The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2016

[jasperjoffe]

Full disclosure: my photo was rejected for this!

One thing I wonder as I wander among all the high def pictures of people with sorry lives is Does an interesting/tragic subject make a good portrait? I liked the picture of a girl on her mobile phone because it was ordinary and not super sharp. Is photography just narrative documentation in high resolution or could it be something more. I mean, imagine if paintings were only valued because of the things they depicted. I guess I need to look elsewhere.