Four photographers have been shortlisted for this year's Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, hosted by the National Portrait Gallery in London. Anoush Abrar, Dorothee Deiss, Spencer Murphy, and Giles Price are all in the running to claim the £12,000 prize for their entries, having been shortlisted from a total of 5,410 submissions by 2,435 photographers.
My initial reaction is that all of these images feel very safe. They're gorgeous pictures, yes, but there is nothing here that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up or leads me to believe that these photographers have pushed any boundaries or limitations. I hope that when I have the opportunity to see the images in the flesh, hanging in the gallery, I'll feel differently about them.
The competition was judged from original prints by: Sandy Nairne Director, National Portrait Gallery, London (Chair); Kate Bush Head of Barbican Art Galleries; Suki Dhanda Photographer; Tim Eyles Managing Partner, Taylor Wessing; Terence Pepper Head of Photographs Collection, National Portrait Gallery; and Rebecca Valentine Photographic Agent.
Sixty portraits have been selected for exhibition later this year, running from 14 November 2013 to 9 February 2014 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.