Photography News Issue 45

Photography News | Issue 45 | absolutephoto.com

15 Interview

Profile Chris Coe This month’s chat is with Chris Coe, the inspiration behind the hugely successful Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) contest

Can you tell our readers a bit about your photographic background? As a child I hated photography. My father collected cameras and always had one pointed at my siblings and me. However, in my first summer holiday at university I got a working visa and travelled around the USA with a compact camera – an Olympus Trip. I found that I loved taking pictures and this fired my enthusiasm for photography. I’m completely self-taught. I discovered technique by trial and error but always trying to learn from thefailures.I’vealwayshadagoodeye for composition, it comes naturally to me, but the most interesting part of improving my photography was when I had to deconstruct what came naturally to me so that I could teach it to others. My passion for photography is wrapped up in time and light. The subject is less important – I like the variety and the challenge. Do you have time to take your own pictures? If so, what do you like to photograph? TPOTY has largely sidelined my own photography as it has got bigger and more demanding. However, in the last few years I’ve been making a conscious effort toshootmoreand the plan is for this to grow year on year. If I have time to myself I’d probably lean towards photographing the natural world but I like playing with movement and low light. How many people do you have working on the TPOTY team? This may be hard to imagine but there are only two full-time; well not really full-time because Karen and I both have other businesses. Then we have someone working part time in the office and temporary staff during the exhibitions. The plan is to employ two people on a full-time basis in the not too distant future. What brought you to the idea of introducing TPOTY? Frustration and my passion for photography. In 2002, on my way back frommeetings inLondonwhere I’d been showing my photography to various picture editors, I was mulling over the frustrations of being a photographer, walking door to door to showmy portfolio. While I was listening to the radio on the journey home, presenter Simon Mayo was talking about travel photography. He said anyone could be a travel photographer! All you needed was a camera and a ticket to somewhere. My response was, ‘Right, I’ll show you!’ and TPOTY was born. Having decided to create a showcase for great travel photography in the

form of a competition which would generate an exhibition, I then set about defining travel photography itself. At that time picture editors largely classified travel photography as pictures of people on holiday. Of course it is much more than that and rather than being a genre in its own right, it’s a collection of genres which define the travel experience – people, cultures, landscape, wildlife, food, place, architecture (old and new) etc. etc. This may seem obvious now but back then, in largely pre-internet days it wasn’t and I’d like to think that TPOTY has played some small part in changing perceptions. It’s important to remember that back then there were very few photo competitions, let alone travel photography ones, and there were none open to everyone – young and old, amateur and professional. My wife Karen and I created TPOTY, and launched in February 2003 with prizes from Adobe, Fujifilm and Plastic Sandwich. What were your aims when you first launched the contest? To create a showcase for great travel photography, to get the work of talented photographers who were shooting varied aspects of travel in front of the general public and, rather grandly, to change people’s perception of what a travel image is. What were the major challenges in the early years of TPOTY? Firstly being new, independent and unknown in a world that was largely dependent on print media for exposure at the time. This was pre-internet as we know it now. Interestingly as soon as we got our first winners people and the media started taking us seriously and growing from there was about being tenacious, professional and engaging with photographers around the world. It was about being different, being friendly and respecting photographers and their copyright. How has TPOTY developed over the years? It’s unrecognisable from the early days. Then we were opening mountains of prints and labelling them so that they were trackable throughout the judging process. Online entry makes this process so much more streamlined but importantly, we have kept the final judging of prints. This is really important.Somanyimageslookgreat online but not in print. The online one is immediate and transient. The print one is more enduring, it’s about quality, tone, shadows and highlights. It is less rushed and more engaging. Images with real enduring interest sing out as prints.

Biography

Years in the photo industry? 25 Current location? Suffolk. Last picture taken? The TPOTY exhibition in Hull last week. Personally, the last frosts of spring a month or so ago and the Northern Lights in Svalbard in February. The latter is a magical place. When youwere younger, what did youwant to bewhen you grewup? An engine driver when I was very young (my grandfather was a station master) and when I was a bit older, a doctor. Dogs or cats? I love both Toast or cereal? Toast most often. Email or phone call? Always a phone call – so much more personal and better communication.

©TimothyAllen/tpoty.com

What has pleased you most about how TPOTY has grown? We’ve stayed true to our ethics and morality. It isn’t, and never has been, exploitative. TPOTY now has a huge international presence and the importance of this is that the photographers who win, or even get placed, benefit from the profile that we’ve created. Can you give us some idea of the judging process? Judging takes place over three rounds. Round one weeds out the weaker images and those which don’t fit the criteria. This is done by a small panel of judges. Round two involves all the judges, wherever they are in the world, and is an online shortlisting process with judges independently choosing the best images in each category. Their combined efforts give us a shortlist for each category. The final round is done by a panel of seven to nine judges in the same room reviewing the shortlisted images as prints. It’s a lively but highly enjoyable two dayswith lots of discussion and lots of disagreement, but the judges have great respect for each other and a casewell arguedwill win the day. Do you ever hear back from past winners who might have progressed their photography further? Absolutely! We stay in touch and publicise their successes whenever we can. It’s a mutually supportive community for most of them. The young winners are part of this too and it’s great to see their interest in photography progress into careers. Do you have some advice for those photographers thinking of entering this year’s contest? It’s the same advice whenever I’m asked this and it applies to any photography competition. First, read the brief for each category and follow

it. Don’t be tempted to enter your favourite images. Enter your best but make sure they fit the brief. If they don’t save them for another year. Second, never underestimate the judges. They are highly knowledgeable and they see thousands of images in the course of a year. Third, don’t copy last year’s winners. The winners are different each year, just look at the winners’ galleries – an impersonation of the last winner simply isn’t going to win. What is one aspect of TPOTY of which you are most proud? Two things. Seeing the winning photographers reap the benefits of the international profile which we’ve created to springboard their profile or careers, and seeing the way the awards and exhibitions inspire people and make them aspire to be better photographers. What is your personal favourite pictures from all the winners? Wow, that’s a tricky one with so many great images over the years! One of my favourites is an image by British photographer, Timothy Allen (above). It’s a black & white image of a woman in Mali, sheltering from the rain under a tin roof. It’s moody and magnificent. Another is a shot of a polar bear with a seal carcass by Australian, Joshua Holko. It’s poignant and speaks about survival and environment as well as the obvious in the image. The third is by French photographer, Remi Benali, of a boy, also in Mali, wearing a red jacket. It is such a joyous image. Where do you see TPOTY in, say, five years time? The plan is to develop a touring exhibition programme including 25 international venues during that period. We’re not looking to send the exhibition to every venue that will have it.Wewant to keep it prestigious whilst broadening its reach.

Never underestimate the judges.

They are highly knowledgeable and see thousands of images in the course of a year

Enter now

TPOTY 2017 is open for entry now and a closing date is 25 September. With a diverse range of categories, fabulous prizes including a £5000 prize package for the overall winner and entry open to enthusiasts and pros of all ages, TPOTY is worth entering and you have plenty of time to shoot images on your travels this summer. For full details please see the website. tpoty.com

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