Thetford students capture winter scenes

Creative students at a Thetford school have been taking on a “cheap shot challenge” to capture winter scenes.

The competition was launched by Thetford Academy science teacher Sarah Teverson, after being inspired by a conference at the Science Museum in London.

Students were then set a theme of “In the dead of winter” by head of art Geraldine Guilfoyle and encouraged to use simple techniques to come up with unusual images.

The main rule was that they could not use automatic filters of the sort found on photo sharing apps like Instagram.

Miss Teverson said: “The idea of the cheap shot challenge is that people can use camera phones and cheap cameras to take stunning photographs.

“So many people are scared of engaging with new and expensive technology so it’s an opportunity to get involved regardless of your budget or technological constraints.

“Not everyone can afford expensive equipment but that needn’t stop you being creative.”

She added: “I’m STEM coordinator - with the aim of bringing together science, technology, engineering, and maths studies, but you cannot problem solve without being creative so we shouldn’t discount the arts as important in moving forward scientifically.

“It’s gone down really well with loads of entries and interest, and we hope to make it a regular event.”

Milda Siauciulyte took first place with her misty nautical scene, and sisters Mollie Hammond and Jessie Hammond took second and third places with shots of a roaring fire and wintery forest respectively.

Raquel Lima took the sixth form prize with her beach scene, while Kevin Firmager won the staff prize.

The winners will receive a canvas print of their image.