The Giles Barker Award
Giles Barker lost his life
while caving in Spain in 1992. An accomplished cave photographer,
Giles was a member of the Red Rose CPC and Morgannwg CC. These clubs
have annually, since 1993, presented the Giles Barker Award in his
memory. This prestigious award is presented to a person connected
with any aspect of cave photography in recognition of his or her
excellence and contributions to the field.
The Giles Barker Award 2008
In 2008 the award goes to Paul
"Footleg"Fretwell for the encouragement he has given to cave
photographers over many years, through lectures and workshops on
techniques to helping to run the Hidden Earth photo salon. In this he
won the British Newcomer Award in 1999 and since then has produced an
increasingly high quality of underground photographs and has begun
working with inspirational audio-visual presentations. The award, a
hand-crafted statue of a cave photographer, made by Ceris Jones and
funded by Giles' old clubs, was presented at Hidden Earth 2008
The Giles Barker Award 2007
The 2007 Giles Barker Award was won by
Ron Bliss for his lifetime spent producing fine pictures underground,
taking him through changes in technology and culminating in his
preparing a slideshow showing the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales caves
that he loved, and pressing home a strong conservation message -
there can be no stronger use of photography than this. This is the
first time the award has been made posthumously as Ron unfortunately
died shortly before the first public showing of his final work. The
award (a hand-crafted statue of a cave photographer, made by Ceris
Jones) was accepted on his behalf by a representative of Ron's club,
the Red Rose.
The Giles Barker Award 2006
Maurice Hewins has, for many years,
worked to preserve and document our heritage of caving films, both
old and modern. In this, Maurice has collected data on the
photographers and their productions, recording the techniques they
used and the people who appeared in often obscure films. Most
importantly, he has gathered copies, which he has lodged with Wells
Museum. His work, from which future generations will benefit greatly
(let alone the enjoyment the current caving community has gained),
makes Maurice a very fitting recipient of the 2006 Award. He was
presented with a fiurine of a cave photographer hand crafted by Ceris
Jones at Hidden Earth 2006 in September.
The Giles Barker Award 2005
This year the award goes to an outstanding cave
photographer who has embraced the latest in technological advances
and shoots solely using a digital SLR camera. Always willing to
learn, his dedication to producing the results he desires is
extraordinary and over the past twelve months the outcome has wowed
his viewers. His pictures have been printed in recent editions of
Descent magazine and have drawn many admiring comments, as well as
winning the delegate ballot at Hidden Earth 2005. Choosing the
recipient for the 2005 award was a very easy task, so much did Robbie
Shone's work stand out with his subtle use of lighting.
Congratulations to Robbie, who was presented with a figurine of a
cave photographer, hand-crafted by Ceris Jones.
The Giles Barker Award 2004
With the 2004 presentation being made
to Peter Harvey from South Wales, the award has widened its scope as
Peter's photographs date back to the 1950s and '60s. Even considering
the advances in cave photography since that time, his results stand
up against more recent work. Peter's negatives have been scanned to a
high standard and he has produced modern prints using up-to-date
computer technology, some of which were on display at Hidden Earth
2004. This is a deserving award, given Peter's dedication at the time
to taking the original image, and now to maximise its potential using
today's printing methods. Congratulations to Peter, who was presented
with a figurine of a cave photographer, hand-crafted by Ceris Jones,
at Hidden Earth in October.
The Giles Barker Award 2003
Giles was often involved with teaching
the sport to young people. It is particularly fitting, therefore,
that the 2003 award goes to a film-maker who has produced three
instructional caving videos (the Cave Safe series), as well as
entertaining cavers worldwide with his productions of Solo which has
won several international awards, and the recent dramatised account
of the discovery of the caves in Fairy Cave Quarry, A Rock and a Hard
Place Congratulations to Andy Sparrow for his well-deserved
award.Andy was presented with a figurine of a cave photographer,
hand-crafted by Ceris Jones, at Hidden Earth in October.2003
The Giles Barker Award 2002
Audio-visual sequences have become a
staple part of the Hidden Earth conference. Glenn Jones began
constructing sequences in 1991 and by 1996 was showing his work to
cavers, progressing through different versions of his Vercors AV at
successive Hidden Earth conferences and creating three of its
new-format opening sequences). During this period Glenn also produced
DSS The Movie and moved from two projectors to four, then to six, and
by popular request has shown his AVs at many other caving events
around the country. He was the winner of the newly instigated AV
competition at Hidden Earth in 2001 with Caving. Congratulations go
to Glenn as the recipient of the tenth Giles Barker Award in
recognition of his enthusiasm and dedication both in his photography
and producing AVs.
2008
R.R.C.P.C