Taylor Wessing exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

I recently went to see the Taylor Wessing exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.  Spencer Murphy, whose work I wrote about earlier on this blog, got third place this year and I was keen to see the other work that had been shortlisted or selected for display.

This year first prize went to Jordi Ruiz Cirera for his portrait of Margarita Teichroeb from the series Menonos.  The images was shot while the photographer was documenting members of the Mennonite community in Bolivia.  The Mennonites have an uneasy relationship with the camera preferring not to be photographed and this can be seen in this portrait.  The subject found it difficult to look into the camera and we can see her awkwardness in the way her hand is covering her mouth.  She looks on edge and uncomfortable.

Second prize was awarded to British photographer Jennifer Pattison for her portrait - Lynne, Brighton.  The portrait comes from an ongoing project of Pattison's which consists of a combination of naked portraits and landscapes.  Her focus is in depicting the shift in consciousness that occurs when someone poses without clothes.  Pattison speaks of creating honest and frank portraits which seem all the more honest when the subject in naked.

Spencer Murphy took third prize for his portrait of Mark Rylance which I have written about in a previous post.  I feel I can connect more with his work as I feel looking at naked portraits makes me feel uncomfortable for some reason.  The meaning of the image seems to get lost or perhaps overtaken by the fact that the subject is naked.

Alma Haser received fourth prize for her portrait titled The Ventriloquist.  The subjects are best friends Luke and James and with their identical haircuts they look like twins.  Haser peaks of wanting to connect with the viewer by 'telling stories and working with narratives'.  Sometimes the subjects just tend to speak for themselves.

One of my favourite images from the exhibition was the winner of the John Kobal New Work award, Matthew Niederhauser.  His Nine Lives of Ai Weiwei is a beautiful piece of work.  I love the rich colours and lighting.  But the most striking element is the photographers use of the ginger cat as a prop.  The concept is one I feel works really well.

Other works at the exhibition that I found inspiring include:

Pastry Chef by Jason Pierce-Williams.  I love the shapes in this black and white image and the use of lighting.   The frame is filled with the subject which enhances his size.  He looks aggressive with the rolling pin in his hand.

Mo Farah by Kate Peters.  I like the use of colour here and the fact that Mo is actually serious.  We've seen far too many humorous images of him since the Olympics so this one is a welcome change.  I feel that the photographers decision to focus more on the upper half of the body basically a head and shoulders shot shows that sport is not just physical it is mental as well.  Taken before the Olympics, Farah looks focused on the task ahead.

Four Hats by David Stewart.  The four teenagers in this image are trying hard to stamp their own individuality on the world but in doing so they look more similar than anything else.  This brings back memories from my own teenage years where being different was so important.


This exhibition has given me plenty of ideas for shooting my own portraits in the future.  I have seen first hand now what a simple prop like a cat can make to an image.  I have discovered interesting use of lighting and colour to introduce mood to a picture.  These are things I am going to work on moving forward.