The winner of the photo competition “Earth and Climate” will have his own exhibition at UJEP
There was record interest in this year’s “Earth and Climate” photo competition. People sent in almost a hundred photos. From these, an expert jury selected 22 images to go through to the final round. The winner of the online public vote was student Zdeněk Picpauer.
“When we found out that the winner of the competition also had a number of other unique photographs, we decided to offer him the opportunity to hold his own exhibition in the premises of the Centre for Natural Sciences and Engineering in the heart of the UJEP Campus,” says Regina Herma, Ph.D., Vice Dean of the Faculty of Science for External and International Relations. “We are delighted that the competition motivates young photographers to be mindful of nature and gives them the opportunity to present their work to a wider audience.” The competition is organised by the Faculty of Science together with the Faculty of Environment of UJEP.
Zdeněk Picpauer submitted a picture of bees over flowers in his own garden to the competition. He waited about 15 minutes for a good shot. He was excited about the offer to have his own exhibition at UJEP. I would like to focus on the landscape, especially in detail – the plants and animals of our nature, how everything is related to the landscape as a living organism.”
In the online voting, people sent in a photo by Monika Drábková, who captured how the abandoned Otto tin mine in the Ore Mountains is overgrown with moss and trees. During World War II, prisoners of war were forced to mine here. “The place has a complicated history and many people didn’t want to be there. But now it’s amazing to see how nature is taking it back,” Monika Drábková said about her photo.
Third place went to Barbora Králová, who captured a sunlit spider web in the Sumava forest.
“Not only did we receive a record number of images, but also the online public vote attracted over one thousand votes. We are very happy that the photo contest has aroused such interest. We tried to get people to think more about the nature around them and the changes it is going through. We believe that we have succeeded in doing so,” adds doc. Pavel Krystyník, Vice Dean for External Relations of the Faculty of Environment.
The jury prize was awarded to Vojtěch Šebek for his view of the Czech Central Highlands with the silhouette of Lovosice in the background. “The September morning with the colourful sunrise and the misty haze in the valley was one of the most interesting I had the opportunity to see. I decided to submit this photograph to the competition because I think it captures the beauty of the Czech countryside and at the same time highlights the contrast with the less attractive human interventions, which are the chemical plant and the giant warehouse in Lovosice,” Vojtěch Šebek describes his photograph.
The exhibition of the final images, including the winning ones, is on display in the lobby of the Centre for Natural Sciences and Engineering at UJEP. It is freely accessible to the public until the end of May.