University News Last updated 05 July 2018
BA (Hons) Photography student, George Kazazis, has been selected for Canon’s fully sponsored student development programme to Visa Pour l’Image, International Festival of Photojournalism in France.
The trip will provide fantastic opportunities for George to expand his photography knowledge through attending workshops, lectures and guided exhibition tours. Meeting industry experts will give him the opportunity to learn new skills and network with photography professionals. George will also have his portfolio reviewed by inspirational Canon Ambassadors, an extremely valuable aspect of the trip, especially at this point in his career.
George commented on his successful application,
"The entire idea of this programme was very compelling from the moment I found out. I knew that a well-established company such as Canon could offer very valuable guidance, as well as the unique opportunity to engage with important individuals from industry-leading organisations – all adding to an exceptional programme for a practitioner of my level.”
To apply for the opportunity, students were required to send in two stories, each made up of six to ten fully captioned images along with a summary of the project and an artist statement. Canon selected 200 students across Europe to go on this once in a lifetime, expenses paid trip to Perpignan, France.
George submitted two of his previous works; Korma – The Landscapes and Korma Pt.II – The Portraits. In the first project George took a photojournalism approach after starting to practice medium format film. Inspired by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, George documented the aftermath of the Turkish invasion in 1974 with an appropriate use of monochrome film to represent the deserted and melancholic landscapes.
In the second project George submitted, he returned to North Cyprus with an alternative approach, concentrating on close up portraiture using a colour negative film. George photographed some of the most iconic people that occupy the isolated villages of the Western coast, tracing them through their historic paths and individually interviewing each of them as an interesting background to his images.
George’s photography tutor, Paul Lander commented;
“George is a hardworking, conscientious student who has developed an intellectual approach to image taking, his conceptual engagements when photographing the landscape have provided thought provoking perceptions along with an aesthetic allurement that is beautiful yet intriguing.”
