Rain and robin images land Katie a place in Great Britain postcard project

Two striking images taken by a University of Northampton student are in the running to be included in an international photographic project about British culture.

Photos of a robin and a rainy view of the Severn Estuary by Photography student, Katie Lynes, are in contention to be featured in the Postcards From Great Britain project.

Postcards from Great Britain is a largescale project from photography organisation, Shutter Hub, which invites photographers to share their visions of British culture and create conversations and exchange.

A robin, by Katie Lynes.

High tide, by Katie Lynes.

Pop-up exhibitions will be held in locations across Europe, with related events, showcasing thousands of postcard-sized images. Every image submitted to Postcards from Great Britain will be collated into a digital and print catalogue, to be housed in libraries and archives around the world, and 100 images will be selected for a collectable postcard set.

Katie’s photos were both taken in her native Bristol, with the robin image captured in her garden.

She said: “The photo was completely spontaneous, I was having my lunch on the patio and it was just hanging around. I didn’t want to scare if off so I asked my dad to get my camera for me.  It came so close I didn’t have to use a zoom lens.

“The image says Great Britain to me because the robin is one of the most traditional of British birds.”

The Severn Estuary image was taken from the shore near to Aust village.

Katie said: “My intentions with this photoshoot was to experiment with daylight long exposures – this technique is great for making a milky effect with water.

“It was a wet and windy day, and despite using two golfing umbrellas to cover me and the camera, rain got onto the filter. At the time I did not really think anything of it and wiped it off, but looking back at the photo it actually makes for quite an unusual image.

“Occasionally the sun tried to come out creating a rainbow which can just about be seen in my photo.

“This image says Great Britain to me because it represents the British weather very well, which is also a popular topic of British small talk.”

Katie will find out which of her images will be included in the project, when the first exhibition is launched on Thursday 5 March at the Hotel Lion d’Or, Haarlem, Netherlands.

You can find out more about Postcards From Great Britain on the Shutter Hub website.

Follow Katie on Instagram.