Paul Floyd Blake's portrait of Rosie Bancroft (2008) has won the 2009 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. © the artist
The 2009 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize has been won by Paul Floyd Blake, 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 10 months old, was taken in a swimming pool changing room after the youngster had swum her personal best in her home town of Oxford.
"Rosie was competing throughout the day and there was only a short window when I could take the picture," reflected Blake. "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."
Girl in a Golden Dress, Georgia (2009), one of Vanessa Winship's attempts to find the true face of the country, finished second. © the artist
The £12,000 award was presented to the West Yorkshire-based Bradford College graduate, whose work is part of a series called On Track for 2012. The project began in 2007 with the aim of portraying 12 young athletes with the potential to compete in the 2012 Olympics.
"The series is probably less about sport than it is about young people growing up and the transition from childhood into adulthood," explained Blake, observing the "ultra-professional" and "isolating" world the teenagers live in.
"It is about them growing up and how the experiences they have now shape them for the future."
Michal Chelbin, Stas, Sentenced for Murder, Juvenile Prison, Russia (2009). © the artist
Respected Lincolnshire snapper Vanessa Winship earned the £3,000 runner-up consolation for Girl in a Golden Dress, captured during a series of visits to Georgia in a search for subjects representing the contemporary face of the country.
"I found this particular young girl in the capital, Tbilisi, at one of the Palaces of Marriage," she recalled. "I liked the delicacy of her features and the way she held herself in what looked like a new and best outfit."
Mirjana Vrbaski, Girl (2009). © the artist
Third and fourth place also embraced cosmopolitan winners. Israeli Michael Chelbin depicted a teenage inmate of a maximum security Russian prison to secure bronze. Mirjana Vrbaski – who was born in Montreal and grew up in Serbia before returning to Canada during the Balkan War and studying at the Royal Academy of Art – aimed to "balance the notions of ambiguity and universality" in a picture of an anonymous sitter taken in the Netherlands.
"He was extremely quiet and distant," said Chelbin, who only noticed the 15-year-old on the final day of his trip to the prison.
"I could feel there was an enormous burden on his shoulders. I spent several hours with Stas in different locations in order to build up his trust. When we finished I learned that he had been sentenced for murder."
The Godfrey Argent Award for photographers aged between 18 and 25 went to 22-year-old Ali Lomas, whose portrait from her degree show, To Feel Beautiful, explored the theme of narrative fashion photography, winning £2,500 for the effort.
Lomas will also shoot a feature story for fashion magazine ELLE after winning the ELLE Commission, a new category at this year's awards.
"We chose Ali's work because of the exceptional technical quality of her picture and the haunting feel of the subject matter," said Lorraine Candy, Editor-in-Chief at the magazine.
"It was also extremely stylish."
Exhibition of entries runs at the NPG until February 14 2010, then Shipley Art Gallery, Newcastle, March 27-July 6 and The New Art Gallery, Walsall, July 16-September 12.
