It feels like the overuse of a well worn cliche to announce that 2025 has flown by. Glancing at my last post, unbelievably made in 2024, I can only cite the onslaught of seismic world events and my preoccupation with doom scrolling for my lack of attentiveness.
Instead of trying to recall every favourite photography show, award or festival attended, I think it’s wiser to attempt a summary of some of most memorable experiences that took place this year.
It was a pleasure to judge this year’s Wellcome Photography Prize; a global competition organised by the Wellcome Trust with a focus on mental health, climate change and infectious diseases, and a more recent award for biomedical images. I was joined by a diverse panel of judges from specialisms that included health, neuroscience, psychology and photography. It was an incredible learning experience and the breadth of subject matter and wide range of photography was impressive.
A visit to Finland back in February, as a jury member of the Finnish Photojournalism competition was my second visit to a Nordic country and my first to the picturesque city of Helsinki. An intense weekend of debates and stimulating discussion followed as we worked our way through a wide variety of images. Amazing architecture (like this art deco cafe), wild swimming (not for me !) and tasty cuisine all made for a brilliant experience.
I stumbled across this small but very powerful installation while out on a walk in my local area, which led me towards the South London gallery on a rainy Sunday afternoon. This piece, by American artist, Leonardo Drew is entitled Ubiquity II and is made mostly from fragments of mirror and plywood. Standing in the centre of the room of this incredible sculpture made me feel as though I was literally inside the artist’s mind.