Photography Book Now Competition 2010 – Winners Announced
Spread from Grand Prize winner Judith Stenneken's "Last Call"
Whenever I walk around a place which has an important historical past I always find myself trying to imagine it as it once was. Walking through tranquil fields where centuries ago a fierce battle had taken place, or around a long besieged castle that has fallen into disrepair, it’s hard to relate these places we can now visit so freely to the people and events that once occupied them.
Often even more poignant are those places with a more recent past, but one that has been all but erased from the landscape by property development or neglect – like the once proud but faded hand-written sign on a brick wall, now surrounded by the bland signage of mobile phone shops and coffee chains; or the old factory building, no longer economical, lying derelict and awaiting the demolition crew. Something about the hustle of life these places once knew makes it all the more jarring to see minus its occupants – it makes us question the future of our own haunts and humanity. I’m not alone in feeling this way, as can be seen by the growing underground fascination and fantastic photography of urban exploration – seeking out empty, abandoned buildings to explore and to shoot pictures; a glimpse of the past and the possible future rolled into one scene of crumbling walls and broken furniture.
The runway at Templehof, once busy with flights bringing supplies to a stranded West Berlin, now empty
What is slightly more rare is to allow a building to fade so slowly into obsolescence that long before the doors are closed and the lights switched off it has already become a ghost of it’s past; the people and the reason to exist all gone but the building kept alive as if on life support. The 2010 Photography Book Now competition winner, Judith Stenneken, spent February 2008 to October 2008 documenting just such a building in Berlin’s Templehof Airport for her book, “Last Call“. The airport best known as the base which kept West Berlin supplied with food and fuel during the post WWII Soviet blockade started life as something far less benevolent. Its huge 1.2km sweeping roof line was designed to resemble an eagle in flight as part of the Nazis great plan to build a power-symbol of a city over existing Berlin. Halted by the war, no further developments were made and the airport remained the only physical manifestation of the plans for building their ‘World Capital’, Germania. In the years that followed it was a lifeline to the people of West Berlin, who would otherwise have been cut off from the outside world. Later when tensions eased it would become a thriving commercial airport – peaking in the early 70s before it was again abandoned in favour of Tegel airport by the big carriers. Following another period under US control it was again opened for commercial use but mostly for regional commuter flights. Judith’s photographs capture the eerie emptiness of this huge building, still among the largest in the world. The tall limestone façades and empty chairs; the cavernous hangars and empty runways; the overgrown plants; the abandoned desks and hatstands. Shot subtly and honestly, without being either nostalgic or over-stylised, the book stands on it’s own as a document to the building’s schizophrenic past – built for power and oppression, but used for good and finally forgotten like an old war veteran.
“I am honoured that ‘Last Call’ was selected by the judges to receive this prestigious award,” said Judith Stenneken. “Although the Tempelhof Airport was still operating in 2008, it felt as if the building was deserted, and the only people who were there acted like extras in a movie. It seemed as if time had lost its meaning. ‘Last Call’ is focused on the transitory condition of this place, where desertion had been taking place for a long time.”
“Ms. Stenneken’s work stood apart as this year’s Grand Prize winner,” said Darius Himes, lead judge, Photography Book Now. “Her photographs combine a rigorous, large-format camera aesthetic with a quieter sensibility. She edited and sequenced the work intelligently, creating an intimate view of a grand space within the pages of her book. She then brilliantly took a ‘readymade’ trim size offered by print-on-demand and made some crucial alterations to the pre-existing format: added endpapers that complimented the feel of the book, a gold-debossed detail on the cover of the book, and a hand-made fold-out midway through the sequence of the book all enhanced the experience of the book as an object. The end result is both elegant and compelling.”
Fine Art category winner "Barcelona Unfolds" by Arthur Tress
The Fine Art category prize was taken by Arthur Tress for “Barcelona Unfolds”, a disorientating collection of architecture and street scenes designed to be folded by the reader to create fold out pages. First runner up was Justin Schmitz for “MOSH” – portraits shot at clubs around Michigan, and second was Elizabeth Tonnard for “In This Dark Wood”.
Anton Kuster's winning Editorial entry, 893 Magazine - The Yakuza in Tokyo
The Editorial prize was awarded to Anton Kusters for, 893 Magazine – The Yakuza in Tokyo, a very glossy magazine style presentation of his experiences getting to know certain members of the Japanese ‘Yakuza’. First runner-up was Alexey Vanushkin with “Merry-Go-Round”, a photo-story of disaffected and lost youth around his town Novosibirsk, Russia. Second runner-up would have been for me the overall winner – “CHICA BARBIE” from Carl Bower tells the powerful story of Colombia’s obsession with beauty pageants. Unlike the first and second placed entrants in this category, excellent though they are, with Carl’s work you get the feeling he understands that the subject and not the photographer is the most important element in the picture. Nearly every page is a work of art, capturing momentary expressions thrown, juxtaposing smiling girls in bikinis with rifle carrying soldiers and the background of poverty in which it all takes place. You can easily forget there is a camera between you and the people in the photographs, which makes it all the more compelling.
A shot taken from Carl Bower's "Chica Barbie" on Colombia's obsessional relationship with the beauty pageant.
Portfolio category was won by Wassink Lundgren “Portfolio”, followed by Emily Shur, “The Woods” and Lauren Orchowski, “ROCKET SCIENCE” (which I loved).
People’s choice winners were David Beach’s, “FETZER’S TALE” (about his cat) for the Fine Art award; Matt Eich’s moving “Carry Me Ohio” about the poverty and isolation of a former mining community for Editorial; and Barry Homes’ celebrity encrusted portraits, “Entertain”.
As ever with Photography Book Now and Blurb in general, it’s the diversity of entries that make it so special – being able to see the world from so many viewpoints and in such eloquent detail.
The books created by the top prize winners will become part of the permanent collections at the International Centre for Photography, the Annenberg Space for Photography and the George Eastman House.
The winning books, including 30 titles that received an Honourable Mention, will be acknowledged later today on the Photography Book Now website and in the Photography Book Now bookstore.
Related posts:
- ‘Photography Book Now’ Competition Closing soon
- PBN competition update – voting open
- Take A View photographer of the year competition nears close
- The Master Photographer’s Toning Book – August Reprint
- Win tickets to the Brighton Photo Biennial 2010
