We are happy to share the beautiful and powerful selection of photos students have taken on their Year Abroad for the annual YA Photography Competition. Each year, students take photos during their year abroad to submit to three different categories: People, Places of Interest and The Unexpected. 

Overall Winner

Author: Elizabeth Kasperovitch

Title: ‘Sun setting over salt flats 3’

Location: Bolivia

Date: 9th May 2023

"These photos were taken in the salt flats in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, where I was travelling while living in Argentina on my YA. I went during the 'water reflection' season, where the flooded salt flats create a mirror effect. These photos are a progression of watching the sunset reflected in the water, and the sun dipping over the horizon, exposing the roughness of the crystallized salt patterns in a dry area of the Salar."

People

Winner

Author: Izzie Hackett

Title: ‘Qaway’

Location: Peru

Date: 23rd October 2022

"This photo was taken 4,900m above sea level at the summit of Palccoyo, in Peru's Cusco region. When we reached the top, I saw in the distance a Quechua woman - dressed in beautifully coloured, traditional attire - watching her llamas as they grazed on the mountain. Although minutes later she ran downhill, herding the animals with the other local villagers, I was in awe of this brief moment of tranquility, and couldn't help but attempt to capture the contrast between the woman's reflective stance and the rugged nature of the rocky landscape. The photo is named 'Qaway', which in Quechua means 'to watch', or 'to observe'." 

Commended

Author: Toby Mayhew

Title: ‘Teach me to twirl’

Location: Peru

Date: 18th June 2023

Places of Interest 

Winner
Author: Alia Dulcibella Arguello

Title: ‘Mist over San Giorgio Maggiore’

Location: Venice, Italy

Date: 11th March 2023

"I took this photograph from the Bacino di San Marco during my commute home from university classes in Venezia. I would often stop here to look at the view of the lagoon and the island of San Giorgio Maggiore across it. On this day it was a particularly beautiful scene, as it was at the point in the early evening where mist would rise from the water and merge with the sky on the horizon. The way the mist softly envelops the island beyond the characteristic venetian gondolas captures for me the mystical nature of the city."

Commended

Author: Hettie Evans

Title: ‘Mornings in Castello’

Location: Italy

The Unexpected 

Winner

Author: Toby Mayhew

Title: ‘Parrot Spotting in the Amazon’

"I took this photo in the Amazon in Ecuador, where I was travelling for my Easter holidays whilst studying in Medellín, Colombia. After hiking through the “Trail of Dreams”, we tried to wait in complete silence to catch a glimpse of the parrots entering and leaving their nests carved out of a cave. The photos of the birds themselves are pretty blurred and far off, but I was happy to have captured the moment of surprise, hope and excitement they evoked."

Commended

Author: Alex Carter

Title: ‘Frosted Faces’

Location: Kazakhstan

Date: 11th December 2022

"I spent my Year Abroad in Kyrgyzstan, teaching English with a development organisation. My visa status meant I had to leave the country every two months, so I made several trips to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. This photo was taken on one such trip – a very cold December weekend spent in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan. It depicts a detail on the city’s memorial to those who fought in the Second World War (do look up a picture of the whole memorial, it’s spectacular). The structure is controversial because its inscription talks of the defence of Russia and Moscow rather than the Soviet Union, a decision at odds with the fact it depicts Kazakh soldiers. The snow which had fallen on the memorial had partially melted before refreezing, creating icicles which hung down over several of the faces. Combined with the low angle of the winter sun, this created stark lines across an already striking sculpture – something which I thought deserved to be captured."