And the winner is ...

This, from The Guardian, says it all:

Sandy Nairne, the gallery's director, called the winning work "a brilliant, empathetic study of a young woman".

Tim Eyles, managing partner of the law firm Taylor Wessing, sponsoring the prize for the fourth year, also offered congratulations. "This year's images collectively convey a realism and depth of vision that makes them both relevant and easy to relate to," he said.

Woodward's photo could be seen as unusual as she used actual film. Before she knew of her win, she said: "I prefer the quality and depth you get from using film; unfortunately it's a dying art."

Unlike irony.

RZ67

i'll be interested to see the size of this print, i did something similar on an RZ for www.photovoice.org which is currently on display at www.artsdepot.co.uk along with 20 other SEN Student portraits

dying art?

i think you'll find quite a few entrants to the twpp are shot on film, spencer murphy's peter crouch on display this year for example. as were david chandler's winning portrait and clare shilland elle winner last year. dying art? unusual? not really, film has just become the choice of the discerning few.

Discerning few ...?

... for "discerning" read "pretentious"?. Surely, the merits, or otherwise, of an image should not be determined by the medium with which it have been constructed. Is a Degas less "worthy" than a Rembrandt?. The idea that one must use film in order to be a serious photographer is simply twaddle - often as not put about by those that like to be thought of as purists in the hope that they gain some kind of kudos.

My problem with this shot:

Is this the best out of 6,000 submitted images by 2,500 photographers, if so then Photography is up sh*t creek without any paddles left

Observation

I can't help but notice that this year's overall winner and last year's overall winner were both images of young red headed women holding an animal.

The boring digital vs film issue

I am most of all surprised that the TWPP prize asks (and reveals) what kind of camera was used, since Photoshop optimization is done on films scans or on digital files indifferently. Maybe it's an old fashioned "Mcluhan-esque" kind of stance ("the medium is the the message")?
Good portrait, being a bit enigmatic, the winner shot.
Hugs

Dodge

Needs a bit of dodging on the GP's face. What do you mean she didn't print it - now that's a dying art.

Mixed Feelings

I find it hard to not agree with all of the comments here. Film a dying art, my a**e, anybody worth there salt will no that it is not.
From a commercial point of view then yes as clients can not afford to cushion the costs of developing, contacts etc. From a private point then its just another useful medium that has taken a little back seat.
Well done to the winners and I look forward to the exhibition.

Trevor Palin
Director of Palin Images

PS. Can we go for a few more dynamic shots next year please?

Portrait selection

Im not really getting this...this image is competent, but hardly outstanding, the lighting is natural...ie not a lot done here,, the composition static and the crop strange (notably the area of flat white below the arms holding animal). There are no highlights to catch attention- neither the girls not the animals eyes have much to say and yet this tops how many images...I saw the number of 60,000...as I said...I just dont get it.

Thanks for comments

I am grateful for the comments i saw the image and thought - much the same not bad but not outstanding - i thought I had missed something or suddenly was the only one who thought that in fact the emporer really does not have clothes on

Sticker

They could have taken that sticker off the Gp's ear, for heavens sake, even a quick photoshop would have done that. It then would have been worthy of £12K surely.

Award winner?

It strikes me that people who win awards at photography fall into two categories, ones who truly are worthy of being awarded for original thought provoking work, and those who get a pat on the head and will dine on that for years, but in reality get no where.
Discuss.

sticker?

"They could have taken that sticker off the Gp's ear, for heavens sake, even a quick photoshop would have done that."

Are you serious? The sticker definitely adds to the image.

Sour grapes

It's a fine portrait. Inevitably, it is sour grapes all round amongst BJP readers. Philip Evans wins the "Most Predictable Comment" award in his reference to the Emporer's (sic) new clothes.

it's ok and suitably, a bit creepy...

Seems to me you have to have a little bit of a sinister edge to your picture if you want to win here, I think the judges favour the esoteric. It's actually not that bad a portrait though the background is rather distracting, despite being out of depth of field...I like the lighting and the contrast of the GP against the white coat...The GP is the same colour as her hair making a relationship between it and the girl. Perhaps it suggests we are all Guinea Pigs in some greater experiment.,,Or perhaps that is just bollocks...

Trollin'

I smell Nikon trolls in the dungeon.

Excellent Portrait

I think this portrait is excellent. It has a weird 'deadpan' look (and that's just the guinea pig)
I am not too bothered by the background - the factory look of the wall behind her and the lab coat made me feel that the guinea pig was in danger! The clincher though is the hair/fur combo. Don't care really care what it was shot on - its the content and feeling that does it for me. Worthy winner.

Delicious irony

I couldn't possibly say if this is the best portrait, as I didn't see all the entries, but I'm loving the irony. The guinea pig was being judged in a competition, and now we're judging a photo that won a competition. I'm starting to think that the viewers are the ones being tested. Effectively, WE are the guinea pigs.