Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Aaron Stevens from the Gene Structure and Function Laboratory has placed third in the 2018 Otago Bulletin Page Photo Competition.
“This photograph was taken while travelling in Vietnam. This local family welcomed us in for lunch and taught us how to make rice paper, which is their source of income. This lady was the grandmother of the family and was preparing fried rice paper for us to try,” says Dr Stevens.
“What spurred me to take the photo was her eyes and her smile, and my favourite aspect is her spontaneous laugh. We couldn't speak a word of each other's language and she clearly found it amusing that I wanted to take her photo. I got lucky with the composition, but I tried to emphasise the experienced movements of her fanning the coals and flipping the rice paper with a slower shutter speed.
“I have been interested in photography for about eight years, I mostly photograph landscapes and tend to avoid photographing people.”
Over the past six years, a number of Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science staff and students have placed in the competition including Dr Emma Spencer, Alice Milnes, Dr Markus Dagnell and Yifang Parker.
Read more about the competition and see the other winning entries.