Redeye is thrilled to launch an annual bursary with leading professional photographic printer Rob Sara.

Entry to this bursary is only open to paid members of Redeye. If you would like to join as a member, please visit the Join page.

Rob Sara has worked with some of Britain’s most inspiring photographers, including Hannah Starkey, Trish Morrissey, David Moore, Ewen Spencer and Nick Meek to name a few. He previously ran the printing services at Rapid Eye in Shoreditch before setting up a studio in Cumbria in 2007. He is dedicated to analogue work and continues to print the work of Stephen Gill and recent clients have included Simon Roberts and Bertien Van Manen.

The bursary will involve two days of directed hand printing to produce a series of images for a photographer’s portfolio to the value of up to £750 with an overnight stay, sponsored by Redeye. The bursary is purely for work shot on colour negative. Whilst work can be from your negative archive, the bursary is aimed at encouraging new work and is expected to be images that have never been shown before.

Rob Sara said: “The Printing Bursary offered is intended to encourage the production of previously unseen personal photographic projects. Hopefully it will help creative ideas to be realised and shown to a wider audience. This collaboration between photographer and printer, aims to highlight that the craft and context of analogue printing is meaningful and relevant. For me, the photographic hand print is still one of the finest mediums through which photographers can exhibit their work. Traditional prints have a contrasting role to play against technology these days. The more diversity in photography the better!”

To enter the bursary award, applicants must be Redeye members. They will be judged on a body of work that is either the proposed images for the bursary or a concise body representative of the work to be printed. Please send in a maximum of six printed images (working prints), maximum size A4, unmounted. This should be accompanied by a paragraph explaining why you wish to take part, what you hope to gain from the bursary, a summary of experience to date and any words supporting the images. The maximum combined length of this text is 400 words and it should fill no more than one side of A4. The deadline is 20 February 2012. The postal address is:

Printing Bursary with Rob Sara
Redeye, the Photography Network
Chinese Arts Centre
Market Buildings
Thomas Street
Manchester
M4 1EU
UK

Alternatively images can be uploaded onto your profile page and the text emailed.

The judges will be Rob Sara, photographer David Moore, book publisher Dewi Lewis and Petra van den Houten from Redeye.

Finalists’ work will be displayed at Hothouse, a Redeye showcase and networking day in Manchester on 10 March 2012, where the winner will be announced. The event will be held at The Studio, 51 Lever Street in Manchester. Throughout the day there will be short presentations by photographers and displays of portfolios and artists books. Following the announcement of the winner there will be an informal drinks reception.