Being based on the other side of the world and only being an occasional visitor to the UK, I jumped at the chance to be able to show some of my work at the London Photo Festival.
The timing was perfect as I had just finished an exhibition about the Hamar tribe of Southern Ethiopia, and it was some of these images that I put forward for the Festival. The main reason I wanted to enter was to get further international exposure and test the appeal of my cultural portraits in a metropolitan marketplace. I wanted to show images designed to be interpreted as cultural crossings, where the space between photographer and photography is more than just physical. On the faces of the portraits I submitted was a mix of suspicion and acceptance, my attempt to personify the deeper issue of tourism versus exploitation.
Having read about the Festival the previous year I knew that it was easy for overseas photographers to get everything organised online. I didn’t really expect to sell any of the work, but when I did the communication was very professional.
Of course, a real highlight was being judged 1st Runner Up, a complete surprise and honour. Sharing that accolade on social media has led to further interest and also boosted those who had previously purchased from the original exhibition, knowing that they had chosen award-winning work.
For me it was certainly worthwhile taking the time to enter the Festival and I’ll be back again next year!
When judging this competition I was looking not only for images which were technically well-composed, lit and thought out, but also photography that drew me in and caused me to pause and think more about what was going on behind the scenes of the image, and what the artist was trying to convey.
Amy Bateman’s “Convergence” took my breath away, both aesthetically and technically. I could have let my mind swim in this image for hours, in the blurred lines of space and perspective. The meeting of two opposite waters, strong and soft, calm and powerful, definitely appealed to my emotional tastes!
Richard Maxim’s photograph also caused me to ponder more than just the strong composition and well executed, thought out scene. Playing with the human form in a style which makes one marvel at the female body for the agility and strength, as well as choosing to hide her head in the book lead to more questions than it did answers, which I enjoyed.
Finally, “Review” by Brett Canet-Gibson was incredibly striking and really held my physical and mental gaze. Keeping the subject anonymous (identifiable only by his penetrating stare into the lens) was a fantastically abstract way to play with portraiture. The tones were beautiful, and overall a very worthy winning shot.
These and the other top 17 images will be exhibited at The Bridge Lounge in London for three months. Congratulations to the finalists and all who entered!
On 17th May I found myself at the crypt of St George the Martyr in London to judge the travel photo contest. Judging travel images is always challenge because it is a such a wide genre that can encompass everything from sweeping landscapes to tiny details, to people, animals and abstracts. Indeed the images submitted spanned all of these and more. But this is part of the fun of judging a photo competition. Seeing how other interpret a theme is both enlightening and entertaining.
With so many strong images to select from, the two hours I spent walking around the exhibition were fraught with changes of mind, multiple winners and uncertainty over what to select as the overall best image, not to mention a second and third. The best solution is to be ruthless. In almost every image at the exhibition I found something to like or love, but there were also, in my opinion, faults. And it was these tiny faults that I had to use to cull. For example, there were two images that I really loved, as traditional pictures. But for me they just needed a tiny tweak – in both cases the subject was just off-balance in the frame – it was by the tiniest of margins but once the thought had formed in my mind, I couldn’t see past it and so they were discarded.
I walked around and around, constantly refining my choices. My first pass got me to around 20 images. Second time around this came down to 10. By my fourth pass I was down to seven. These formed the basis of my winners and honourable mentions as I’d decided four honourable mentions was acceptable, any more seemed indecisive in the extreme! Trying to go from these seven to a top three was nearly impossible, but there was one image that I kept coming back to.
Interestingly for me, it was not a traditional photo, but crossed the boundary in to art. For anyone that knows my work, I’ve very much about capturing the image in camera, so quite why this piece of artwork called to me so strongly is a bit of a mystery. I think it’s because of all the images there, it gave the purest sense of travel, journey and place. Maybe something that couldn’t be captured in a single image but required a montage to create an almost dreamscape of the location and the feeling of travelling. Despite my reservations about it being a photoshop montage I felt it fitted the theme better than anything else and was visually arresting to and for that reason, I selected Henry Rice as the winner.
As I said above though, there was something to love in almost every image submitted and on a different day, in a different mood, I could have selected any number of other winners and honourable mentions.
For those that entered, if I didn’t select you, do not feel disheartened or disillusioned. Judging a photo contest is a challenging and personal journey and ultimately, your success or otherwise falls on the decision of the judge. Keep persevering, keep shooting and keep entering. I hope to see you at a future LPF event!
“The Girl caught my eye instantly. She was smiling at two boys who ran up and down the stairs of a double decker. Suddenly, her face changed. Her mesmerising gaze was lit up by a beautiful soft light.” This image is part of the photographer’s series “Londoners In Transit”.
Biography:
Anja Filippini is a London-based street photographer with an avid interest in the genre of social documentary. She is currently working on documenting the welfare divide in East London.
I have tried to encapsulate what it is to remember a place; the journey that was undertaken, the sights, the sounds, the memory. The memory however is never a clear image or a solid static representation, it twists and warps over time.
Biography:
Henry Rice is a fine art photographer and traveller. The series mapping is exploring memory of a place.
Henry Rice is a fine art photographer and traveller. The series mapping is exploring memory of a place.
We’ll be joined by David Newton, a professional photographer and filmmaker with a love for the outdoors, travel and natural world. He’s known for his versatility and ability to tackle most subjects with a minimum of fuss. He’s used by some of the biggest brands in the imaging industry (Canon, SanDisk, Manfrotto, Lastolite) as a brand ambassador because of his imagery and because of his ability to teach and present to audiences. You can see more of David’s work here.
