Graduate pictures international photography award success

A University of Wolverhampton photography graduate pictured a glimpse of success following his entry into an international photography award.

Bradley Pearce, 21, from West Bromwich entered the FujiFilm Young Talent Awards 2016, run in conjunction with Burn Magazine, and was named runner-up for his work ‘The Photographer Who Couldn’t’.

The FujiFilm Young Talent Awards competition is open to all photographers who are 25 or under and offers several prizes including cameras to the value of $1,000 for runners-up.

Bradley is a fine art photographer whose work revolves around matters of both personal and class based identity.  He deals mainly with themes of appropriation and self-representation in his fine art pieces.

In the past he has created commissioned work for the Birmingham & Midland Institute as well as working with Wolverhampton Art Gallery.  He graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a First Class Honours degree in Photography.

He said: “In my winning work I explored my own identity as a photographer in two distinct volumes – firstly dealing with my father’s identity as a professional football player and the pressure I felt from possibly having to follow in his footsteps.  I ‘became’ him in the studio and created a photomontage inside a genuine 1993 Panini sticker album which was exhibited at The Works gallery in Birmingham.

“Secondly I edited myself using studio photography, post production and 35 mm positive film into slides that I found of my great-grandmother on holiday in Seattle in 1969. I use this reconnection with my distant family to overcome issues raised in volume one. It feels amazing to be included in such a prestigious award and is a massive step for my photography career.