Travel Photographer of the Year 2008

The winners of the 2008 Travel Photographer of the Year competition have been announced and my hearty congratulations go to Canada’s Darwin Wiggett who wins a trip to Everest and a Linhof large-format panoramic camera as well as some other tantalising prizes.

I had a couple of portfolios shortlisted, one of which is Commended in the “Joy of Travel” category. No first prize was awarded in this category as the judges didn’t feel that any of the portfolios conveyed the subject in their entirety. I can’t say that I disagree. I haven’t seen the other portfolios but know that I was stretching the concept on this occasion so it’s actually quite a bonus to have been commended. The lesson here is to shoot specifically for the theme and not try to squeeze things in retrospectively. Let it serve as an example of why trying to fit a square peg into a round hole isn’t as good an idea as going in search of a round peg in the first place!

However, It’s obviously quite an honour to be included in such illustrious company, there are some wonderful images on the winners’ page, and knowing that there were thousands of entrants from over 60 countries, I’m pleased to have my name among the elite this year.

My commended portfolio was shot at the Phi Ta Khon festival in Thailand and shows some of the smiling village elder women enjoying a break from the festivities. They would occasionally return to the dancing, throwing some impressive shapes for women who I will simply describe as being “mature”. However, the lure of a quick gossip would soon see them back on the wall, chatting and laughing with friends. In many ways, watching them was more entertaining than the festival itself.

An even more entertaining image would have been the one of me trying to dance with one of these ladies. Although she spoke no English and my Thai is limited to the numbers from one to seven, her reaction to my dancing moves was perfectly communicated by the expression on her face. It was slightly disappointing as I was giving her my full “Colonel Abrahams: Trapped” routine, perfected in various Isle of Wight night clubs in the heady summer of 1985.

Thankfully, no photographic evidence exists of either of these embarrassing episodes in my life but it does go to prove that a photographer with his eye on a good photo will not be put off by a little ridicule and derision. It probably also goes to prove that you can take the boy out of the Isle of Wight but…

When you’re looking through this year’s TPOTY winners, keep an eye out for Charlie Mahoney’s portraits of Irish brothers and farmers, which I think is a great story-telling portfolio and also Philip Lee Harvey’s “decisive moment’ shot of a Ugandan man. I also really admire Marcel van Oosten’s image of an elephant’s eye, something that you will have seen many times before but which never fails to resonate.

Posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 5:00 am. Filed under: Competitions, News Tags: phi ta khon, thailand, tpoty RSS 2.0 feed.