NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE 2006 - SHORTLIST

Sunday, 05 November 2006 13:07

LONDON - Four photographers have been shortlisted for the £12,000 Photographic Portrait Prize, the major international photography award.  This is the fourth year of the National Portrait Gallery’s Photographic Portrait Prize, which has already firmly established itself as the leading showcase for new talent in portrait photography.  The judges have selected 60 portraits for the exhibition by 58 photographers from 5, 065 prints entered by 2, 021 photographers who submitted from around the world.  The exhibition will run from 8 November 2006–18 February 2007 at the National Portrait Gallery.

The Photographic Portrait Prize 2006 will showcase the work of some of the most talented emerging young photographers, alongside that of established professionals, photography students and gifted amateurs.  Selected anonymously from an open competition, the international mix of entrants reflects the diversity of styles and approaches to the portrait genre, encompassing editorial, advertising and fine art images.

 With its substantial prize fund and high-profile exhibition and tour, the Photographic Portrait Prize will continue the Gallery’s long tradition of championing the work of the very best contemporary portrait photographers.  The following four photographers have been shortlisted for the Photographic Portrait Prize 2006:

Anna Bauer for Jungs, Livingroom, Schönstadt 2005 (from the series “Them, growing”).  Since leaving Germany for the United States in 2002, Anna Bauer (b1976) gained a degree in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and now combines editorial assignments for a variety of magazines with assisting work for several photographers.  She has exhibited in several group shows, and twice been featured in the world-touring Festival of Emerging Photographers.

Richard Boll for Joe (from the series “Pavement”)
Richard Boll (b 1977) is a freelance commercial photographer based in Brighton. He graduated from the Edinburgh College of Art with a degree in photography in 1999. He has photographs in the libraries of Getty, Millennium and Famous.  In 2004 he won the Audi /Next Level Award for contemporary photography, with pictures of empty painting and sculpture studios in an art college.

Kyoko Hamada for Emily and Her Grandmother (from the series “Hometown”)
Kyoko Hamada (b 1973) was born in Tokyo and moved to the United States at the age of 15.  She studied art history and fine art in New York, and Brooklyn where she has lived since 2001.  For the past six years she has combined big-budget advertising campaigns for the likes of Microsoft with prize-winning editorial work for the New York Times, Washington Post, Fortune and Entertainment Weekly.  Earlier this year, her images were included in a group show, Eleven, at the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London.  Her entry, Emily and Her Grandmother, is one of a series of pictures shot on the shores of Lake Placid in upstate New York.  Hamada came across the pair accidentally while they were rehearsing a song to perform at a family celebration.

Kiran Master for Untitled

Kiran Master (b1960) was brought up in Pinner, west London, by an Indian father and English mother.  He originally studied for a degree in politics and international relations, before taking a degree in film, photographic and video arts at the Polytechnic of Central London (now University of Westminster).  Since setting up his own studio in 1992, he has become one of the UK’s leading commercial photographers.  Campaigns for clients such as Microsoft, Virgin, Ford and Mercedes have won him the industry’s top prizes, including a clutch of Association of Photographers awards and two Golden Lions from the International Advertising Festival in Cannes.

Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, says: ‘This is an exciting shortlist, demonstrating once again the vitality of photographic portraiture today.’

PUBLICATION
A fully illustrated book including photographs from this year’s exhibition features an essay by Jenny Dyson, European Editor of Teen Vogue and Editor-in-Chief of Rubbish Magazine and interviews by Richard McClure.  Price £12.99, paperback.  (Available from November.)

Visit the National Portrait Gallery at : www.npg.org.uk