Brilliant energy-saving photography

Check out these terrific photographs.  They are the winners and honourable mentions of a photo competition called “Save Energy! Stop Climate Change! run by the British Embassy in Kyiv between October and December 2010.

The aim of the campaign, about which I blogged in November, is to show the benefits of energy-saving measures both for the environment and for individuals.  The response was huge, with over 900 photos submitted.  On 3 February I attend an exhibition of the winning photos at the RA gallery in Kyiv to thank the sponsors – SCM and TNK-BP – and present the prizes.  Some photos are below.  But I’d recommend strongly a visit to see all the pictures: the exhibition is at the RA Gallery at 32, Bohdana Khmelnytsko Street, just behind the Opera, till 17 February 2011.  The pictures are terrific – some dramatic, some humorous.  The gallery itself – an old air-raid shelter with massive steel doors – is worth a look too.  Some photos are accompanied by their authors’ thoughtful comments on their works.  I particularly like the winning photo, which appears to show fumes from an industrial chimney wafting straight into a block of flats.

It’s heartening to see the public responding with such enthusiasm to this initiative.  There is a well-known saying in Ukraine that the biggest potential source of energy in the country is energy-saving measures in Kyiv and other big cities.  Investment and practical energy-saving measures could save the country and individual users hard cash and reduce dependency on imports from other countries.  Let’s hope that the images in the exhibition will help stir policy-makers and the public into action to realise those gains.