Written by: Elsie Cullen

CULTURA CREATIVE today announces the winners of its first new Photo Competition in parallel with GUAP magazine initiative to celebrate Black Photographers and encouraging excellence in creativity.

The photography licensing industry is a highly lucrative yet often overlooked stream of income for creatives all over the world. It champions and rewards you for capturing the everyday. From getting your hair done, to trying out rock-climbing for the first time. Every reference photo you’ve used or searched – someone has been paid for creating it, that someone could be you.

In this growing digital age, many platforms, companies and organisations rely on the photography licensing industry to help communicate their ideas, values and vision. However, there is a lack of diversity both behind and in front of the camera. This is where Cultura Creative believes they are able to step in and create change within the stock photography industry by producing authentic and diverse creative content from BIPOC photographers and videographers.  Cultura Creative is part of the Image Source family, an independent award-winning high-end stock agency founded in London in 1999 by Christina Vaughan, herself from a tribal background.

The team are passionate about representing the colourful rich heritage we all share and want to encourage and celebrate diverse talent across the board including make-up artists, stylists, producers and editors from the BIPOC community in creating an entirely inclusive premium photography collection. This competition is the first of many the team will be running to help source and celebrate the richness of diverse talent, heritage and culture. 

Christina Vaughan comments “At Image Source, we have always brought differentpeople and cultures together. Diversity and Inclusion is part of who we are and it has been vital to building a successful business. We believe diversity brings benefits for our clients, our business and our people. We want to reflect the communities in which we operate as these different perspectives drive innovation. We have always believed strongly in authenticity and we want to switch our focus to behind the lens and ensure we are promoting and celebrating Creators from BIPOC backgrounds to come work and shoot for us.”

The Colour Bold competition in partnership with GUAP celebrates black creativity and supports creators with cash prizes as well as getting photographers’ images in front of our top level judging panel.

The Winner of the Competition is Isis Matthew Boundy

“The Arts have always fascinated me from childhood and my interest in photography became prominent when my mum finally acquired her first digital camera in 2004 and I couldn’t keep my hands off it! I used it for documenting the plants and flowers around my estate, but eventually going on to become more interested in other areas of photography, such as portraiture, architecture, and landscape. I’m saving to be able to afford a new camera so will be putting the prize money towards that.”

Runner Up: Janella Dankwa

My love for photography started in my foundation year at college. As soon as I learned that there were so many realms to how you can manipulate imagery in such diverse and dimensional ways, it was game over.  To me Photography is so much more than just taking a picture, it’s about the creation within the picture. Creating shadows and playing with the scope of the pictures is what I found really brought my imagery to life. In the future I want to see myself flourishing in all avenues of creativity, from photography, to set design, creative direction, and fashion film. I serve a limitless God so I cannot be limited to one stream of work. I hope to use the prize money to invest in either some mixed media materials or a new camera lens.

Runner Up: Richie Sumaili

“My introduction into photography started with going to events in the early stages of life and capturing my favourite artists. I’ve always had a good eye and so I thought why not use the camera. In the future, I’d love to see my work on billboards and in galleries. I’d also really like to attend more festivals or international opportunities so that I can meet people all over the world. I’m hoping to put the prize money towards new equipment and further developing my craft.”

Runner Up: Rachel Seidu

“Photography started out as a hobby for me, but the more I took pictures the more I fell in love with it. In terms of the future, I believe the future will take care of itself, but I hope I’m signed to a gallery in the future, it’s one of my dreams! I was saving up to get a new lens because my old lens is giving me a lot of issues and stopped working already, the prize money will make my money for the new lens complete!”

Runner Up: Saskia Capetti

“Music kickstarted my passion for photography, to be honest – I’m a big music head and was attending loads of concerts growing up. I decided to take Photography at A-Level as I’ve always been creative and the subject intrigued me. From then I started building my Instagram, tagging artists/stylists/DJs, etc, and slowly began making my way into the industry from there. I also love meeting new people and strive to capture their personalities as best as possible once a connection is made. I hope to use the prize money to go towards paying to keep my business afloat, but to be honest, winning this is bigger than the money… it’s the encouragement I needed to remind me I’m on the right track”

Runner Up: Fiona Quadri

“My passion for photography started when I received my first Canon Bridge Camera. My camera became an extension of my creativity and work, capturing images curated behind the camera and using experimental tactics to create a final piece just like a paint stroke is a part of a painting. My creative work is underlined by political and social themes evolving around Race, Belonging, and Identity. I’m currently working on a zine project and aim to continue my practice as a photographer and illustrator, collaborating with people to create meaningful projects, especially for the Queer (and) POC communities. I hope to use the prize money to cover costs towards making my upcoming zine project and paying a range of creatives and collaborators.”

Written by: Elsie Cullen

Check out the GUAP Arts & Culture section, to discover new art, film, and creative individuals.