2012 National Photographic Portrait Prize - Call for Entries

I can still remember the delight and honour I felt last November when I received a phone call from The National Portrait Gallery letting me know that my entry had been selected for exhibition in the 2011 National Photographic Portrait Prize.

It was great to travel down to Canberra for the opening of the exhibition and the announcement of the $25,000 prize winner. While I have had a good number of my own exhibitions and included in various group shows this was certainly the most prestigious one I have been part of.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2011 - Selected for Hanging - Images by Paul Foley

The walls of the gallery were covered with a variety of photographic portrait styles and subjects. The very worthy prize winner, 'Miss Alesandra' by Jacqueline Mitelman, was a classic study of character bathed in beautiful light.

The exhibition is still travelling around Australia and worth a visit if you are nearby. It is in the Fremantle Prison Gallery, Western Australia, until November 27th, 2011 before moving to The Yarra Ranges Gallery in Lilydale, Victoria on January 26th, 2012.

In the meantime you can view it online here. 

Entries are now being accepted for the 2012 Prize and you have until this October 31st (2011) to submit your work online. 

According to the official announcement:

'The National Photographic Portrait Prize is an annual event intended to promote the very best in contemporary photographic portraiture by both professional and aspiring Australian photographers. The exhibition will be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery from 16 March to 20 May 2012 and tour to selected venues throughout 2012.

With the generous support of VISA, the Gallery is offering a prize of $25,000 for the most outstanding photographic portrait.'

If you are interested in entering please click through to the Call for Entries. 

The feeling of seeing something you create on the wall of a prestigious gallery and as part of an important exhibition is pretty cool! Good luck to all who enter.

Portrait Workshop
If you are a keen DSLR photographer you may want to check out the portrait workshops I am holding this October & November in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens. I'm looking forward to sharing my skills and insights to help you make thoughtful, compelling portraits. Please click here for more details.