Thursday 17 July 2008

A surprise awaiting


I arrived back from a 3-week visit to Malaysia to discover that one of my photographs submitted for the Association of Photographers (AOP) Open 2008 competition has been selected for exhibition and inclusion in the first AOP Open book!

The AOP is a body founded in 1968 by a group of professional photographers to :

''unite by a common aim to challenge the then unreasonable demands of model agencies, it brought together professional photographers, to protect their rights and promote photography.

Constituted as a non-profit distributing trade association, today its membership exceeds 1,800 photographers and photographic assistants. It is supported by photographers´ agents, printers, manufacturers and suppliers of photographic equipment. The AOP also has a number of affiliated colleges and plays a significant role in promoting, maintaining and developing relationships between all levels of higher and further education and the professional industry.''

It runs a very well subscribed annual Open competition which has no theme, purely seeking unusual and extraordinary images. I entered about 5 images and this one was selected to be exhibited at the Open Exhibition from 12 August to 13 September 2008 at the AOP Gallery in London. The finalists images are open to a public voting system to pick the winners so please have a look at the finalist images when they are up online.



I took this photograph backstage at Ashley Isham's London Fashion Week Summer 2008 show at the Royal Opera House back in February. It shows a typical chaotic backstage makeup table but without a soul in sight. Everyone was busy prepping the models by the stage entrance during the rehearsal, and I noticed this surreal image, of half drunk water bottles, tissues, coffee cups, hairsprays, brushes etc. It looked the perfect shot.

6 comments:

Tracy Tan said...

congrats! glad you had a safe trip back home too. didn't quite manage to catch up with you before you left - next trip then! and thanks again for organizing the workshop.

Saya... said...

It IS a beautiful shot, man. Captures the essence of life from another angle, without a soul in sight, the clutter we leave behind. And the reflection in the mirror, gets in the whole room almost. Hope you win!

Hey, I put in a new profile picture...you like? Heh heh...my closed eye...heh heh..I thought it looks kinda cool..(effing cool?)

Conan_skywalkeR said...

nice capture !!

Pak Zawi said...

svllee,
From my untrained eye I would never see the spirit of the picture. You saw it and the judges agreed with you. Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Hey Steve. Congrats! You sure are a busy man. I love the photo because it captured the silence people left behind. Yes, a perfect shot indeed!

svllee said...

Hi Pak Zawi, thank you for your comment. I have just sent the print in. Will update if there's any progress!

Hi Rox, long time no speaky. Yes, I have been in Malaysia for some weeks, giving a photo workshop as you may have read. And also working on 2 projects there. One is a book on the Pudu Jail Mural, and the other is still a bit secret for the moment..