Boosting Amy

["Unsafe Journey" -  Copyright Amy Johansson 2009]

I've mentioned before my very talented photographer friend, Amy Johansson, when she launched her photo-essay on the tanning industry in Dhaka six months ago.  Now, another of the photographs she took while living in Bangladesh - the rather stunning one above of a young girl hitching a hazardous ride on the coupling between two railway carriages - has been selected for the final stage of a National Geographic competition.  Online voting counts toward the final result, so - if you like this shot - please follow this link and rate it out of 10 (the higher number, the better).

The poll closes on 30th November.  (I'm not sure exactly when.  Midnight, EST, I presume - but don't let things go down to the wire.  Head over there right now!  Or, as we used to say in my days as a student politico, "Vote early, vote often!")

It seems as though, as well as being a hazardous situation to photograph, it was quite a hazardous shot for Amy to get.  She tells me that she'd been photographing passengers riding on the roof of the train when she noticed this girl down between the carriages - and asked two guys to hold her legs while she lay down and leant over the edge of the roof to take the picture.

I believe there's only a modest cash prize - but Amy is a 'poor student' this year, so it would be a very welcome boost to her funds and help her with some other photo projects she's got ongoing.  And getting your name associated with National Geographic is a nice enhancement to your CV!  So I hope you'll all trot on over to this webpage and give her a high score.

Amy has some more pictures on her own website, and on a photoblog she started a few months ago to document the projects she's doing for the photography course she's currently taking in Denmark (but she's been too busy lately to keep it updated).  She was also a finalist in a competition in Elle magazine this month.

Good luck, Amy!  I hope you win both prizes.