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Royal School Manchester pupil Jamie Thomas has always loved art. Visiting galleries and sculpture gardens rank highly amongst his favourite things to do, and he can often be seen taking photographs of everyday objects and scenes around the school. Using his iPad, Jamie takes multiple pictures to explore the object from different angles, edits them and displays them all together as thumbnails on his iPad screen. Viewed all together, the pictures display all the different ways that object can appear - allowing Jamie to better see and understand the whole item.

Technology - Jamie uses an iPad to create his images and videos

We were proud to see Jamie's achievements recognised by Newall Green Visual Arts Festival, which runs Monday, 10 July to Friday, 14 July, 2017. Alongside pupils from Newall Green High School, Jamie exhibited photographs showing computers, brushes and tin foil in a different light.

The week was an important one for Jamie for another reason: he began work experience at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, where he photographed different pieces of art and edited the pictures. Staff plan on helping Jamie develop a blog to display his work to a wider audience. 

Festival attendees look at Jamie's work at the Festival - it was the first time Jamie had seen his pictures blown up to poster size

Jamie has CHARGE syndrome, a condition that means he has both a hearing and visual impairment, and his sight can fluctuate. An iPad screen, which he can use to zoom in on items of interest, helps him explore the world. But his talent - his pictures are clear and interesting, prompting one art teacher at the festival to remark that his work was of a similar standard to the A-Level Art projects on display from pupils at mainstream schools - demonstrates that his photography isn't just a practical way to better look at things. It's a way for Jamie to express himself - creatively, imaginatively, cleverly. 

A way of showing the world a different perspective.

Negatives - Jamie likes to experiment by changing the colour and lighting