By Laura O’Neill

Amelia Silina, a media student at North West Regional College, Limavady has been shortlisted for this year’s Féile an Earraigh Photography Competition. The vibrant Belfast based Spring Festival celebrates and showcases local Irish culture and diversity through a range of events. The amateur photography competition exhibition is one of the highlights.

Amelia explained how she wasn’t planning on entering the competition. She captured the photo ‘off the cuff’ when out filming for college. When she realised how beautiful it was, she placed it for entry under the highly competitive Portrait category.

“I decided to take a set of photos whilst I was out filming a few things and got a cute shot of my friend with the streetlights shining down on her.

“If I hadn’t of been doing film stuff then I wouldn’t be doing my short film and then I wouldn’t have taken the photos.

“It was more candid. It wasn’t as posed; you could really feel the emotion through it.”

Amelia who is only 16 years old described how her interest in photography has taken shape.

“Two years ago, I got started into film photography, I loved the way the photos looked so I bought a film camera and spent a lot of time and money on filming and developing. It got too expensive, so I eventually bought a digital camera.

“It was probably more useful to learn film photography first, that way I could focus on getting settings right. I didn’t need to rely on auto mode as I already knew the basics of composition and all that.”

Amelia’s piece called Burning Bright is currently being displayed in the Kennedy Centre, Belfast. The competition is open to public vote up until March 16. Votes can be placed using the link:

The festival is organised by the long-established charity organisation, Féile an Phobail. It will run from March 1 -17 and offers a range of events including

concerts, workshops, Irish language classes, tours, walks, sports and family events and St Patrick’s Day. Full details are available at www.feilebelfast.com.