The 2024 AOP Student Awards – shining a light on the next generation of photographers and image makers
© Natalia Krezel
© Jimmy Fletcher, Best In Show 2023. Screenshots from winning film ‘Bempton’. (See full winning entry on page below)
Whatever your vocation, passion, course or age, we invite you to inspire us with your photography.
This category covers any form of people-photography from portraiture to street photography, photojournalism and beyond. The People category is an opportunity to make visual comments about the human race and its ways. In previous ‘portrait’ categories, animal pictures have been featured but the originators of this category feel that entries this year should feature the human race.
Rather than duplicate possible locations such as landscapes and architecture, we offer this category which provides unlimited opportunities. We promise that we will be as flexible as you need us to be.
This category covers almost everything else. Think Irving Penn’s found objects, Mapplethorpe’s flowers, Ori Gersht’s explosions, cats, dogs, bats and monkeys by Tim Flach, and sublime still-lifes by Richard Maxted and then make something unique and sensational of your own. We can’t wait to see your work.
Meet our judges for the 2024 Student Awards
Photographer Michael Wharley has been shooting for 14 years, earning a reputation both for sensitive portraiture of people and places, and for cinematic imagery that lends itself to the advertising world. With leading entertainment clients including Netflix, Disney, Warner Brothers, Audible and The National Theatre his key art campaigns for film, TV and theatre are seen globally, while his portrait work regularly features in national press and won him an AOP Gold Award in 2022.
Hello, I’m Frankie a London based photographer.
I take pictures that involve food, sometimes people, and often products.
Working out of my Peckham studio, I’m lucky enough to work with some of the most creative and innovative individuals within the food and drink industry.
I visited Bempton Cliffs for the first time in July 2021, and I was completely blown away by what I witnessed there. The sound was immense. Crashing waves and erratic bird calls seemed to surround me and engulfed the entire cliff tops. As I looked down from the cliff tops, I was absolutely astonished. The sky, the sea, and every inch of cliffs and outcrops seemed to be dominated by Seabirds. The sky was filled with Gannets flying back and forth with food and nesting materials, the cliff faces saw Gannets feeding young, mating, building nests, clashing beaks and fighting for territory. I immediately fell in love with this almost prehistoric looking scene and decided that I wanted to recreate this emotive experience, so I came up with the idea of my multi-screen short film, Bempton. Bempton was filmed over the course of a year, from March 2022 – March 2023 and documents the entire breeding season of the Northern Gannet at RSPB Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire. Each year these cliffs are brought to life with the incredible sights and sounds of over 200,000 seabirds who use them as a space to raise their chicks between the months of March and October. The film, spread over three screens, captures the changing landscape of the cliffs, the fight for territory, and the beauty of the Gannets’ courtship over the course of a year. The imagery is accompanied by an incredibly immersive soundtrack, which is comprised of both an emotive score (composed by Simon Turner) and the natural sounds of the landscape and birdlife.
© William Turner, University of Derby – Professional & Applied (Photography). SILVER Places 2022
Denouement , (Series) © Karo Birger, University of South Wales. SILVER Things 2022
© John Buchanan
The Association of Photographers is a membership organisation dedicated to promoting, protecting and educating photographers of all levels – from those starting out, to experienced professionals, and everyone in between.
© The Association of Photographers Ltd
The AOP Photography Awards are known as the ‘Oscars’ of the photography world. They celebrate excellence in the creative photography and image-making industry.
This is your chance to be seen by leading commissioners and names within the photographic industry.
Check out our 39th AOP Awards FINALISTS and WINNERS