When I went to see the exhibition I was interested to see what kind of portraits were being exhibited as I hope to enter similar competitions one day. I find portrait photography very interesting and most of my work centres on this genre.
When I saw the winning image I was surprised that it had won; I wasn’t particularly impressed by it and I felt that there was nothing particularly extraordinary or distinctive about it. However, I later realised that because it featured a potential Olympian it was associated with the 2012 Olympic Games and that this was probably one of the reasons why it had been chosen as the winner. Considering this I thought it was unfair that the other photographers who were more deserving of the prize in terms of the aesthetic quality of their photographs had been discarded. Many of my peers agreed with me that it wasn’t the best of the collection and although art is subjective and it is not likely that everyone will agree what is “good” and what isn’t I was dismayed to find that the winner was determined due to a reason other than it was simply beautiful, thought provoking or emotionally inspiring.
Another thing I’ve noticed about this kind of prize exhibition is that they don’t use the winning photograph to advertise the show; they usually use another image in the collection. Usually it is a stronger image and I feel that if I were to enter and it was my shots that were used on posters and leaflets I would be happier with this outcome. Your work is more widely received and advertised which I would personally have preferred to winning.
Image: http://www.photographsdonotbend.co.uk/2009/09/taylor-wessing-photographic-portrait-prize-2009.html
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