homelessness. The issue of limitations and boundaries within the creative process of photography were also featured. Some of the abstract, conceptual submissions are a beautiful invitation into another realm that inspired my imagination with their superb composition of colour, shape and form. The ingenious use of pattern and texture in some other works question any potential viewer's perception, triggering impulsive, individual associations. I was hugely impressed by the graduates' creative and innovative execution of their ideas which was evident in all categories. In my role as picture editor at Greenpeace UK, I mainly deal with documentary and press photography. It is very important for our campaigns that images are truthful and authentic. However, in a fast moving image led world we are always trying to find new ways of creatively communicating our messages, instantly gaining the viewers' attention and engaging them with our campaigns by visual storytelling.
University of Brighton - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: Karlis Bergs' documentary of sport spectators offers a deeper insight into people's desire to feel connected and being part of a greater community that temporarily defies reality by escaping into the world of sports. He creatively merges individual portraiture with documenting the spectators' neighbourhood, mirroring their longing for hope by capturing photos of rooftops, alleyways and sports fields in magical light.
IADT Dun Laoghaire - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: Stephen Colleary's documentation of the homeless, who are invisible to many, applies the original idea of making the person featured in his images transparent against an urban background that is dominated by signs and adverts. He focuses on the spectator rather than the portrayal of the homeless, sparking the viewers' empathy by questioning their perception and attitude. The transparent jacket left behind on the floor, a symbol for homelessness, puts the homeless person on the same level of invisibility as their representative object. By making his subjects invisible Colleary exposes their problem, a clever concept that could be transferred to other social or environmental issues to raise awareness.
Edinburgh College - BA Professional Photography
Selector's Comment: Paloma Fernandez' eye catching presentations of garments effectively link the photographed models with their cultural background, evoking the viewers' own association and desire for certain places or situations. Whilst some of her images, like the 'lady bathing her feet' are a perfect illustration of fashion photographer Irving Penn's comment that his role was 'selling dreams, not clothes' other photos like the young man standing in an urban landscape amongst discarded chairs and traffic cones whose colours match his clothes convey an atmosphere of bleakness. Her well-composed images trigger the viewer's curiosity about the stories behind the pictures.
Limerick School of Art & Design Photography & Lens Based Media - BA (Hons) Fine Art
Selector's Comment: Belinda Kiernan's images of landscape explore the aesthetic concept of the Sublime, it's relevance to the artist today and how it can be applied to contemporary landscape photography. Her well-composed images have a spiritual aura of mystery with clear references to the Romantic era, successfully challenging the viewer to find the Sublime in landscapes that are defined by man-made, urban structures rather than in either the magnificence of the untouched or the terrifying aspects of nature. Her nebulous landscapes convey a sad and slightly menacing atmosphere of the unknown.
Falmouth University - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: Nigel Maynard's beautiful compositions of light and colour incorporate other visual art forms like painting, expanding the boundaries between the fine art genres. He transports the viewer into an airy space away from reality by arranging his materials in a fresh new way, leaving it to the viewer to interpret his abstract creations.
Hereford College of Arts - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: Henry Rice's interpretation of memory by overlaying various photographs from the same location depicts the fluid state of the subconscious very well. His own emotions are shared with the viewer by the careful composition of his images. Different tones in colour suggest different feelings connected to the places remembered, with warm earthy colours chosen for the locations in the UK and blue-green tones reserved for the remembrance of Canada, which does not feel like home.
Anne Lyden »
Curator, Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Mike Trow »
Picture Editor - British Vogue.
Bath Spa University
BA (Hons) Photography
Ulster University Belfast
BA (Hons) Photography
Blackburn College
BA (Hons) Photographic Media
Blackpool and the Fylde
BA (Hons) Photography
University of Brighton
BA (Hons) Photography
Arts University Bournemouth
BA (Hons) Photography
University of Chester
BA (Hons) Photography
University of Cumbria
BA (Hons) Photography
Dublin Institute of Technology
BA (Hons) Photography
Edinburgh College
BA Professional Photography
Edinburgh Napier University
BA (Hons) Photography
Falmouth University
BA (Hons) Photography
Hereford College of Arts
BA (Hons) Photography
University of Huddersfield
BA (Hons) Photography
University Centre, Hugh Baird College
BA (Hons) Digital Imaging & Photography
UCS Ipswich
BA (Hons) Photography
Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design
BA (Hons) Fine Art Photography
Leeds College of Art
BA (Hons) Photography
Limerick School of Art & Design
Photography & Lens Based Media - BA (Hons) Fine Art
National College of Art and Design
Photography and Digital Imaging Certificate
University of Portsmouth
BA (Hons) Photography
UCA Rochester
BA (Hons) Photography (Contemporary Practice)
Sheffield Hallam University
BA (Hons) Photography
Southampton Solent University
BA (Hons) Photography
Staffordshire University
BA (Hons) Photojournalism
Swansea College of Art, UWTSD
BA (Hons) Photography in the Arts
Swansea College of Art, UWTSD
BA (Hons) Photojournalism and Documentary Photography