Hundreds of photographers, assistants, students and imaging creatives descended on Hasselblad’s London photo-studio last week as the prestigious international Hasselblad Masters Finalists Program 2012 was launched.
A selection of shortlisted images adorned the studio walls as Hasselblad Masters from previous years awards mingled with some of the 2012 competition finalists during ten hours of Open Day events – including ‘how to’ studio shoots with live models and an exclusive social evening where aspirational photographers joined internationally renowned experts to discuss their ambitions and the future of the industry.
Chris Russell-Fish, Hasselblad UK MD and global sales and marketing director said: “The Masters is a celebrated and highly influential photographic competition. It can change lives and careers. Claudio Napolitano, who became a Hasselblad Master in the portrait category two years ago, described his win as a ‘life changing moment – like winning a Nobel Prize’. There is no doubt that to win at this level means you have proved yourself to be a very talented, very special photographer.”
He added: “The 2012 finalists’ event was launched here in London but the international tour of finalists’ images will also visit Los Angeles, New York and Berlin this autumn.”
Sports and portraits specialist Dirk Rees, who won his Masters Award in 2009, is now also a finalist in the latest competition program. “The fortune cookies have been with me, I guess” he said. “I just think it is very healthy to enter prestigious awards like this. Hasselblad is a huge brand name and has always had massive credibility with its groundbreaking high-quality products.”
“This awards program is right up there with the very best in the world. And of course it’s not just about winning over twenty one judges on a panel – the public gets to vote too.” He added: “When it comes to photography I believe a single image can represent everything. It is the most powerful and most memorable rendering of movement precisely stopped in its time.”
Paul Waterworth, Hasselblad’s global photographer relations manager commented: “For these people photography is far more than a job, it is a lifestyle. Our competition, which continues to grow with entries coming in from across the globe, now runs biennially to coincide with photokina, the world’s largest imaging trade fair – at which winners’ photographs will be showcased.”
This year’s 110 finalists across eleven categories were selected from over 2,500 applications. Entries from all finalists are online and the public is encouraged to vote for their favourite images.
Voting is open until (and including) the last day of October 2011 at www.hasselblad.com/masters/masters-finalists.aspx.
Winners, whose images will be published in the next Hasselblad Masters Book, will be announced in January 2012.
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