The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize presents the very best in contemporary portrait photography, showcasing the work of talented young photographers and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals and photography students.
Through editorial, advertising and fine art images, the entrants have explored a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family.
This year the competition attracted nearly 6,000 submissions from over 2,400 photographers from around the world. The selected sixty works for the exhibition include the four prize-winners and the winner of the ELLE magazine commission.
Exhibiting many photographs for the first time, the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, I felt, was a unique opportunity to see images by some of the most exciting contemporary portrait photographers working today.
With exhibitions like this I think it's important to take a preliminary glance before reading any of the explanations provided; to try and take the images at face value, as far as possible, for their aesthetic and immediate emotional effect. That's not to say that the information provided on various subjects doesn't hugely enrich and inform the work, but when you've read about Tic Tac and Tootsie the Philadelphia prostitutes or some poor orphan of genocide you can find yourself being swept into the work for the wrong reasons, or even distracted from the image itself. Which, for a photographic prize, should be of equal importance, at the very least.
Every picture there had its own engaging narrative or direction of investigation, even if they involved death. Overall the exhibition is a celebration of beauty and of simplicity.
After leaving the exhibition I felt truly inspired knowing that most of the photographers had come from a similar educational background as myself. It takes a lot to think outside of education and this exhibition made me realise that one day it could be one of my own photographs in this collection.
The winner: David Chancellor 'Huntress'
Through editorial, advertising and fine art images, the entrants have explored a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family.
This year the competition attracted nearly 6,000 submissions from over 2,400 photographers from around the world. The selected sixty works for the exhibition include the four prize-winners and the winner of the ELLE magazine commission.
Exhibiting many photographs for the first time, the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, I felt, was a unique opportunity to see images by some of the most exciting contemporary portrait photographers working today.
With exhibitions like this I think it's important to take a preliminary glance before reading any of the explanations provided; to try and take the images at face value, as far as possible, for their aesthetic and immediate emotional effect. That's not to say that the information provided on various subjects doesn't hugely enrich and inform the work, but when you've read about Tic Tac and Tootsie the Philadelphia prostitutes or some poor orphan of genocide you can find yourself being swept into the work for the wrong reasons, or even distracted from the image itself. Which, for a photographic prize, should be of equal importance, at the very least.
Every picture there had its own engaging narrative or direction of investigation, even if they involved death. Overall the exhibition is a celebration of beauty and of simplicity.
After leaving the exhibition I felt truly inspired knowing that most of the photographers had come from a similar educational background as myself. It takes a lot to think outside of education and this exhibition made me realise that one day it could be one of my own photographs in this collection.
The winner: David Chancellor 'Huntress'
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