Annual Exhibition 2009
The
Photojournalism Award
The Photojournalism Award was developed this year into a separate section. Selector David Robinson explains the concept:
The idea for a separate "Photojournalism" or "Real Life" category was to encourage the recording of subjects outside the usual "Pictorial" genre.
A very high proportion of entries to the Annual Exhibition aim to be "Attractive" pictures which deliberately leave-out the humdrum, everyday, aspects of life like supermarkets, parked cars, queues, factories, jams on the M25 etc.
Ironically, it is these very pictures (which we don't take) that would be fascinating to future generations. The minutiae of everyday life, which change from year to year, do not appear in our stereo pictures.
We have an ultra-real medium which hardly ever records reality.
The criteria that should be applied by the judges, in this section, need to be different from those used in judging mainstream "Pictorial" images, otherwise the project is doomed to failure.
Instead, the selectors should consider these questions.....
Is the picture special to life at this time in history?
Will it tell future generations something about now?
Does it tell us about real life rather than "Holiday" or "Heritage" life?
Take the example of Capa lying in the Normandy surf on D Day snapping those memorable, blurry pictures that have gone down in history. From a technical, pictorial, point of view they have little to offer but they satisfy each of the three criteria listed above.
Of course it doesn't have to be a war, a busy street on a Saturday morning can be just as informative.
The
nine pictures submitted for this new category,
which can be seen here, are
an exciting collection for two reasons.
Firstly, they form the beginning of an Archive of Everyday Life
which will grow over the years to provide a vivid record of some of the
scenes and events which make up this Milennium.
It will also grow in value, as seemingly mundane images gradually
transmute into documents of social history.
Secondly, it marks the first digital entries for a Society Exhibition,
so formally recognising the importance of this modern method of
image-making.
The contributors have entered into the spirit of the project and each
has thought in a different way about everyday life and how to record it.
Readers can pick their own winners by applying the criteria outlined
above.
The selectors shortlisted the "End of an Era" and "Kill your Speed" entries
and finally picked "End of an Era" because it so specifically summed-up
the times we are experiencing.
The next question is "How do we make the Archive even more effective?"
Suggestions are welcome and here are some initial ideas....
1) Accompany each entry with a caption of between 25 and 40 words.
2) Extend the "Everyday Life" concept to life in countries outside the
UK.
3) Allow each Member to enter three pictures, either separately or as a
sequence.
4) Members may submit relevant, digital images, non-competitively, to
the Archive at any time.
