I’m extremely happy to hear that my image PULSE from my Locked-in series was just awarded a Highly Commended Award from the SWPP in the June Portrait Avant Garde category!

Last week I joined another international professional association than the WPPI, the Society of Wedding and Portraits Photographers (SWPP). And I just received two Highly Commended awards in their March competition – in the Landscape and in the Fine Art & Pictorial categories. I’m especially happy with the latter one and not just because it rewards my latest work. Most images submitted there have a very painterly feel indeed, with abundant (and beautiful) digital artistry, and very few are portraits (usually female nudes). I thought I perhaps should submit this monochrome capture into another category but in the end to me it is nothing other than a Fine Art photograph – one that was created with intent and in an effort of combining aesthetics with an underlying message. So I’m really thrilled to see it Highly Commended – it must have spoken to the judges even without knowing the context and that’s a pretty cool compliment to get.