Pagham photographer named a finalist

Rob’s submission was created when he laid on the glass floor of the Bellagio lobby in Las Vegas to photograph the glass flowers displayed there.

He said: “I’m a photographer (not full time) and belong to The Guild of Photographers. Every month I enter their monthly competition that has thousands of entries and have been lucky enough to win some monthly awards this year, mostly bronze and a silver. It is an International competition and I received an email stating that my silver award has made it to the finals which will be judged by leading photographers from around the country.”

During 2017, the competition attracted around 1,200 entries per month from the most talented of photographers. It has been announced that from all the entries across the year, the guild’s judges have selected just 12 images in various genres to go forward to the annual Image of the Year final - one of which is Rob’s photograph.

His image, along with the 11 others selected as finalists, was printed for the final in December. The outcome will be announced at an awards night on Feburary 3.

Lesley Thirsk, guild director, said: “One of the Guild’s aims is to drive standards and creativity amongst photographers. Our monthly competition certainly does that, for the standard of the entries we see each month is quite staggering. To have an image recognised by the Guild in the monthly competition is difficult enough, so to have an image selected as being one of the best in a category for the end of year final is without doubt an incredible achievement, and shows just how talented a photographer Rob is.”

Rob continued: “I love photography and put a lot of effort into developing my skills. One way I do that is to enter the guild’s competition. It drives forward photography standards month after month so it helps me push myself. The images I see getting awards each month are inspirational, so knowing just how high those standards are, to have one of my images shortlisted for the overall final from the many thousands submitted across whole year is really exciting. I couldn’t believe it when I found out. For this particular image I was laying on the floor of the Bellagio lobby in Las Vegas as their ceiling has these beautiful glass flowers hanging above you as you check in. I did get some strange looks but it was worth it for the end result.”

Rob’s work can be seen at facebook.com/randmphotography.