UPDATE - National Portrait Gallery Competition

UPDATE:

I registered! Taylor Wessing Judges, Elle Magazine editors, hold yourself strong on your chairs - I am submitting photos!!!!!!!!!! Whole 3 of them!

I have a great feeling about this one!

Results come out end of August - September. Come back for updates!

Love,
Madame

New Lens :)

The Artist is very happy.

Upon the eve of her anniversary, she received a fantastic gift from her biggest love - a new lens!

It is a Tamron AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 Canon.

For the unfamiliar with the crazy terminology, the above translates into - a cheap lens in this range able to shoot at a reasonable distance and allowing you to capture the world in a miniature level as well.

I think it is a very good value for money at the moment. I can't wait to receive it and start experimenting. I thank my biggest fan again for the present. (Ti amo!)

Thank you all for sharing my excitement!

Love,
Po

Self Portrait with a Towel, June 2009

Yesterday I got a tripod! It might seem obvious that a self-respected photographer should have such a basic equipment, but I didn't.

Anyways, this is my first self-portrait using the new acquirement. The light was natural (and insufficient.) Nevertheless, I am happy with the result.

What do you think?

Love,
Po

Where is this world going?

Bruce Gilden, a Magnum Photographer, visited two groups on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate group list: The ‘Knights Party’ an offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan, and also the Detroit-based ‘National Socialist Movement’ (NSM) one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the USA.

American experts are calling it the perfect storm for white supremacist recruitment: the sinking US economy, the election of Barack Obama, and increased attention to immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere. At the same time, extremist groups are trying to enter the mainstream and they’re having some success.

All this above is deeply disturbing to me. I wonder what experts and politicians make of it. And as usual, the images provide much more descriptive narrative to the story and visualize it perfectly. Seeing young boys dressed as Hitler and grotesque-looking white people thinking they are better than the rest, coupled with religious symbolism, makes my stomach shrink and shiver.

I thought we passed the Middle Ages. I guess we have not. I really want to read some more research in greater depth about the reasons behind this rise in hate groups. There are so many things that come to my mind, so I will leave it here for now. Take a look at the photo story here:

http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/c.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.StoryDetail_VPage&pid=2K7O3RTM1J8G

Where is this world heading to?

Polina Pen
June 11, 2009

My World Through My Lense

FOOD CORNER - SIMPLY DELICISOUS!

Galleries added

Please take a look on the right column, you can find a little "Gadget" named "My Galleries", which you can browse through or click on and it will take you to my Picasa web page. There you can browse at my photos freely!

Enjoy!

Yours,
Madame

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 09

I laid my eyes now on another renowned competition. This time it is a portrait photography competition - the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize organized by the National Portrait Gallery.

This prestigious international competition, has established a reputation for its diversity of photographic styles, encompassing editorial, reportage and fine art images submitted by a range of photographers, from gifted amateurs and photography students to professionals.

In the Prize's search for excellence, photographers are encouraged to interpret 'portrait' in its widest sense of 'photography concerned with portraying people with an emphasis on their identity as individuals.'

Since this is how I would exactly describe my approach to portrait photography and I dare to claim that I have a few portraits that would definitely fit into the style and spirit of the competition, I am very excited about its outcomes.

To view previous winners, please visit the site below. I am very fond of all the featured portraits. My favourite is "Bag" by Hendrik Kerstens.

Enjoy.

http://www.npg.org.uk:8080/photoprize/site09/index.php

Awards and Competitions in the UK

I don't know if it is the fact that I am relatively young in the artsy circles here in London, but I don't seem to be lucky enough with art competitions. Every expert or an artist seem to be not just old, but rather - ancient, almsot antideluvian. On my last application form, there was not even a box for my age group - and I am not a teen! What happened to the belief in and encouragement for young talent? Or it is the conservative nature of the artistic society here that does recognize only wrinkles as art expertise. England does indeed love its Middle Ages traditions!

I thought that art competitions are a good medium to get your work "out there." I am not even striving to attain high recognition at the moment. Alas, I can't get those judges agree with my vision. The Royal Academy made their final decisions this year and since I haven't yet heard of them, I assume I don't have the privilege to entertain the world with my vision this year. Maybe next. If I could be bothered.

I am a bit disappointed by several factors around the exhibition in question. Or maybe I should not be since I should have expected them. First of all, the lack of communication between the Academy and the artists - I had to chase them up with three phone calls to receive my application for submission; and regarding results - no feedback whatsoever. It is both frustrating non-professional. But the Academy wouldn't bother since they will organize their exhibition anyways. The exhibition, full with their students' work. A very democratic approach. Indeed.

PORTRAITS