Creative Review Photography Annual 2008

The new edition of the Creative Review features their annual photography awards, and is an excellent collection of work. the current trend of photography to be merely "challenging" has left me cold for a number of years, and so I was excited to look through the shots in this edition.

Pieces that really captured my attention included Ernst Fisher's Datong Train forms, Janie Airey's shot for CEF and Tunnel by Nadege Meriau.

The Tunnel is easily my favourite in the book, with such wonderful use of colour and shadow. Its composition faultless, as your eye is drawn in succession to each focal point.

But I was still disappointed by some of the work displayed, such as the conceptual series by Diego Diaz, Redefining Fast Food - deemed worthy of one of the limited edition covers of the annual by Creative Review. I am very aware that appreciation of such pieces are matters of taste, but the contrived shots, intentionally didactic, felt drained of life. They are comprised of fruit and vegetables composed to resemble distinctive items of fast food, and yet they look less appealing than the plastic food burger chains use for their own advertising.

In the personal category, Afternoon Tryst by Frank Herholdt also seemed painfully staged. The intention obviously seems to be to create a film noir sensation, and even to compose the shot to hint at a stagy approach, but the irony is not successfully conveyed. What we are left with is a scene in which bold colours are overtly intended to convey emotions, and clichéd poses cannot help but ooze a cardboard, stock photography air.

Regardless of some of the overly worthy pieces, the annual demands reading, and is another reason for me to renew my subscription.