Taylor Wessing Portraits and the London Ice Sculpting Festival
Too often, in the cornucopia that is London cultural life, I make a shortlist of films, plays, exhibitions, concerts, or whatever, that I would like to see, only to find that their run has ended before I ever get around to seeing them ;).
This Sunday, however, I did manage to visit two such events, the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Exhibition 2012, currently on display at the National Portait Gallery, near Trafalgar Square, and the London Ice Sculpting Festival at Canary Wharf…and below is the evidence 😉
Entry ticket for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012
http://www.npg.org.uk/photoprize1/site12/exhibition_prize-winners.php
The £12,000 first prize was awarded to Jordi Ruiz Cirera for Margarita Teichroeb
Born in Spain in 1984, Jordi Ruiz Cirera studied Design at Elisava College, Barcelona before moving to the UK and gaining an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication. His shortlisted portrait of Margarita, a Mennonite from the Swift Current Colony in Bolivia, is part of his long term project portraying the daily life of this community.
He says, ‘Almost all of the houses have tables in front of their windows giving fantastic light to the scene. Sitting in front of the camera was not easy for Margarita, photography is forbidden for Mennonites and having her direct portrait taken was quite difficult so I could only take two frames of her. Even though we were enjoying the situation, Margarita posed with this sort of awkward expression.’
The prize-winning photograph of the young Bolivian Mennonite woman, Margarita Teichroeb, was one of the highlights for me, as were the photographs of Hilary Mantel CBE, by Michael Birt, and of Sophie, by Wendy Carrig. I might add, I rarely take portrait photographs myself, but nonetheless find exhibitions such as this one fascinating.
Then it was off to Waterloo station, for a Jubilee Line train to Canary Wharf, for The London Ice Sculpting Festival, some photos of which follow…
Canary Wharf Tube Station Way Out
Ice Sculpture 1
Ice Sculpture 4
Ice Sculpture 5
Laser Show
A Weekend Diary 