20 Aug The emotional story behind Chloe’s winning photo

The postponement of her wedding and not having the freedom to visit family in the UK was the inspiration behind an emotional photo that has won Chloe Jackson first place in the Timboon and District Healthcare Service’s 2020 Photography Competition.

Chloe moved to Timboon from the UK three years ago and said the photo competition had helped her use her creativity to capture her feelings about her own COVID-19 isolation.

More than 50 entries were submitted for this year’s competition. The 2020 theme was to capture isolation and social distancing in an image that also spoke to health and wellbeing.

The placegetters were;

1st: Chloe Jackson ($150)

2nd: Stephanie Smart ($75)

3rd: Aiden Freeman ($30)

 

Chloe Jackson’s winning photo

The judging panel consisted of TDHS chief executive officer Rebecca Van Wollingen, Board of Directors chair Maryanne Puli Vogels, TDHS Consumer Participation Committee chair Heather Bullen and community engagement officer Sabine McKenzie.

Chloe said she was excited to hear her photo had been judged the best entry.

“I’ve been quite flat during isolation so this has perked me up. I think it’s important to hold onto any positives at the moment – they’re the stepping stones that will get us all through this,” she said.

“I met my fiancé Paul Thompson, who grew up in Timboon, while we were both working on superyachts in France.

“If it wasn’t for Coronavirus, I’d be Chloe Thompson right now. We were supposed to fly to the UK to get married in Dorset in April. We couldn’t in the end, it was getting bad and we had to pull the pin. It was really hard…it’s just been horrible.

“We’ve got a postponed date for next year. Now we’re not sure if that will happen either.”

The couple have two boys, Gus (4) who was born in the UK and whose hand features in the winning photo, and Toby who is 18 months old.

“I saw the competition advertised and it was nice to have the topic of isolation to work with. I took a few photos, but this one turned out to be my favourite,” she said.

“I feel like during the lock downs that a way for me to cope has been to use my creativity…whether it’s painting, cooking, taking photos or whatever – it is a coping mechanism for me.

“This period has not only been isolating here, but also being away from my family in England and not having the freedom to visit them has been hard.

“The photo signifies a piece of glass separating myself and my family from everyone we’d like to be seeing and the raindrops can be moody…or perhaps tears.”

Ms Van Wollingen said the judging was completed anonymously and all judges chose Chloe’s photo as the winner.

“I’d like to say a big thank you to all entrants for submitting their photos in this year’s competition,” she said.

“They are of such high quality that we will get in touch with all entrants for their consent to give many of their photos valuable exposure in our future publications.”

Stephanie Smart’s 2nd place photo.

Aiden Freeman’s 3rd place photo