WHEN Mark Collins was declared News Photographer of the Year at this year’s National Student Media awards, it continued a remarkable run of success for students at the Limerick College of Further Education who have won 11 awards over the past 12 years.
One of Mark’s winning images depicted a fellow student, Isaac wearing a mask, with a number of other face-coverings depicting slogans from the racial equality struggle in the background.
“It’s lovely to win. I’m super grateful. It’s not really registered yet to be honest,” said Mark, who freely admits to an over reliance on caffeine and nicotine for motivation.
“I liked the look of the picture, and it’s very topical. There are under-represented people in Ireland and we need to shine a light on them. Ireland is made up of a lot of different things these days.”
A student of photography at LCFE, Mark decided to concentrate his focus on the still image having spent the last 20 years shooting motion.
He says he is inspired by what he sees and regards his images as being underscored by visual story telling.
