AOP Photography Awards

The 38th AOP Photography Awards are open to all AOP Accredited Photographer and Assisting Photographer members.

PROJECT Category Finalists

A long-term photographic project on a singular subject that portrays a narrative, illustrated in a series of 10-20 images, or short form film.

Judged by:

Nick Waplington, Photographer
Eliza Williams, Editor, Creative Review
Adrian Evans, Director, Panos Pictures

Featured Image © Tom Parker, Sport Cuba – Central Habana Baseball team

Category & Showcase Sponsor

“This category looks at work from a singular subject but may feature many images or even a piece of short film. … there many entries this time, but the quality of work was extremely strong with a wide variety of subjects, everything from sort of documentary to work that verged into art and conceptual work. … I particularly just enjoyed seeing the great work that was on show. It made the judging harder, but its always good to have to judge between really strong work. So, I think we’ve come up with a good shortlist that shows the breadth of work that was featured this year and I’m excited to share the finalists.”

Eliza Williams, Editor – Creative Review

GOLD Winner - Julia Fullerton-Batten

Old Father Thames
The River Thames is not even the longest river in the British Isles and a mere pygmy in comparison with many other rivers in the world, yet its significance to British and world history is immense. The river starts as a small trickle in hills to the north west of London and travels for nearly 450 km through the south of England, the centre of London and thence out into the North Sea via the Thames estuary, passing some of England’s most picturesque towns and villages on its way. London is one of the major cities of the world today, but it would not have existed if it were not for the River Thames passing through it. Just before the Thames reaches London it becomes tidal and formed a natural harbour such that London has been a port since pre-Roman times. Still today, the Thames acts as an artery of communication and trade route between Britain and the rest of the world. My own fascination with the Thames has now taken a more concrete form. I have made it into a project and in the process of choosing, investigating and photographing a selection of cultural and historical narratives from along its banks.

Read more in her featured post on our Instagram grid or via @julia_fullertonbatten

© Julia Fullerton-Batten
@julia_fullertonbatten

SILVER Winner - Zoë Norfolk

Every year I take a photo / 2003 – ongoing
Every year I take a self portrait of my son and myself on his birthday, 19th of September. I wanted this long project to be a statement of our family unit. Having been a single parent since William’s birth. I wanted to make a visual testament of “us” as a two person family. I also wanted to build over the years, a time capsule of our / his life. I hadn’t planned to have a baby. When I fell pregnant it was a shock. My boyfriend wanted me to have an abortion. With my own home and a stable career, I fundamentally felt I could support a child at this time in my life. Taking this image each year, was a powerful statement for me. I had great pride at doing it all alone while juggling a successful photography career. Even though the isolation of bringing up a child alone was really very hard, and I felt different to all the other “families” around me bringing up their children. Time has moved on fast from the early days of the project. When he was younger I had to squeeze it in after a party etc, over the years my son has embraced the yearly ritual. Some were taken in different locations but as the years progressed I kept to the living room (all images shown here are in the living room bar one). Last year he left home for Uni, so it’s the first of many shots away from the family home in North London.

© Zoe Norfolk
@zoenorfolk