2009 Assistants Awards Judges

The Judges

Paul Belford
Partner & Creative Director – This is Real Art
Having emerged from university with a PhD in Biochemistry, Paul, bizarrely, applied for a job as an Art Director in an advertising agency. He went on to hold senior positions at such prestigious London agencies as TBWA and Ogilvy, and has won numerous awards for his work in both advertising and design.

After a time as joint-Creative Director at AMV.BBDO, the largest ad agency in the UK, Paul joined This is Real Art in 2007 as Partner & Creative Director.

Alexandra Bortkiewicz
Director of Photography – Alamy
Alex started her career in stock photography as a travel editor for Tony Stone Images before heading off to Chicago as part of their creative team to develop creative direction and recruit photographers. Los Angeles hailed with fine weather, production houses and an extensive shoot schedule which kept her busy art-directing lifestyle shoots in various corners of the US for Getty Images (formerly Tony Stone).

Since returning to England, Alex has been Director of Photography at Alamy, joining at the concept stage in 2000 and contributing to the agency’s evolution into one of the world’s leading, online stock photography resources. Currently working on the development of the collection for the commercial market, Alex also finds time to participate in international portfolio reviews and is a regular commentator on trends in the industry.

Choi Liu
Art Buyer - M&C Saatchi
Choi fell into Art Buying purely by being in the right place right time. She has been an Art Buyer for the last 15 years. At M&C Saatchi Choi’s main responsibility is sourcing creative talents for all of their clients as well as occasionally helping out international offices such as Paris, Berlin and LA.

Thriving on challenges, she feels immensely privileged to be surrounded by the creative talents of image-makers. Choi views an average of five portfolios per day and gets a tremendous thrill when she discovers something really special. She is constantly on the look out for new and original talents both here in the UK and abroad.

David Land
Editorial Director - EC1 Publishing Ltd
EC1 Publishing is a small, bespoke, Central London-based publishing company that produces f2 Freelance Photographer magazine and the Royal Photographic Society Journal, both of which David also edits. After graduation and prior to becoming a journalist, David gained experience on both sides of the picture desk, before moving into photographic education to inaugurate and run the photography department at Westminster Adult Education which, at its peak, delivered over 3000 hours of courses per year to adults in Central London.

A meeting in 1999 with Roy Green, former editor of the RPS Journal, led to a rekindling of his interest in journalism, and his becoming Contributing Editor to the RPS Journal. David left his post in education to edit full time in 2003 and in 2005, David and his business partner, Simon James, formed EC1 Publishing, the following year taking over publication of f2 Freelance + Digital magazine. Originally a subscription-only title, the magazine was relaunched in 2007 as f2 Freelance Photographer, concentrating specifically on the business side of being a freelance photographer.

Ed Robinson
Photographer
Both photographer and art director, Ed Robinson takes a unique view of the world and its people. His total concept of the visual crosses the stereotyped boundaries and opens a fresh eye on tomorrow’s world. Ed’s own work specialises in ‘Life Photography’ comprising portraiture, high profile music / event photography and marketing / advertising photography, and his distinctive, energetic style and verve has won him an accepted place in the industry.

Always a real high flier, his early career was indeed as a Fast Jet Pilot in the RAF, but he changed course to pursue his real creative passion. After stints on the picture desks of various National newspapers he moved to the Financial Times where he progressed to the role of Deputy Head of Pictures. After three and a half years he left to become Director of Photography at a major agency, before going on to form his own creative consultancy in 2006.

Ed retains professional memberships of the Association of Photographers, the UK Picture Editors Guild and the World Photographic Academy, where he was on the judging panel for the World Photography Awards last year. Personally, he has shot some of the largest bands and artists in the music industry and some of the UK’s largest music festivals. Ed has also been personal photographer to Harvey Goldsmith CBE and Sir Richard Branson.

Tara Moore
Photographer
Having studied at the Photographic Studies College in Melbourne, Tara was lured to London by the prospect of assisting photographers in exotic locations around the world. Before she knew it, she was loading cameras in helicopters over Victoria Falls, waiting for the light in Death Valley, doing recce’s on skidoos in Norway and holding a lastolite up to Jude Law in Berlin...then was sent on her first assignment to a carpark in Milton Keynes. She began doing small jobs here and there, entered the AOP Assistants Awards and pretty soon had Angela Woods as her agent.

Since then, Tara has trodden a very fine line between art and commerce. Her personal / folio work isn’t necessarily shot for ad type application, which she feels keeps her imagery fresh, and most of all, keeps her passionate. Her pictures are conceptual in nature, but tempered with beauty, narrative, and realism. The commercial side is rewarding too…bringing teams together, getting involved in the technical side and providing the creative input that results in an image that everyone is happy with.

The AOP Photographers Awards, the Schweppes Portraits Prize, DNAD, and The Creative Review Photography Annual have all helped raise Tara’s profile; and clients such as Sony, Microsoft, NSPCC, Abbey, Xbox, and Redbull, together with some loyal editorial magazines and stock libraries, keep her working and busy.

Angela Woods
Photographers’ Agent
Angela Woods is a long established London based Agent representing the best creative talent.  She works on global campaigns with all the major advertising agencies and design groups.

She also co-runs Hothouse, which specialises in career guidance and portfolio clinics for photographers at all stages of their careers.  Hothouse offers face-to-face, one-on-one portfolio critiques at its monthly workshops.

The studio space for the AOP Assistants Awards Judging Day, on 30th July 09, was provided by Street Studios.

www.streetstudios.co.uk