Well it is that time of year again in the York arts calendar – the Act-Belong-Commit York Society Art & Craft Awards for 2016 are being held at the York Town Hall. Yours truly was asked to take the photos of the prize giving ceremony – the brief was to get the prize-winning artist accepting their prize. Classic grip and grin as it is known in the trade. I hate grip and grin with a vengeance – it is boring and conveys absolutely nothing. So 2pm on Saturday sees me parked in the front row at the award ceremony,  I’m there to take an endless procession of dull pictures. The photo below of Louise Gore Langton accepting her award from Dr Pamela Statham-Drew is one of seventeen similar pictures and is typical of the genre. It’s an OKish photo, but all it shows is a woman giving another woman a piece of paper. The photo does not tell you why Louise is being given a piece a paper, only the caption does.

Louise won the Works in Fine Metals & Jewellery category with her work “Pocket Rocket“. So knowing that the pictures would be as dull as ditchwater I decided to take some alternatives after the ceremony. So the picture below shows the artist with her artwork looking very happy. So this tells the viewer something more than thefirst one. A big improvement, it is informative, happy and visually interesting.

The picture below shows Louise with Kate Mullen who was one of the judges this year. The picture is lively, vibrant and happy and that conveys the atmosphere of the awards ceremony and opening. Thankfully the editor of the paper shared my view and didn’t run any of the grip and grin shots.

 

The moral of the story here, if indeed there is one, is that you do what the person commissioning the work wants and then give them what you feel is the more suitable image.