Every year the CWU holds a national digital photography competition as part of their informal learning project. The competition is open to all CWU members and their families, and is aimed at building on the work of CWU Union Learning reps (ULRs) who have enabled hundreds of members to take part in Digital Photography courses.

The 2015 event was won by Plymouth Mail Centres Paul Fine. The competition this year proved to be of a very high standard with some very talented amateur photographer’s from all functions within Royal Mail and all parts of the country. Paul's winning picture was called ‘Lighting up’ and he was delighted to win the overall competition.  

Gavin Hardie, Lead ULR, Plymouth and East Cornwall Amal, said Paul has been inspired by photography for a number of years.

Paul said:

I used to dabble a little in painting both oils and watercolours, then I picked up a camera and I was hooked. I love the idea that you can freeze a moment in time forever, whether it is the colours of the beautiful landscape, the look in an animal’s eyes in a wildlife shot, or the face in a portrait image, which is what I tried to capture in my image, ‘lighting up’. It was taken from a market in Borneo, I saw this old women in the market, it was a very hot day; she was sat on the ground with a few handmade trinkets laid out in front of her, for sale.  She took out a small battered tin and rolled her cigarette with a few scraps of tobacco.  A simple pleasure in a hard life!"

The image was originally taken in colour, but Paul converted it into black and white to try and bring out the character in the women’s face and the story of hardship and struggle, but with the dignity that comes with age.

As a self-taught amateur, Paul loves the idea of sharing his work with people and hopes his pictures will inspire more, he explained:

I like watching people’s reactions when they look at my images. With photography so accessible to so many people these days, I hope many more get into this great pass time…….then perhaps more people can enter next year’s competition and have fun, like I did. With photography, you have so many stories to tell. It was an honour to win this and I would like to thank everyone who voted for me."

Gavin added:

Some of the pictures this year were amazing and it was very hard to pick a winner, Paul had two pictures in the final which makes his win even more special."

If you would like to see more of Paul’s work, have a look at his profile on www.ipernity.com. Just type Pauls name in the search bar.