LOUISVILLE, Ky. — University of Louisville Photographic Archives has awarded Sean Collier, a graduating senior from duPont Manual High School, with the 2011 Stern J. Bramson Award. The $500 award recognizes outstanding achievement in photography by students at Louisville and Southern Indiana high schools.
Collier received the award based on the strength of a 10-photo portfolio. He used a Pentax K1000, a film camera, to take his photos. While he is acquainted with digital technique, he said he prefers the manual film cameras because “they are more precise, and give more control.”
“I like rich black tones. I’m doing more work – especially portraits – that fade into shadows. It gives more depth and emotion and leaves something for the viewer’s discretion,” he said when asked about his Bramson Award submissions.
A student of guitar as well as photography, Collier will attend Columbia College Chicago this fall. He will pursue a double major in sound engineering and photography.
The award is in honor of Stern J. Bramson, a commercial photographer in Louisville during the mid 20th century. His work is housed at UofL’s Photographic Archives and is also represented in collections at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Dayton Art Institute, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the J.B. Speed Art Museum as well as in many private collections. Bramson’s family established an endowment for the award in his name after his death in 1989.
For more information, contact Delinda Stephens Buie, head of Special Collections, University of Louisville Libraries at 502-852-6762 or dsbuie@louisville.edu