We are delighted to announce that Judy Ford LRPS is the 2020/21 recipient of the Joan Wakelin Bursary.
Judy Ford LRPS joined the RPS in 2019 and gained her LRPS in 2020. Her work focuses on recording the everyday lives and stories of people from different cultures.
Judy’s project will be entitled The Women of the Last Remaining Peasant Communities in Rural Romania and will explore the dwindling population of peasant communities in Northern Romania who maintain a way of life that has changed little for centuries. These strong, working women live a simple, frugal life in difficult conditions. They survive against the odds and maintain a positive attitude, showing a generosity of spirit that is rare to find in our society.
Judy will explore what makes this society work and what underpins the strength and resilience of the women that hold these communities together.
The Joan Wakelin Bursary was established in 2005 in memory of distinguished documentary photographer and Honorary Fellow of The Society, Joan Wakelin. The Bursary, administered by the Society in partnership with The Guardian, offers £2000 for the production of a photographic essay on an overseas social documentary issue. The 2021 Joan Wakelin Bursary will be advertised on the Society’s website in early Spring, along with the Society’s other bursaries and competitions.
Picture copyright: Judy Ford LRPS
Picture caption: Village Blacksmith, Land of the Carpenters
Aged 75 and very determined, this blacksmith continues working despite walking with crutches. He makes his own charcoal to fuel the forge, forges knives, carves traditional wooden cups, keeps bees and makes wild boar salami.