Less than four months after setting up his own photography business, Jason Allison from Crook in County Durham has reached the final of the fiercely contested Guild of Photographers Image of the Year Competition.
Within that time, he has already won numerous regional and national awards including two of the guild’s prestigious gold bars but now, four of his prints have been shortlisted in three genre categories.
It’s been a whirlwind few months for the father-of-three who only launched his ‘Hidden Studio’ at the end of August on the first floor of the Barton Townley Building in Burnington Drive.
The 46-year-old specialises in family, individual and pet portraiture as well as commercial photography and is now only one step away from being internationally renowned. His black and white photo of Paul Smith has been shortlisted in the Classic Portraiture genre, Florence the Springer Spaniel photo has been selected in the Pets’ genre and two other prints have been selected by judges in the Avant-Garde Portraiture genre, which have all made it to the final.
His passion for photography started when he was only nine years old and despite working all his career in other industries and sectors, he knew he would eventually end up working as a full-time photographer. This became a reality when he joined the Guild of Professional Photographers a couple of years ago and realised where his talent lay.
The Guild is a highly respected UK-based association for photographers, which also includes members from overseas. Each year, it runs an on-line monthly photographic competition, judged by internationally respected judges with awards given to the best entries. During 2017, the competition has attracted around 1,200 entries per month from the most talented of photographers.
Jason commented: “Creating special images has always been a passion of mine. I love the whole process of getting to know people and dogs and then capturing and editing them in an artistic way, which tells the viewer a story.
“I have put a lot of work into developing my skills and the Guild is a great platform to learn from. The standard of photography is incredible, and it helps me to push myself and to be the best I can be.
“From the thousands of entries that are submitted across the whole year, I cannot believe I have been selected in not one but three genres by the judges, this really is a dream come true.”
Guild Director Lesley Thirsk said: “One of the Guild’s aims is to drive standards and creativity amongst photographers. Our monthly competition certainly does that, for the standard of the entries we see each month is quite staggering. To have an image recognised by the Guild in the monthly competition is difficult enough, so to have an image selected as being one of the best in a category for the end of year final is without doubt an incredible achievement, and shows just how talented photographer, Jason is.”
Jason’s images will now be prepared for the final when highly regarded judges will come together from across the UK and overseas to select the overall winner. The final outcome will be announced on 3rd February 2018 at an awards ceremony in Cheshire.