Award Winner: XPRESS snapper excels

Dubai: XPRESS photographer Karen Dias has been adjudged the best at a prestigious photography exhibition in Dubai.

Dias, 22, was awarded a cash prize of Dh10,000 for five black and white photographs which she screened at Sense of Sight, an exhibition held by the Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (MEHD) in collaboration with the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre (DUCTAC) between February 3 and 24.

The photographs titled Screen, Double, Tunnel, Float and Hallucinate were based on a range of eye conditions such as floaters, double vision and tunnel vision. Dias was chosen from seven other participants in the exhibition which challenged them to present their interpretation of eye diseases through their lenses.

Dr Chris Canning, CEO and Medical Director of MEHD, said, "We are very proud of Karen and all the participants. We were so impressed that we purchased one of Karen's photos for our hospital."

Reacting to her win, Dias said, "I found the most interesting eye diseases were the ones I had never even heard of, so I focused on them, imagining what sufferers would see."

Dias enjoys taking portraits. "My inspiration came from the streets of Dubai and my trip to Cambodia where I worked on a photographic series on blind masseurs," she added.