National Portrait Gallery
The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856 to collect the likenesses of famous British men and women. Today the collection is the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, but it needs to raise sufficient funds to improve this as well as encouraging public access to its works through outreach and educational programmes.
Taylor Wessing has a long-standing relationship with the National Portrait Gallery and we are immensely proud to sponsor the Photographic Portrait Prize, which is fast becoming one of the most internationally recognised competitions in the photographic world.
Our relationship with the Gallery has grown and evolved since we first sponsored The World’s Most Photographed in 2005. This Prize is not about capturing an image of the world’s most photographed. Indeed, you will never know who many of the people in the pictures are and may never see these sights in the course of your everyday life. Each image tells its own story and will inevitably evoke its own reaction.
The 2009 exhibition celebrates the resilience shown by so many people, even when they are at their most fragile. It reminds us of the good that thrives around us and the importance of taking time to ‘smell the roses’. This is why Taylor Wessing is proud to be associated with the Prize. In today’s world it has never been more important for people to take stock of what matters most and to appreciate all that we have.
The Prize encourages and cultivates new talent, while emphasising the importance of hard work with a forward thinking and creative attitude. These are attributes that we, as an international law firm, also seek to foster and promote. While the legal sector isn’t traditionally associated with creativity, Taylor Wessing is proud to be strongly committed to supporting arts and culture. Our relationship with the National Portrait Gallery’s Photographic Portrait Prize is based on our joint goal to strive for excellence in all that we do, all of the time.
Please visit the National Portrait Gallery website.
PORTRAIT OF ASPIRING PARALYMPIAN WINS THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY'S TAYLOR WESSING PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE 2009
The 2009 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize has been won by Paul Floyd Blake, 37, for his portrait of 13 year old swimmer, Rosie Bancroft who hopes to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Games. The portrait of the teenager, who had her right foot removed when she was ten months old, was taken in a swimming pool changing room in her hometown of Oxford. Blake says ‘Rosie was competing throughout the day and there was only a short window when I could take the picture. She had just swum a personal best in her event and I think that’s why she has such a confident, self-assured look in the portrait'.
This is the second year that Taylor Wessing has sponsored the Prize. The judges selected 60 portraits for the exhibition from over 6,300 submissions entered by 2,452 photographers from around the world.
The exhibition, which is free to attend, will run from November 5th - February 14th at the National Portrait Gallery.
News
Paralympian portrait wins photography prize - Paul Floyd Blake's portrait of 13-year-old swimmer Rosie Bancroft wins Taylor Wessing prize at National Portrait Gallery.
Written for the Guardian newspaper website and published on 4 November 2009.
The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize captures humanity in all its joyous variety - The people in these portraits are vividly occupied with the business of being human.
Written for the Times Online website and published on 31 October 2009
Not just a pretty face: in search of the perfect photographic portrait - As a judge for the National Portrait Gallery's Taylor Wessing prize, Diane Smyth sifted through more than 6000 images. She explains what it's like delving into people's private worlds.
Written for the Guardian newspaper website and published on 30 October 2009.
Coming up: what's on in the world of travel - The best forthcoming events including a photographic portrait exhibition and a big-screen ski and snowboard tour.
Written for the Telepgraph website and published on 30 October 2009.
