Student Successes
Tom Flathers
Former Sixth Form College Student Achieves Major Photography Success
17th February 2010
Tom Flathers achieved major success recently as he became Royal Horticultural Society Young Photographer of the Year. A student at Hereford Sixth Form College from 2007-2009, Tom’s actual area of expertise is sports photography and he began taking photos of the College sports teams in 2008. In his second year Tom began to write reports as well as taking photos and followed the hugely successful netball team of 2009/10, having multiple reports and photos published in the Hereford Times. At this time Tom was also the official photographer for his local football team Bromyard FC and had many reports and photos in Bromyard’s local town magazine Off the Record. With the help of Harriet Major, also a former student of the Hereford Sixth Form College, Tom moved on to photographing the England Rounders squads including one international fixture. Over the course of the summer Tom officially covered all seven days of the Malvern Junior Open which featured some of the best junior players in the country. Tom also attended professional events such as Wimbledon, Aviva Athletics European Trails and European Championships and Arsenal vs. Chelsea to gain further experience – even if it was just shooting from the crowd.
The summer also presented a time of reflection for Tom as he worked out how to improve his photography and it was during this period that Tom came up with his unique project and style – Silhouette Sport. Currently being used by University Birmingham Sport, this project is a new and innovative approach to the exercise of sports photography.
Tom’s major success has come at Birmingham University. Within the first three weeks of the autumn term Tom had become the Chief Photographer of the weekly student newspaper and been given a photography internship by University Birmingham Sport. No first year has ever held such a senior position at the newspaper and there are only three other interns in the whole of the university so these are really major achievements. Over the course of this term Tom’s portfolio has greatly expanded as he has perfectly captured the raw action and energy that university sport presents. His images have been used for merchandise and advertising and are a permanent feature in the Munrow Sports Centre. Tom is greatly looking forward to the BUCS Championships in Sheffield later this year which presents the climax of the university sporting calendar.
Part of Tom’s intern programme is for him to develop his photography as an official photographer at professional events. Current events on which he looks likely to gain a placement are the Wimbledon Championships and the Aviva European Indoor Championships.
Apart from the obvious natural talent Tom possesses, many of his achievements are simply down to his passion to succeed at what he is best at and to simple hard work. Possessing a distinct fear of failure and a desire to be the best, Tom is developing at a rapid pace and looks on track to fulfil his dream of becoming a professional sports photographer and ultimately the best sports photographer in the world.
To see Tom's winning photograph click the link below:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Competitions/Photo-competition/Budding-photographer