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Daisy brings ‘streets for people’ into focus

A 21-year-old from Leamington has clinched herself a new digital camera after winning a photographic competition to demonstrate that streets are for people and not for cars.

Warwickshire County Council’s Sustainable Travel team ran the competition, and Daisy Bradbury from Leamington won it with her artistic entry.

Daisy said: “I’m getting more and more into photography, and I’m trying to do some through my work for a publishing company. I got myself a digital slr last year, and it’s great to win such a high quality compact digital camera for those times when a big slr just isn’t right.”

Nicola Small, the county council’s Sustainable Travel Team Leader, said: “The car has taken over our lives. We forget how intrusive they can be – creating noise and congestion. This competition has been a great way of making us stop and think about how streets could be used more for people than machines.”

With superb prizes on offer – including an 8.3 megapixel digital camera, a family ticket to Warwick Castle, and a family rail ticket to London – a good range of entries was assured. There were over eighty high quality images entered, making the judges’ selection difficult.

Many of the images will be used for display and promotional purposes, and a gallery of the entries is being established at http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/travelwise .

Daisy’s winning picture is a startling sepia image of a crowded – but car free – street in Paris. The eye is drawn into the picture by the isolated use of crimson colour picking out three individuals within the crowd, successively further away from the photographer. Daisy wins a Fujifilm A800 digital camera.

Second prize is awarded to Sylvia May for her image of lady Morris Dancers in Church Street, Warwick. Happy faces and thronging crowds, for once overshadow the cars. Sylvia wins four tickets to Warwick Castle.

The third winning entry, from Mike Abbott of Harbury, depicts an elderly couple walking hand in hand down Northumberland Street, Leamington Spa. There are no cars, and the picture captures the wonderful autumn colours that we have experienced this year. Mike wins a return family rail ticket to London.

If you missed the competition, but like the idea, then please continue to submit your pictures electronically to sustainabletravel@warwickshire.gov.uk