A third-year photography student from the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography (the Academy) recently won the student award in an international photography competition.
The winner of the Student Photographer of the Year award in the Sony World Photography Awards 2021 (Sony Awards), Coenraad Heinz Torlage, was announced on 15 April. As part of the award, Torlage won €30 000 (R500 000) in photography equipment for the Academy, Torlage told MatieMedia.
The photographs that Coenraad Heinz Torlage submitted for the Sony World Photography Awards 2021 were taken in his hometown of Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal. PHOTO: Supplied/Coenraad Heinz Torlage
“I know that [the prize] will be digital imaging equipment, and that […] could help so many future students to develop their craft,” said Torlage.
Torlage also received a Sony mirrorless camera and an 18 to 105 millimetre lens for his performance in the competition, according to Garyth Bevan, a senior photography lecturer at the Academy, and Torlage’s previous lecturer.
The competition, which is produced by the World Photography Organisation, aims to be a “global voice for photography”, according to the Sony World Photography Awards website. The Academy incorporates the brief for the Sony Awards into their curriculum for second- and third-year students each year, said Bevan.
Garyth Bevan, a senior lecturer at the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography, explains the role and responsibilities of a photographer. AUDIO: Tamsin Metelerkamp
“You were only allowed one submission per institution in the past,” said Bevan on the Sony Awards. “But this year was the first time they allowed multiple, so we submitted about three.”
The photographs that Torlage submitted for the competition centred around the theme Young Farmers, which aligned with the brief of Our Time supplied by the Sony Awards, according to Torlage. In preparation for his submission, Torlage spent three weeks participating in multiple photo shoots a day in his hometown of Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, he said.
“Everyone from my community was extremely supportive and very involved,” said Torlage.
The winner of the student award for the Sony World Photography Awards 2021, Coenraad Heinz Torlage, will be carrying on with his Young Farmers project during the course of 2021. “I’ll be travelling and visiting more farms, more farmers, and that’ll be my year project for my final year of photography,” said Torlage. PHOTO: Tamsin Metelerkamp
Torlage explained that he chose to centre his submission around young farmers as they play a vital role in food security and sustainability in South Africa.
“[Young farmers] are […] dedicating their lives to creating a sustainable, food-secure country and that responsibility is immense,” said Torlage. “The people that I photographed inspired me a lot,” he added.
One of the subjects of Torlage’s award-winning photographs was Kwenzakwakhe Ngwadla, a Zulu prince and business overseer in Dundee, according to Ngwadla.
Ngwadla described each of Torlage’s photographs as a “living, breathing moment in time that’s been captured”.
“These pictures are going to evoke all sorts of emotions and thoughts […] in people,” said Ngwadla. “If [Torlage] hasn’t already, he’s going to bring a lot more focus and a lot more attention to the agricultural side in this province.”
One of the subjects of Coenraad Heinz Torlage’s photographs was Kwenzakwakhe Ngwadla, a Zulu prince and business overseer in Dundee. PHOTO: Supplied/Coenraad Heinz Torlage