Prize for UEL photo of student tuition fee protest

'Student Riots London' by UEL photography student Ricardo Raspa.

Melissa York, Reporter Saturday, October 6, 2012
4:00 PM

This arresting image of student protestors clashing with police won a University of East London student a national photography prize.

Second year student Ricardo Raspa won a ‘merit’ award, one of nine in the UK, at the FujiFilm Student Awards 2012 for his photograph entitled ‘Student Riots London’.

Describing the moment he captured the image, Ricardo said: “The image was taken during the protests against student fees reform in Parliament Road in 2010.

“The situation went wrong when the police ‘kettled’ us - the protestors - and by doing so the tension started building up.

“I captured the moment with a Yashica GSN camera loaded with black and white FujiFilm. Luckily, because of this, I was allowed to apply for the FujiFilm student award.

“The result is not quite there, so I hope next time I will do better, but I still like the photo.”

Submissions had to be shot on traditional film and express the word ‘extreme’ in a single image.

Praising his photography students at UEL, Ralph Hall, senior lecturer, said: “Ricardo, among them, has a bright future as a photographer, and this award attests to the quality of his work.

“His winning image is a fantastic piece of photo-journalism, which really capture the chaotic intensity of a moment in history.”

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