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David Simmonds Wins Silver Medal at 1st China International Digital Photographic Art Exhibition

David Simmonds, Photo Media tutor at the Australian Academy of Design, has won the Silver Medal at the 1st China International Digital Photographic Exhibition that will open at the Photography Museum in Lishui, China’s first dedicated professional photography museum.

A total of 468 entries from photographic organizations, professional and amateur photographers from all over the world were submitted to the competition.

The theme of the competition was:
Photography is the art of light;
Photography is the paradise of creation;
Photography is a language without border;
Photography is a bridge of soul.

100 works were pre-selected from which 28 were selected as finalists. David had two entries selected for the final exhibition in the Photography Museum in Lishui. His Silver Medal entry “Stairway to Heaven” is illustrated below.

‘Stairway to Heaven’ photo by David Simmonds

This is an image created as a series I was working on with a designer friend John Tall, John had an eye for splitting an image, so together we created a series of images that we call ZeeZee,s reflections on architecture This was one of a series of these architectural images and my favourite. It was taken of the then new overpass from Bourke Street to the Etihad Stadium at Docklands. Sadly much of this structure has been dismantled when Southern Cross Station was built.

‘Kaleidescope’ by David Simmonds

Part of the award for the Silver Medal is a trip to Lishui for the presentation and David is planning to combine the visit with some photographic work in China.

Photo Media academic staff at the Academy are travelling widely lately; Elli Iaonnou, Coordinator of Photo Media Studies, is in Milan as part of a Artist-in-Residence scheme at the Instituto Europeo di Design, Milan, through the Academy’s International Exchange Program.

Photo Media is in the headlines at the Academy this week with the world-renowned ‘Zeitgeist Becomes Form” – German Fashion Photography 1945-1995 exhibition currently on show in the Academy’s Clement Meadmore Gallery until 11 November, 2010.

Image top left: Clement Meadmore “Outspread” 1991 (detail) photo by Carl Lykert, Robin Gibson Gallery