Genesis have a long history of working with photographers to achieve exceptional results for entries for the National Portrait Gallery’s Photographic Portrait Prize, in its many incarnations over the years.
We asked David Stewart and James Yeats-Brown, two of the many photographers who whose work we have printed, to dig through their archives and share insights on some of their previous entries for the Photographic Portrait Award…
‘Ella, Aged 7’ (2005), James Yeats-Brown:
“The original caption was “Ella, aged 7” and it was accepted for exhibition in what was then the Schweppes Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in 2005, following my first successful submission in 2004. It was one of the first Giclée Fine Art prints I had done by Genesis (I used to live in Wandsworth and much of my work went to be printed or processed by Genesis in the old gas works). I keep in touch with Ella’s family and we have set up the same shot in the same location in five year intervals – so I have just done the third portrait of her, now 17.”
‘Alice and Fish’ (2007), ‘Five Girls’ (2008), ‘The Shepherdess’ (2011), Four Hats (2012), David Stewart:
“I’ve been entering the Photographic Portrait Prize at The National Portrait Gallery since 1996 and so far, I’ve had 15 photographs accepted. The more recent entries are usually the favourites; I find my current projects more interesting as I am exploring new territory. All the above were personal pieces of work and were part of larger book projects, Thrice Removed and Teenage Pre-occupation. The images very much fit into the narrative of the projects.
As I look through the work I have had accepted over the years, it reflects the subtle changes that I have gone through in my photographic direction over the years. In my case, the main changes have been going from very minimal graphic imagery to more observational work. I find the NPG entry as a useful point in the year where I can see what I have shot through the year and select from the work which images I think may work for the Photographic portrait prize. I tend to mix up different types of portrait within the 6 allowed entries; this year it is a couple of portraits shot in the studio and four shot on location, covering themes such as Identity and Addiction.”
Our Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize Special Print Offer:
Unlike other labs, we work with photographers and artists to achieve exceptional results and our prints are produced collaboratively to ensure the best representation of the photographer’s vision and the highest quality results. Alongside this, every year we strive to make entry to the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize easier with an offer designed to take away the hassle of the labelling and delivery of your work and providing protection of your print during the judging process – and this year is no different.