Exciting news for music photographers! Abbey Road Studios has launched the first ever photography competition and official awards to recognize the overlooked art of music imagery.
The inaugural Abbey Road Studios Music Photography Awards (MPA), in association with Hennessy, will honor the past year’s most unforgettable and unique music moments, as well as the talented music photographers who captured them.
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A panel of esteemed industry experts will be judging the competition including none other than co-founder and photographer Rankin, music artists Moses Sumney and Shygirl, legendary rock music photographer Jill Furmanovsky, US music photographer Dana Scruggs, Rolling Stone's deputy picture editor Sacha Lecca, and Abbey Road's managing director Isabel Garvey.
The MPA will recognize photographers across the globe at all levels whether you're an established, emerging or undiscovered music photographer, with options to enter the four open award categories: Studio Photography, Live Music Photography, Championing Scenes and Undiscovered Photographer.
The judging panel will then choose one of these category winners to receive the overall Zeitgeist award, described as celebrating the image that defines the music scene in 2021. The picture that makes you stop, think and feel. A visual statement of music in 2021.
Alongside these are four additional invited category awards – closed-entry categories that see the nominees and winners chosen by the official judging panel, each bringing to the table their own creative eye and expertise. The categories are Icon Award, Portrait Photography Award, Editorial Photography Award and Artist at Work Photography Award.
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"Throughout my career it’s always been really important for me to support emerging and undiscovered talent in photography," said Rankin, "so the opportunity to partner with one of music’s biggest and most prestigious brands in Abbey Road Studios for this year’s inaugural Music Photographer Of The Year Awards, is massively exciting."
"Music photography is an art form that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, so it’s brilliant to celebrate those working in the field with these Awards. What I’m always looking for with photography is a connection with the subject matter and music has been one of my main passions for as long as I can remember, so this is a real thrill."
The Abbey Road Studios Music Photography Awards 2022 is now open for entries until the closing date of 21 March 2022. Each year the competition will be celebrating images from the previous year, so your images must have been captured between 00:01 on 01 January 2021 to 23:59 on 31 December 2021 to be accepted.
The winners of the competition will be unveiled and celebrated at an official MPA ceremony on 14 May 2022 at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, England. Entries are now open until the closing date on 21 March 2022, entrants must be 18 years old or over.
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