Little Lenses

Children as young as three are encouraged to share how they view the world by snapping photos around Sydney for an annual contest.

Little Sydney Lives Photography Competition is part of City of Sydney Council’s art festival Art and About,an event that encourages those of all agesto use the city “as a canvas for creation and storytelling”.

City of Sydney events creative director and producer Gill Minervini said the competition was a children’s version of the annual Sydney Lives Photography Exhibition.

“We thought…it would be great to give little kids the opportunity to have a photographic competition of their own,” Ms Minervini said.

“We look for photographs that depict the scene of Little Sydney Lives, so what it’s like to be little in Sydney.”

The two age group categories are 3-7 and 8-11.

There were over 70 entries in last year’s competition.

Originality is the main criteria for a winning entry.

But do toddlers know what to do with a camera? “I guess you have to ask the three-year olds!,” Ms Minervini said.

She said the quality of the photographs was very high.

“We were quite surprised. They were very beautiful and it was very difficult picking a winner.”

Liam Jones was nine when he submitted a picture that made him first-runner up in last year’s competition.

“You can only see arms and hands, and it’s like me and my soccer team putting our hands together for Newcastle United,” he said. “That’s my soccer team.”

“My hand is the one that’s closest to the photo when you’re looking at it.”

“I chose that picture because it’s more me – because I like soccer and that’s my hobby,” he said.

Liam’s mother Mrs Jones, an English teacher, discovered that her son scored high marks in visual area in an IQ test.

Since then she has encouraged him to develop his visual talents.

“I’ve tried to educe the best of his visual abilities, which included entering this competition,”she wrote on her blog.

“Our education system is centred around reading and writing. Visual learning is not as well catered for, so it’s up to parents to try to find places outside school to develop their abilities.”

Submissions close on June 29 at 5pm. The top 20 photos from the competition will be exhibited in Hyde Park from September 23 to October 23.

By Josephine Kwan