McCoy Prize photograph donated to Museum

Mr Christian’s winning photograph, Young Salt, is a tribute to the seafaring life	Caymanian photographer Lennon Nicolas Christian

Friday,  December 3, 2004

Caymanian photographer Lennon Nicolas Christian, who recently captured the first ever McCoy Prize Award for Fine Art Photography, has donated the winning piece - entitled ‘Young Salt’ - to the Cayman Islands National Museum’s McCoy Collection.

The Cayman Islands National Gallery and the National Museum jointly host the McCoy Prize Awards, which were presented on 20 November during the National Museum’s 14th anniversary celebration. 

In addition to the new Fine Arts Photography section, other top award recipients were Randy Chollette for Fine Art, Cayman Quilters for Fine Craft, as well as special commendations and People’s Choice awards. A total of 65 works of art were entered by 36 artists.

Mr Christian said: “The work of the Museum staff and volunteers to preserve and restore the hurricane-damaged buildings and artifacts alone is deserving of this small token of appreciation.”

He continued: “Knowing the work done from its inception over a decade ago to preserve and promote Caymanian culture, this institution is an invaluable national treasure.” 

The photographer, who was awarded a cash prize and an art education grant, expressed thanks to the McCoy family for launching the programme, which, said Mr Christian, “has brought out the best of traditional and modern Caymanian arts over the past three years.” He added that the prize would prove useful in replacing his photographic equipment that was damaged during Hurricane Ivan.

Lennon’s winning photograph is a tribute to the seafaring life which sustained local families until the economic boom in the late Seventies, and inspired by the book ‘The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor.’ It shows the new Seafarer’s Monument figure overlooking Hog Sty Bay in George Town, with a two-mast schooner sailing in the background. 

The image was captured last year during the Quincentennial Year celebrations. The photographer intends to re-print a limited edition of the image, which will be available through local galleries. 

For photography buffs, Mr Christian stated that his high-resolution digital image was shot on a Fuji Finepix Pro camera, with the shutter speed stepped down to capture the detail in the silhouetted image of a young sailor, and with a mid-range aperture to allow sufficient depth of field to capture the details of the sailboat in the background. His original raw digital ‘negative’ is three feet by two feet in size. 

This photograph was edited using Photoshop 7 to edit the photograph, then adding watercolor and lens flare effects. The photographer did all digital work and also entered a second photograph, Black Heart, in the exhibition. Both pieces were printed and framed at Photo Plus.

In the Seventies, as a child Mr Christian received his first arts award presented by Mr Ed Oliver during a ceremony at Government House. His creative abilities have continued to be demonstrated and developed in tandem in his professional pursuits. He has balanced a civil service career as a Government Information Officer for more than a decade while developing a diverse arts background and completing fine art photography studies at the Winona Institute of Professional Photography in Atlanta.

He was introduced to the finer points of photography while training under Master Photographer Patrick Broderick at Camera Art, and understudying Barbara Currie and William Finnegan at the Cayman Islands News Bureau, and Mark Rice of Graffix, in the early Eighties.

Mr Christian has been an Official Photographer during two Royal visits of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, including an assignment on the Royal Yacht, as well as visits by other members of the Royal Family - from Princess Alexandra in 1988 to HRH the Earl of Wessex in November of this year. The photographer was awarded a Medal of Appreciation for this work during the last Royal Visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Mr Christian’s photographs have also been printed in countless local press publications, and have appeared in places as diverse as local definitive stamp issues, official Christmas cards, music album covers, annual reports, and a ‘Children of the Cayman Islands’ display at the Royal Commonwealth Museum in London. He served several years as the official photographer for the Miss Cayman Islands pageant. 

His other graphic art talents have also been demonstrated over the years, as he designed logos for ‘Vision 2008,’ the Cayman Islands Hospital, the Cayman Islands Civil Service Association and the National Parenting Association. 

His other creative works have included award-winning Cayman National Cultural Foundation’s Playwriting Competition piece, The Navigation Tree play, which was staged at the Harquail Theatre. He has also exhibited paintings and photographs over the years, such as the National Gallery’s Portrait of an Artist, Stories We Tell and Body Talk exhibitions. 

Lennon is the great-grandson of the late Laten “Duxie” Ebanks, who was the first recipient of the Cayman National Cultural Foundation’s Cultural award for his intuitive work in performing music, notable on the fiddle, and for hand-making musical instruments and catboats.

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