Pitch perfect job on ice for photo student

A Blackpool student has landed his dream job - in Korea.
By The Newsroom
Published 2nd Mar 2017, 06:29 BST
Second year photography student Tom Rowland in action on his dream placement at the World Junior Curling Championships in South Korea. Photo : WCF/Richard GraySecond year photography student Tom Rowland in action on his dream placement at the World Junior Curling Championships in South Korea. Photo : WCF/Richard Gray
Second year photography student Tom Rowland in action on his dream placement at the World Junior Curling Championships in South Korea. Photo : WCF/Richard Gray

Although he is only in East Asia for a couple of weeks, Tom Rowland is loving his dream placement as an international sports photographer.

The former St George’s High School and Blackpool Sixth Form student was hand picked to travel to Gangneung, in South Korea, to cover the VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships.

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The University of Central Lancashire student is spending two weeks covering the 10 teams in all rounds of the competition.

An action shot by Uclan student Tom Rowland at the VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships 2017 in South Korea credit: WCF/ Tom RowlandAn action shot by Uclan student Tom Rowland at the VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships 2017 in South Korea credit: WCF/ Tom Rowland
An action shot by Uclan student Tom Rowland at the VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships 2017 in South Korea credit: WCF/ Tom Rowland

The second year student beat off stiff competition from photography students from across the globe to land the prestigious role.

He said: “I heard about the placement through my course at UCLan so I applied by sending off 10 of my sport images.

“I was over the moon when I found out I’d been picked, it was unbelievable.”

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The 19-year-old had no experience of curling before he got out there.

An action shot by Uclan student Tom Rowland at the VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships 2017 in South Korea credit: WCF/ Tom RowlandAn action shot by Uclan student Tom Rowland at the VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships 2017 in South Korea credit: WCF/ Tom Rowland
An action shot by Uclan student Tom Rowland at the VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships 2017 in South Korea credit: WCF/ Tom Rowland

He said he started photographing sports in college when he worked with Blackpool BMX Club and did this alongside photographing music and bands around Manchester.

Tom said: “This is giving me the experience of what is expected of being a media photographer, when images need to be turned over quickly and handed to the rest of the team so the images can be published.

“I’ve met some incredible people and I’m working with an amazing experienced team who are helping me along the journey.

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“So far it has been an amazing experience and I have learnt and developed new skills.”

Jonathan Purcell, photography course leader and Tom’s tutor, added: “We are pleased that he is able to demonstrate his photographic awareness at this international competition.

“Tom will gather a huge amount of creative and practical experience and we hope that this will support his future aspirations.”

The tutor added: “Once Tom is back in the UK we look forward to Tom telling us more about his experiences in South Korea.”

Tom is also blogging about this experience so visit http://www.worldcurling.org/wjcc2017/smtp-blog

Related topics:South KoreaBlackpoolManchester