Photography News 12

Competitions INTERVIEW

Around the world in prints Husband and wife Chris and Karen Coe co-founded one of the most prestigious and ethical photo competitions around, Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY). We talk to Karen to find out more

Interview by Megan Croft

You co-founded the competition with your husband, photographer Chris Coe, back in 2003, what gave you the idea? As a full-time professional travel photographer, Chris was becoming increasingly irritated by the attitude that travel photography was just brochure shots and picture-postcard images and the predictable imagery that was appearing in the media. Knowing that many good photographers struggled to get interesting work published, he decided to do something to show the world that travel photography encompasses so much more. An award to showcase travel imagery from photographers around the world seemed the way to do it. At the time we launched there weren’t many other competitions. As a photographer, Chris wanted to develop a competition, which was ethical and supportive, rather than exploitative, of the photographers who entered. It is driven by these values and his passion for photography. From the outset we’ve taken a strong stance on protecting photographers’ copyright, something not all competitions do. And we have a really strong international panel of judges who are so knowledgeable and scrupulously fair. We’ve offered some remarkable prizes over the years as well, for example Cat Vinton, winner of TPOTY 2007, won a trip to India to photograph the Dalai Lama. Finally, our exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG – Institute of British Geographers) in London each year is a hugely popular event and gets media coverage around the globe. There is an abundance of photo competitions, what do you thinkmakes yours unique? Just how much has the competition grown over the years? Entry numbers have grown significantly but what we find more fascinating is the growth in the number of countries fromwhich we receive entries. I think in that first year it was probably about 34 countries – which

wasn’t bad considering that this was before the real explosion in online media and social media. But today we receive entries from photographers in over 100 countries and that never ceases to thrill me. What are some of the most significant changes TPOTY has undergone since the start? The move from all print entry to online initial entry followed by print finalists has been a big change, not least because I was no longer surrounded by envelopes and boxes of prints waiting to be opened, logged, labelled and sorted at 3am. Obviously the partnership with the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) was a big step forward in exposure terms, though we’d already had exhibitions at places like the London Eye in earlier years. There wasn’t always ten categories. In the early days there were fewer but this growth reflects the evolution of the awards, of photography and the diversity of travel photography, so it’s only appropriate that we have a range of themes. Each year we try to come up with themes that challenge photographers – this is not an easy award to win and that alone makes it prestigious. This year we’ve reformatted it slightly, adding an extra single image category – not everybody has a portfolio of images that work well as a set – and in 2013 we introduced our first all black &white category. We also now have an HD video category, introduced in 2012 to reflect the inclusion of HD video features in the latest digital cameras. We feel that the current format is about right and is something we’ll stick with for the foreseeable future. Whomakes up the judging panel? The selected judging panel is representative of a broad spectrum of photography and of image usage. It is international and made up of respected photographers, picture editors, editors or publishers, art buyers, curators, stockphotography experts, digital imaging experts and other users of the photographic image. We often – and unusually – include a lay judge. Can you give us an insight into how the judging process works at the competition? There are three rounds of judging. In the first round, a Howhave the categories evolved and howdo you set the themes?

TOP A photo from 2012 Young Travel Photographer runner- up Felicia Simion. ABOVE Jan Schegel’s image was part of a portfolio that earned him the position of runner- up in the People Watching category in 2012.

small panel of judges assesses all entries on whether they meet the criteria and standard of photography required for the awards and the particular category in which they are entered. In the second round, all entries, which have qualified from round one, are judged independently online by the entire judging panel. The best entries in each category are chosen for the shortlist based on the number of votes they receive from this panel. Top entries are shortlisted for the final (print only) judging round. Finally, the last round is conducted on prints only (except the HD video category) supplied by shortlisted entrants. The final judging round is held over two to three days at the RGS. Shortlisted entries are individually assessed by a judging panel of seven to nine judges. The judges take great care and time to consider all entries and their choices are made following group discussion, some of which is protracted! All over theworld! Really! Canada has been amazingly successful, I think we’ve had three overall winners from there, and the USA, UK, Australia and Italy also tend to feature well. Scandinavian photographers also score highly, often with a really clean, documentary style. But we are seeing more and more nationalities feature amongst the shortlists and winners. Our last exhibition featured the work of 22 nationalities. Where do you receive entries from? Are there any countries that are particularly successful?

This is not an easy award to win and that alonemakes it prestigious

Photography News | Issue 12