Season’s Greetings and Good Will To All
I’d like to wish a merry Christmas to all who visit this blog; may you have a peaceful day and enjoy this season. I’d also like to wish that 2016 brings us all peace, putting an end to the horrors of war, specially in Syria and hope that the refugee crisis comes to an end.
A dramatic sunset over west London. 2015. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
2015
For me personally, 2015 was kind, allowing me to realise my Opera By The River project. An intensive personal project, photographing the arts. An opportunity to spend seven months photographing the talented singers and instrumentalists at the Royal College of Music as the prepared for an opera by one of the college’s former students, composer Benjamin Britten. A real joy to spend time with the pupils and staff, feeding off the creative buzz as Albert Herring took shape, from auditions straight through to the last performance.
It’s one thing to find a camera manufacturer who produces the equipment one uses to craft photographs (I use Olympus OM-D cameras for the vast majority of my photography as it’s designed in exactly the way I’d like it to be and produces the results I need). However, it’s quite another thing to find a camera manufacturer who cares what you craft and create. Olympus made my project come to life, culminating in a solo outdoor exhibition on the South Bank, allowing around 350,000 people to see the work. My gratitude goes to the team at Olympus UK for all their help and support.
The opening and private view of “Opera By The River”. A poster shows the way for the evening’s party at The Deck, National Theatre, London. September 30, 2015. Photo: Neil Buchan-Grant / http://www.buchangrant.com
2015 also brought some competition niceties from the AOP Photographers Awards selecting two of my images for their finals and exhibition, the International Color Awards nominating one of my images and the I Shot It competition choosing one of my monochrome images as a finalist. Another image made the exhibition by the Portrait Salon.
I hope most have had a good year and that 2016 is kind to you and allows you to be kind to others.
