You’re a talented bunch so it wasn’t easy, but after much deliberation we have at last arrived at a shortlist. Here are the 12 brilliant photographers now officially in the running for the 2012 IdeasTap Photographic Award…
Each of the 12 shortlisted photographers will receive a mentoring session with a Magnum photographer and £60 of Blurb book vouchers, plus their work will be printed, framed and go on show.
Six finalists will then receive £1,500 to shoot their dream project. They will also create a Magnum in Motion multimedia essay and attend a second mentoring session.
Ultimately one winner from each age group will be awarded a £5,000 prize and a much sought-after internship – one at Magnum’s London offices and one with the Magnum in Motion team in New York.
Age category: 16 to 22
Marco Kesseler’s thoughtful, elegantly composed images look at the experiences of Albanian families who have become embroiled in blood feuds and the mediators working to resolve them.
See his portfolio here
Bulgarian-born Rossen Kuzmanov’s bold, black and white street photography details fleeting moments and chance encounters around his home city of Sofia.
See his portfolio here
Emily Macinnes’s amalgamated portraits of Kurds in traditional dress are a visual meditation on the identity of a people whose history has been shaped by persecution.
See her portfolio here
Transitional “non-places” are the subject of Ben Price’s richly toned images: darkened railway waiting rooms or platforms, devoid of people and lacking individuality.
See his portfolio here
Christian Schmeer has trained his camera on east London spots once frequented by the Kray twins, producing eerie nighttime street scenes that recall cinematic establishing shots.
See his portfolio here
David Severn’s work documents how the closure of the pits has brought unforeseen ecological benefits to a former coalmining area, along with problematic social impacts.
See his portfolio here
Age category: 23 to 30
Jordi Ruiz Cirera’s intimate family portraits of Bolivian Mennonites depict a community struggling to continue eschewing modern technology for a simpler, and more isolated, way of life.
See his portfolio here
Paula Gortázar’s work takes us inside the European Parliament, revealing spaces of power rarely seen by the citizens who are affected day-to-day by the decisions made here.
See her portfolio here
Since 2006 Will Hartley has followed the same group of London squatters, portraying the highs and lows of their everyday lives with sensitivity and finesse.
See his portfolio here
Taking her cue from the Victorians' obsession with specimen collection, Alice Myers photographs plants in misty glasshouses, creating magical images that verge on abstraction.
See her portfolio here
Each of Maria Pappa’s portraits of young women who have moved to London from countries suffering the effects of the financial crisis is displayed beside a landscape, a visual echo of their aspirations for the future.
See her portfolio here
Stark and graphic, Kristjan-Jaak Tammsaar’s pictures of the tunnels and escalators of the London Underground highlight the futuristic and sometimes alienating feel of the Tube.
See his portfolio here
Image: beautiful lady.. :) by rahen z, under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.
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