A mental health patient who learnt to use photography to express himself, was yesterday announced the winner of the Argus PhotoVoice People's Choice Award.

Bradley Simmons took part in a 12 week therapeutic programme organised by occupational therapists at the Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute (MWI) and led by professional photographers Tamell Simons of The Royal Gazette and Neville Trott of the Department of Communications and Information.

He, along with 11 other MWI clients, used digital cameras to show the public the world through their eyes the final results of which were displayed at the Bermuda Society of Arts in City Hall from October 16 to November 4.

People who visited the exhibit were asked to vote for their favourite piece; they were also able to purchase some of the photographs on exhibit.

They selected Mr. Simmons' photo entitled 'Pretty Hibiscus' as the best and yesterday he was awarded a digital Nikon Coolpix camera, donated by the Argus Group.

According to Troy Farnsworth, an occupational therapist at MWI, all the clients involved benefited from the programme.

He said: "PhotoVoice has exceeded our expectations. It has been wonderful to see how much our clients have got from the programme and the photographs they took have been inspiring.

"One of the most heartwarming aspects has been the support received by our community partners.

"Argus reached out to us at the beginning of the programme with a donation of 30 cameras that ensured our clients could be trained easily as they all had the same camera and also enabled us to take a quality of photograph that could be printed and displayed.

'We are very grateful for the donation and for their agreement to provide the people's choice winner with one of the cameras so he can continue to develop his skills and enjoy photography."

Argus executive vice President Joy Pimental, admitted she was also pleased to take part in the programme.

"I would like to congratulate all of the MWI clients who contributed to this thought-provoking exhibition," she said.

"I personally attended the opening ceremony and was able to see first-hand how the MWI clients had been inspired and encouraged to express themselves by the PhotoVoice initiative.

"We are delighted to support this innovative and valuable project as the Bermuda Hospitals Board is an important partner to the Argus Group."