A CONCRETE FUTURE

NPC Cimpor’s “Focus on Concrete Future” photographic competition to local photographers.

The phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” holds especially true for artworks where different mediums are able to capture the essence of a subject in their own unique way. Wanting to capture KwaZulu-Natal’s unique concrete structures in a form which could include both amateur and professional artists, in February this year KZN based cement and concrete company NPC Cimpor, launched the inaugural Focus on Concrete Future photographic competition to local photographers.

The brief was: to capture interesting, creative and futuristic images that celebrate the beauty of cement and concrete world in KwaZulu-Natal. Enthusiastic amateurs, photography students and professional photographers, alike, responded to the call for photographs of the provinces most inspired cityscapes, buildings, bridges and structures.

Upcoming amateur photographer Jeff Watson, winner of the R20,000 first prize, was absolutely speechless that his photograph Geometric Inspiration caught the eye of judges. Passionate about photography, his photograph represents an abstract and simplified beauty of the city’s manmade concrete structures. “The NPC Focus on Concrete Future competition is a great platform for enthusiastic photographers to tell their stories through the pictures they take. I hope that in the future there will be more of these competitions where we can express ourselves and experiment with photography,” he said.

Piet Strauss, Managing Director of NPC Cimpor said, “We’re extremely proud of the enthusiastic response we’ve had to the competition and the high level of entries received. KwaZulu-Natal is a haven of artistic talent and one of the aims of the competition is to provide photographers with a platform to express this creativity. With this competition, it’s our intention to illustrate that cement and concrete can spark the imagination and be used creatively in urban design and art.”

The first runner up was Ben Myburgh, who took home R10,000 for his depiction of Whale Bone. Second place went to Brendon Ellingson, whose photograph Futuristic image of the Moses Mabhida Stadium won R5,000.

More than 250 photographs of the city’s concrete structures were received for the competition with the top 50 entries being exhibited at the KZNSA Gallery in Glenwood, Durban for a week.