Photography student snaps up national awards

Harvey's shot of a house in the shadow of the decommissioned Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station won in the architecture category

An artistic portrayal of an iconic site in Nottinghamshire has been recognised at a national photography awards ceremony.

Harvey Tomlinson's shot of a house in front of the cooling towers of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station won in the architecture category of the British Photography Awards.

The 22-year-old's image of a protester taken in Nottingham in May also earned the people's choice award in the documentary section.

The student at Nottingham College said he was honoured to receive awards for both of his photographs.

Harvey Tomlinson said it was "quite stressful" taking photos at a protest in Nottingham in May, but his award-winning image "lined up perfectly" in front of him

"I couldn't believe I had two of my images shortlisted, and I definitely wasn't expecting to win," he said.

"I'm really pleased, because I've worked really hard to get myself into the position where I'm happy with my images, and it's my first time entering.

"I've followed the awards for years now - I sort of use it as the gold standard for photography, I'd go through the images marvelling at other people's work and hoping that I'd be able to get to that standard one day."

Mr Tomlinson, from Heanor, Derbyshire, first got into photography while on a family holiday to Anglesey in 2021, and became "hooked" on taking images.

'Industrialised Britain'

His said his award-winning shot of Ratcliffe's cooling towers was taken on his first time photographing the area.

"It's such a dramatic landmark," he said.

"I feel it was quite a unique perspective - typically when you see images [of Ratcliffe] they tend to include the river, or they tend to include the canal boats, the disused ones on the fields in front, or the road by the train station, but I personally had never seen anybody take a picture of the house [with] the scale of the power plant and the cooling towers.

"I thought it made for quite an impactful image, and the black-and-white worked with it really well, to give off the industrial feel, harking back to the 60s industrialised Britain."

Though it will take until at least 2030 to clear the whole site, Mr Tomlinson - who is due to finish his studies next year - said he was delighted to capture the local landmark before it disappears forever.

"We've got a little while before [the demolition], but I think it's quite poignant that it was the last operational coal power plant to be decommissioned, and I definitely want to get more pictures of it," he said.

"I'd like to get the same shot as the cooling towers are coming down if that's possible."