Congratulations to the 13 finalists of the Uncommon Cameras photography competition!
Uncommon Cameras, the photography competition run by the European Alumnae Council and the Mount Holyoke Global Alum Alliance, would like to congratulate our 13 finalists and our overall winner!
Our “Super Winner”
Voting was open to all MHC alums and students. Voting closed on 24th November and the overall winner was Nadia Heath ’80, Scotland, with her joy-filled image “Fly Like A Bird”. Huge congratulations Nadia!
Meet our finalists…
The Uncommon Cameras jury included photography and art professionals Jennifer Ransom ’65, Claudia Palmira ’95, Sonali Gulati ’96, Sylvia Xue Bai (白雪) ’07, and Christine Boehm ’09. After intensive and extensive communications via email and Zoom, the jury selected 13 finalists out of the 122 photographs that were submitted by 53 alums from 24 countries and five continents.
To see all 122 entries, visit our Instagram to see the photos and read their captions 🙂
(scroll down for the gallery of finalists’ pictures)
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Cindy Chan ’05, Australia | Deserted Classroom |
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Eleanor Chang ’78, USA | Argue, Pray, Love |
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Sophie Chen ’19, China | Milky Way |
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Elizabeth Cooper ’95, UK | Ben Sgulaird |
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Heather Do ’07, Germany | Weather the Storm |
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Carolyn Geisler Hornfeld ’63, Switzerland | The Dents du Midi – Am I dreaming? |
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Nadia Heath ’80, Scotland | Fly Like a Bird |
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Karen Hopkins ’92, Spain | Sunlit Lavender and Grasses of LaMancha |
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Mieke Kamps ’78, The Netherlands | Inside & Out |
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Lane A. Rosenthal ’74, USA | My Paris Teacher |
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Virginia Ross ’66, UK | Surfing Forecast |
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Elizabeth Ta’eed ’09, Portugal | My Other Half |
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Olivia Wrobleski ’21, USA/UK | c/a 4:30 pm |
View our 13 finalists’ photographs & backstories
The finalists were selected proportionally in each different category (representing roughly 10% of the entries in each category), and are all together here for you to enjoy:
05. Heather Do ’07, Germany – Weather the Storm
First thought on “A Room of One’s Own” – Virginia Woolf: importance of financial and intellectual freedom. This has hit close to home for me this year. The struggles, challenges, and changes I had and have to face for a room of one’s own. This photo shows the struggles I have to fight through, and the challenges I have face, and changes I have to make to sail through the tough weather to achieve a room of my own. And a literal room of my own that I can rely on out in the open sea fighting through the wind and waves. While I was taking this photo, I was quite scared and anxious, but I had to fight through, and looking back now, it means so much more to me, and I hope I’ll be able to weather the storm with my current situation I am in as well.
The quality and intensity of the photos submitted for Uncommon Cameras is truly impressive, and the jury faced a very challenging task. During their evaluation, jury members focused on artistic quality, composition, visual impact, and originality. They also valued adherence to the theme and relevance of the backstories. To view all entries, click here.
The task was daunting but exhilarating. One of the jury members summed up the experience with these words: “[it was] amazing to see this cross-continents effort! While I didn’t expect to be empowered in the process, it happened! Reviewing the photos made me happy and gave me an MHC kind of power”.
Congratulations to the finalists, our overall winner, and big thanks to all jury members for their participation!