Since my previous post I’ve learnt that my Taylor Wessing portrait prize submission was one of 429 selected for the second stage from 5717 images entered initially, but it didn’t then make it through to the next phase (i.e. was not shortlisted for the prize proper, or chosen for the accompanying exhibition). Still, not bad? (But no cigar…)
In the meantime I’ve done a lot of thinking, and I’ve also photographed two more large DILLIGAF project related events. Just got home from one rally this past weekend in fact, films waiting to be processed.
And over August I’ve listened to more podcasts, like Ben Smith’s A Small Voice (which I highly recommend BTW). I especially enjoy his own takes on things like Photo London, where you get to hear his voice more, but the interviews are also great. In terms of timing, the one with Robin Maddock was particularly good for me as, amongst other things, it included an account of how useful insider understanding of subject can be (re: his Our kids Are Going to Hell book), beyond pure personal or other aesthetic considerations.
This is the stage I’m at now. My consultant, Julian Germain, has been hugely helpful in breaking through some of the fears and resistances I’ve had with the process of editing – and during our last session he actually put a rough but plausible sequence together for me, with a tempting beginning and end (I’m really shit at endings…). But I know the subject better than him, and the Robin Maddock podcast confirms that some editing decisions might have to be made in consultation with people more closely involved with the events I’ve photographed.
Ultimately though, it’s up to me. Consultations and so on on can be incredibly helpful, but really it’s up to me to decide. It’s my project, after all. Next phase is for me to hire a space and spread pictures out again but, this time, look at and work with them alone. I’ll take Julian’s sequence from the previous session as a starting point, and spend time reconsidering it based on my own tastes and knowledge of the project.
Then, I’ll print the result as a first dummy and take it back to Julian, plus try to present it to a designer. I’m hoping to achieve this in the next month, but it might take a little longer because I’m due to start a Northern Bridge funded fine art PhD at Newcastle University in three weeks. My PhD is practice-based but my tutor has warned me that to start with I won’t have much space to make work… The fine art dept (or Hogwarts, as I like to think of it) has fantastic print-making facilities though, and I really hope I might be able to start using them straightaway – even if it is just to finish making something unrelated to my research project.
Anyway, yesterday National Portrait Gallery revealed the three images that have been shortlisted for this year’s Taylor Wessing prize. I think I’d have to see two of them in print to better understand why they might have been selected over others. And I really wish it was possible to know why my own submission didn’t make the grade finally. But now I suppose I can have a crack at Portrait Salon?
