The First Photographic Commission Prize
Designed by Ooshot, the visual content creation platform, the Ooshot Award wishes to reward visions of authors and artists serving brands, companies and institutions.
The photographic commission, a creative territory to discover
The topography of photographic Awards continues to expand and contemporary photography has never been so celebrated. In this environment, commissioned photography is yet to be acknowledged, although art has always nourished and inspired many advertising campaigns, and a multitude of artists have produced personal work in the context of missions and orders. This porosity between two often distant worlds leads us to a reflection on the status of commissioned photography, its stakes, its perspectives and its place in the histories of art and photography. Launched by the visual content creation platform Ooshot, the Ooshot Award wishes to reward visions of authors and artists serving brands, companies and institutions. The Ooshot Award allows talented authors to meet the needs of the clients, through helping the sponsors better define their image communication project, and accompanying them in their relationship with the photographer, and guiding the artists towards understanding the specifications of the orders submitted to them. Enabling an image creator, a visual ‘craftsman’, chosen for his artistic qualities, to be revealed, and suddenly do wonders …
The OOSHOT award’s ambitions :
- Make brands aware of the value of visual creation to them, be bolder in their photographic commissions, convince them that the photographer’s artistic gesture can nourish and enhance their communication to give it greater visibility and power.
- Acknowledge and valorize the creative side of commissioned photography to give both renowned and younger photographers the opportunity to create more and improve their careers serving their clients.
Commissioned photography, an artform in itself ?
Since its invention, photography has been stimulated by sponsors, for specific needs : public commissions like the one on Landscape and Society (French heliographic mission in the nineteenth century, photographic « mission Datar » in the 80s), early advertising campaigns between the two wars with avant-garde photographers and surrealists (Man Ray, Dora Maar …), questioning the codes of fashion photography in the 60s (Guy Bourdin / Charles Jourdan, Peter Knapp / Courrèges…), industrial reports by photographic authors (Chris Killip / Pirelli, Josef Koudelka / Lhoist…), annual reports signed by big names (Raymond Depardon / Nestlé), and finally contemporary art meeting the world of luxury (Jeff Koons / Vuitton, Maurizio Cattelan / Kenzo)… But can the constraints of the commission still allow the image to acquire the status of a work of art? The history of photography and contemporary creation are filled with such examples: the commission can be a creative engine that allows photographers and artists to apply their vision as authors on projects, and sometimes surprisingly unexpected ones.
Today with the new modes of uninterrupted and multichannel communication, including social networks, the flow of images cannot stop, giving image producers a space of unlimited creativity and more experimental testing, while offering new modes of communication to the sponsors.
The need for the Ooshot Award is essential, to promote the all pervasive but underestimated discipline of the commissioned photography, and to give back all its artistic legitimacy to a practice also defined as a creative territory.
Modus operandi
The Ooshot Award will reward a photographer whose commissioned work on behalf of a client strikes by its creativity and image making qualities. It concerns all sectors where the image is called upon to serve a communication objective : enterprise, institution, public authority, industry …, whatever its field of application : fashion, advertising, beauty, still life, culinary, reportage / documentary, portrait, etc. The prize excludes press photography.
Sponsor of honor
The Ooshot Award is sponsored by William Klein, internationally renowned painter, photographer and filmmaker, and author of many iconic advertising campaigns (film and photo) (Dim, Citroën, Naf Naf, Ricqlès …).
The jury
A jury composed of personalities from the world of image, business and communication will meet on December 3, 2018 to designate the winner and special mentions. The jury of the Ooshot Award is chaired by Alex Prager, photographer and filmmaker. Alex Prager (USA) constructs enigmatic and elaborately staged scenes that draw inspiration from a wide range of influences and references, including Hollywood cinema, experimental films, popular culture, and street photography. Her work seamlessly crosses different genres of photography, from art to fashion to advertising. Prager has carried out major advertising and communication campaigns, notably for Mercedes Benz, Hermès, Dior, Bottega Veneta, Tiffany’s…
President of the jury : Alex Prager, Photographer, Los Angeles · Rémi Babinet Founding Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of BETC group · Xavier Barral Xavier Barral Publisher, Editions Xavier Barral · Susana Gallego Cuesta Senior Curator – Exhibitions Manager, Photographic Collection, Petit Palais · Valérie Hersleven President & Co-founder, Ooshot · Francesca Marani Photo Editor Vogue.it and PhotoVogue + curator of the Photo Vogue Festival · Sylvain Orebi President of Orientis (Kusmi Tea) · Sophie Toporkoff Creative Director, Hermès · Christoph Wiesner Art Director, Paris Photo
The nominators
The Ooshot Award invited 30 nominators selected for their expert eye in their field of imagery to propose their selection of photographers who marked the scenery of commissioned photography the last three years. But beside being nominated a photographer can partake without any limit in age or territory.
Calendar
- September 7 Opening of the official website www.ooshotaward.com
- September 11 – November 11 Online applications
- November 16 Pre-selection of 20 to 25 nominees
- December 3 Jury deliberation
- Spring 2019 Awards ceremony evening and an exhibition
The Ooshot Award is the brainchild of Valérie Hersleven, founder of Ooshot.com
Information
Ooshot Award
September 11, 2018 to November 11, 2018
