A recognized jury
The international jury is selected from among the best and most recognised photographers and theorists in the area.
Hélène Binet has worked with and for great architects such as Caruso St John, David Chipperfield, Daniel Libeskind, and Peter Zumthor. She has published several books and is represented in major museums. She is an ardent supporter of analogue photography and therefore works exclusively with photographic film. For more than 25 years she has followed the work of contemporary architects, often from start to finish.
Jens Markus Lindhe is both a photographer and an architect, and has for many years worked as an architectural photographer for the best practices in Denmark. He has arranged countless exhibitions and written many books and, like Iwan Baan, focuses on the way we use architecture.
Mette Sandbye is head of department of the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, where she is currently doing research into the relationship between amateur photography and the collective history since the 1960s. She is the only member of the jury who is not a trained photographer and whose life is occupied with taking photos. On the other hand, her knowledge of photography, its history and development is greater than most photographers in terms of the development, influence and trends of photography.
Architecture and People
The theme of this year’s competition is “Architecture and People”. The drawings of architects typically contain people, but when it comes to photography, they are often absent. The competition therefore encourages students of architecture to look at architecture in interaction with the users: with the children, young and old people who work, live and die in architecture.
“Architecture mirrors people’s lives and ambitions. The aim should hardly be to build spaces devoid of people. We build spaces for them to be used. I can easily portray a ball or a car without showing the way these objects are used. Seeing them used just makes so much more sense – showing social actions in a social space. I graduated in architecture and know how infatuated you can become with your ‘pure and clear idea’ of the forms of buildings. But one thing is how the architect imagined the finished space, another how it is used in everyday life”, says Jens Markus Lindhe, who will help select the winners of the competition.
The competition is supported by Dinesen and The Dreyer Foundation. Dinesen has pledged financial support for the competition for the next three years.
“Architectural photography is crucial to Dinesen. Over the years, we have worked with photographers who have followed the lines of architecture and our products and created pure and minimalist images. We are now entering a period where we also want to portray life on the floors and the people who affect spaces. The imperfect and the living is a major theme for us. This is why being part of “Photo of the Year” is so relevant to us: we want to know more about how architects around the world experience spaces through the medium of photography”, says Hans Peter Dinesen, of Dinesen.
Read more about Photo of The Year 2019 here.