Winning photos from Dimension Data's internal staff photo competition
available to view and download on www.dimensiondata.com
(1888PressRelease) August 05, 2009 - Dimension Data's wholly owned subsidiary, Datacraft Asia, announced today the 12 winners of the company's inaugural Green Photo Competition.
Dimension Data / Datacraft launched the competition entitled The Environment Around You in May 2009, which is opened to all employees for their photo submission. The participants were to consider three key elements when choosing their subject matter:
• The Beautiful - nature in all her glory, the trees, flowers, wildlife …
• The Ugly - destruction of nature, the power plants, garbage dumps, pollution …
• The Bold - the unsung heroes of the environment, people who are doing their bit for the environment.
The competition received an enthusiastic response, with 550 photos received from more than 300 individual employees during the five week submission period. In June, the competition entries were published on Dimension Data's corporate intranet, and voting opened for employees to pick their favourite 12 photos. In all, ten percent of Dimension Data's global workforce voted in the competition.
Thumbnails of the winning photos are available at http://www.dimensiondata.com/CompetitionWinners.htm. All photos can be downloaded as high-resolution JPEGs at http://www.dimensiondata.com/GreenPhotoCompetition.htm.
The 12 overall winners, based on popular vote, include representation from Dimension Data's five regions: Americas, Australia, Asia, Europe, and Middle East and Africa.
It has been thrilling to see the level of participation from our employees across all our regions. What has amazed me is the extraordinary photographic talent that we have uncovered and the clear concern that many of our people have for the environment, said Merle Singer, Global Lead Sustainability, Dimension Data.
Our green journey is still in its early stages but we have witnessed a significant support from within as soon as we officially launched our program in 2007. We are committed to a green strategy that will continually improve our own environmental credentials, support our clients' needs and requirements, and ensure that our environmental programs have a strongly engage our employees around the world.
Catherine Tan, Administration and Facilities Manager, Datacraft Asia also commented, This competition aims to actively engage our staff and drive their participation in our Green initiatives, which is a concerted focus for the Dimension Data group. We are therefore delighted that three of our Datacraft colleagues have clinched top prizes in the inaugural Green Photo Competition, out of which 80 entries were submitted by Datacraft. We will certainly continue to organise such group wide activities to raise awareness on our environmental cause.
For more information about the winners, please refer to Appendix 1
Winner's Profiles
First Place: Kea
Frank Collingwood, Datacraft New Zealand
During the Christmas of 2007, Frank Collingwood and his fiancée, Louise Daff, took a
trip around the top half of New Zealand's South Island, including a day trip to the edge
of Fox Glacier on the west coast. On route back from the glacier, Frank noticed a flock
of Kea whose colourful wings caught his attention, and began hurriedly snapping
these beautiful creatures.
Frank's concerns about the environment are largely focused on wildlife and the permanent damage of natural habitat. Destruction to the natural habitat of native species disappoints me, says Frank, although I do think in certain areas of the world, a balance has been reached between the needs of humans, and the needs of the native fauna.
Frank has been a Solutions Consultant from Datacraft New Zealand for over four years.
Second Place: Indian Sunset
Vivek HL, Datacraft India
Datacraft India's Vivek HL has always been an avid photographer, never leaving home without his camera; and sunsets, with their heightened colours, are one of his favourite subjects. Vivek's striking photo of this particular sunset, taken on the west coast about 400km from his home city of Bangalore, received hundreds of votes in our Green Photo Competition. Nature's most beautiful colours come together during sunset, says Vivek, Away from day-to-day activity, work tensions and traffic pollution, I like to be relaxed and have fresh air before I sleep.
Born and brought up in Bangalore in the southern part of India, now known as India's silicon city, Vivek joined Datacraft India in June 2002 as a field engineer and has held a number of roles including Project Associate, Team Leader and now Technical Lead for the Global Service Centre.
Third Place: Sublimity
Michael Wright, Dimension Data North America
Michael Wright's photography is dedicated to preserving - not only on film (which he still uses exclusively for his landscape photos), but literally, nature's most vital and precious places. Such is the subject of Michael's winning photo - a dramatic sunset high in the Colorado Rockies. In the waning light, the fingers of lingering snow on the distant peak reveal the secret to the stunning beauty of this fragile alpine wonderland: cool temperatures and plenty of precipitation. Without this combination, these briefly-appearing marsh marigolds and the myriad of delicate wildflowers that succeed them couldn't thrive. But with the effects of global warming beginning to reach even these lofty, remote sanctuaries, says Michael, is the sun setting on some of nature's most precious gifts?
A Deployment Engineer in Dimension Data North America, Michael is an avid skier, runner, backpacker, writer and high country landscape photographer. Michael's passion for the outdoors has resulted in his genuine concern for the environment and detrimental effects of man's destructive behavioural patterns. The domino effect continues as the diverse resident fauna lose their food and water sources, leaving them in a precarious situation, said Michael.
Other Winners
Last Light
Kong Ching Foong, Client Service Engineer, Datacraft Singapore
As the last light approaches, it signals the end of another day. In view of this beautiful world in front of me, I ask myself how long will that last? At least, I am able to freeze this moment of beauty and savour it when I want to.
Beacon in a Storm
Nevil Hill, Channel Manager, Dimension Data South Africa
The subject is a navigation beacon at the river mouth of the Kowie River, Port Alfred, South Africa. On this particular day there was a spring high tide coupled with gale force winds. The navigation beacon stands about 20 feet high, so the waves were quite something to be crashing over the top of it. My inspiration for this shot was the strength of the beacon standing up to the thunderous ocean. Ironically, this beacon was destroyed recently by another bout of wave fury.
Mont Blanc du Tacul
Mark Holmes, Senior Business Consultant, Dimension Data United Kingdom
This is Mont Blanc du Tacul with Mont Blanc behind to the right. I had been staying in a mountain hut called the Refuge Cosmique near Chamonix in the French Alps. The hut is at an altitude of 3613m and is often used to ascend Mont Blanc itself. However, the avalanche risk was very high for our approach route so we completed the Cosmique Ridge graded AD, IV+ (Advanced Difficult) route instead, from where I took this photo. It reminded me of how beautiful but dangerous nature can be as we found out 2 people had been killed the previous day on the very ridge route we had just completed.
Brrr, it's Cold!
Mark Bedwani, Technology Consultant, Dimension Data Australia
I photographed these Japanese Macaques when I travelled to Japan in 2005. They are wild monkeys that are located in central Japan, a place called Jigokudani Yaenkoen (Hell's Valley) about one hour from Nagano. The temperature was around -15ºC when I snapped this shot. This monkey family was huddling together on a metal hand rail. I was only about half a metre away and they didn't seem to care. They are currently listed as 'Threatened' by the US ESA [Endangered Species Act].
Queen of Africa
Graham Johnson, Engineer, Dimension Data South Africa
This photo was taken on my birthday when we went to Aquila Game Reserve for the weekend. I named the photo 'Queen of Africa' as she truly is the Queen. It's actually sad to see that we have had to set up sanctuaries to protect our wildlife. When they roam freely they may be poached to the brink of extinction. And human intervention is really taking the 'wild' out of the wildlife.
Recycled Car
Florence Hare, General Manager, Supply Chain Services, Dimension Data South Africa
I saw the car while on a weekend drive. In many under-developed countries the disposal of old cars is an environmental issue. I felt that the recycling of this derelict car into a little flower garden was both inspiring and fun. Being in procurement and having participated in some of our large bids, more and more of our major clients are asking Dimension Data to explain its Green Policies. It is definitely a global trend.
Lone Boat, Coral Bay
Craig Whittingham, Solution Architect, Dimension Data Australia
This photo of a lone boat was taken in a small town called Coral Bay, located on the Western Australian coast, about 1100 kilometres north of Perth. Coral Bay has only about 140 residents, and is known for a coral reef that you can walk out to from the shore. The whole place is as untouched as you can imagine from the photo. Having a new son, I'm now more than ever acutely aware of the world we're leaving for our kids.
Constitutional - Rainbow Nation
Phinda Buthelezi, Learner, Dimension Data South Africa
"The photo was taken from the Dimension Data Network Operations Centre in Johannesburg (Braamfontein). After a rainy day, this rainbow enveloped the city skyline and the Constitutional Court of South Africa. I took the picture on my cell phone's camera. It reflected to me the significance of humanity's impact on nature, and the stand we have taken to protect the environment. The rainbow's dome shape also symbolises a shield for the environment, with laws and institutions that should be enforced, so that mankind can thrive into the future.
Stonehenge
Catherine Lee, Program Manager - Sustainability, Dimension Data United Kingdom
This photo was taken on a trip to Stonehenge in April 2008. The weather on the day was odd enough - on the way there it stormed, and it hailed on the way back. But while we were at Stonehenge, for all of 45 minutes, the skies cleared completely, and the sun beamed down on this historical wonder. Stonehenge is a great story of Nature's ability to preserve the amazing. Although I believe weather patterns do fluctuate over the millennia, I also think that humans have contributed significantly to the acceleration of this process of the last hundred years, since the industrial revolution, and we need to now curb our habits to slow this down.
About Datacraft
Datacraft is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dimension Data plc (LSE:DDT), a US$4.5 billion leading global IT solutions and services provider. Datacraft operates in over 50 offices across 13 Asia Pacific countries. We help clients plan, build, support, manage, improve and innovate their IT infrastructures. Datacraft combines an expertise in networking, security, data centre, storage, Microsoft solutions and converged communications & contact centre technologies, with advanced skills in consulting, integration, training and managed services to craft IT solutions www.datacraft-asia.com for businesses.
Winning photos from Dimension Data's internal staff photo competition
available to view and download on www.dimensiondata.com 
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