A photograph depicting the construction of the Riverside Museum in Glasgow by amateur photographer Jim Dunn, who lives in the city, has today been announced as the overall winner in the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Art of Building digital photography competition.
Jim Dunn’s photograph, ‘Elements’, was chosen by the public from twelve images taken at locations around the world, all of which were deemed by the judges to have captured the built environment in a unique and imaginative way.
Commenting on ‘Elements’, the judges said: “this image makes a huge impact, while interpreting the subject in a highly artistic manner. The juxtaposition of the storm clouds with the cathedral-like structure creates a powerful backdrop for the construction worker going about his job, highlighting his purposeful dedication in the face of the elements and the enormity of his task.”
Jim Dunn’s image achieved 18 per cent of the vote. It fought off stiff competition from other popular finalists such as ‘Ode to Escher 01’ by Mick Ryan, taken in the Jing An District in Shanghai and “Bamboo Slum’ taken by Mohammad Rakibal Hasan in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which were also extremely popular with the public.
“A colleague of mine alerted me to the CIOB Art of Building competition which he had seen details of in a magazine,” says Dunn. “The image I submitted was taken about a year ago during the construction of the Riverside Museum in Glasgow which will open in Spring 2011. It has been designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.
“For the past few years, I have been documenting the construction of the building which is being constructed on the site of an old dockyard. Every couple of months I go down to the site and photograph the next stage - as you can probably imagine I have hundreds of images. I used a new plug-in for Photoshop CS4 – ‘merge to HDR’ to heighten the sense of drama in the image.”
Saul Townsend, CIOB press and communications manager, added: “The public’s reaction to the Art of Building competition has been extremely enthusiastic. When it launched in April, we had a flood of entries from as far afield as Iran, Australia, India and China. The quality was very high and the interpretation of the brief was extremely varied, which made reaching a decision on the finalists very challenging for the panel of judges.
“One of the aims of the CIOB is to celebrate the creativity of the construction industry, the passion of the people who work within it and the impact it has on our daily lives. We feel that, in their own unique way, everyone who entered the competition or voted for their favourite image has helped to share our enthusiasm for the built environment. Now, the public have voted and we are delighted to crown the winner of our first ever digital photography competition.”
To see Jim Dunn’s photograph, the finalists’ images and those that were highly commended, log on to the CIOB’s dedicated Art of Building website at www.artofbuilding.org. Updates on the competition can also be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Art_of_Building.
