Sorry it’s taken me a while to get back to this, but here we go…
So the next day (Friday 30th November) we began our day with the National Portrait Gallery. We heading straight for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. A very interesting collection of images some beautiful, some average. I thought that the nude child images that were presented by various artists were kind of a “been done” thing. I believe sally man did a beautiful job documenting her own children in the vast spaces of her ranch in the US but the deliberately staged shot on offer her just felt… well…. wrong!
The main prizes were awarded as follows:
- 1st prize (£12,000) – Margarita Teichroeb by Jordi Ruiz Cirera
- 2nd Prize (£3,000) – Lynne, Brighton by Jennifer Pattison
- 3rd Prize (£2,000) – Mark Rylance by Spencer Murphy
- 4th Prize – The Ventriloquist by Alma Haser
I came across some I absolutely loved, including the overall winner Jordi Ruiz Cirera (photograph of Margarita Teichroeb). His winning piece is in the current British Journal of Photography, where I first saw the image, I love how peaceful the subject seems yet at the same time, quite uncomfortable.
We can have an insight into how and why the image was shot thanks to writer and artist Katherine Tyrrell, to follow is a small segment from her interview with the photographer:
“I asked him why he chose this particular photograph of Margarita and he told me because it was his favourite photograph of all the ones he had taken (some 30 or so). He took her picture at the home she shares with her mother and sister in the Swift Current Colony in Bolivia.As a community, the Menonites live with no cars, telephones, electricity or modern utilities and consequently photography is not a normal part of their lives, is usually forbidden and hence most were very awkward and often looked away from the camera. In this photograph, she sits centre stage and looks directly at the camera – although her shyness comes across with the hand across her mouth and through the expression in her eyes.”
(http://makingamark.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/Review-Taylor-Wessing-Photographic-Portrait-Prize-2012.html)
Another image that I really enjoyed was Peer Lindgreen’s Julie hill. 
Very nicely shot and almost world war 2esque.
Here is Alex Pavesi Fiori’s Lola Smoking. The image is from the series “Off the set”. A series of beautiful traditionally shot images.
This image is one of my absolute favourites. David bailey, shot in his kitchen. In the information card below the presented image Bailey had stated that he liked Rick Morris Pushinsky because he was fast. I love this image because of the colours and the lovely depth of field used.
I have included this image of Jenny by Kamil Szkopic simply because of its sheer simplistic beauty. The choice of blue background here works in pure harmony with the light skin tone and dark hair of the subject. I am unable to fins out about what lighting was used here but it seems as though natural light has played a part in the creation.
Elsewhere in the National Portrait Gallery there was a collection of Royal Family images by Testino, I wasn’t the biggest fan but one image in particular of Prince William really grabbed my attention.
really enjoyed the lighting used in this image, the richness of the blacks in the suit on printing and how Prince William exudes charm at such a young age.
My favourite image in the whole gallery is Actors Last Supper by Alistair Morrison, known for taking great celebrity portraits (The old image of Rowan Atkinson is one of my favourites from the photographer) 
This small image in no way does it justice, it has to be viewed to gage the humour, extravagance and simplistic beauty along with the facial expressions of the perfect array of actors and actress and I just love the attention to detail here. The theme has been done before but not on this scale of perfection, in terms of replication of the original religious scene, so well.
Overall great exhibition and an interesting gallery, one I definitely need to revisit to take in the whole building.
Trying to be a photographer... 