Printers Make an Exhibition of Themselves

In the 10th anniversary year, the winners of the Fujifilm/PPLA Colour Printer Awards 2004 were announced at the annual awards ceremony, held on 25 May at the AOP Gallery in London.

Bryan O’Leary of Kustom at Metro Imaging in London, received the title of Fujifilm/PPLA Colour Hand Printer of the Year, and Tamsie Bartter of Tapestry MM, London scooped Digital Retoucher of the Year as well as being awarded first prize in the fashion shoot digital brief.

Last year’s winner, Lee Adams of Metro Imaging, was also among the prize winners taking both 1st place in the Land, Sea & Air category, as well as a joint 2nd place in the Building & Industry brief. The exhibition, which ran 24-29 May and featured images from all six categories, opened with the presentation of prizes - with each category winner receiving £300 cash and £300 Fujifilm products, while the two overall winners each received an additional £700 cash and £700 Fujifilm products.

Hand Printing Judges Digital Re-touching Judges

Judges agreed that the standard of entries was extremely high with huge interest in the digital categories, especially the fashion shoot brief set by photographer Oleg Micheyev and Steve Davis of FTP Digital in London. The standard and number of entries in the hand printing categories also remained strong and after careful consideration, the judges reached their decision. “We’ve judged a wide range of really striking images,” said Fujifilm’s technical expert, Steve Feasey. “The winning prints have been produced through a combination of skilled work and an artistic eye. It’s great that hand printers and digital retouchers are still being recognised for their contribution to the creative process of professional photography.”