Honest Work

Richard Holloway & Jose Antonio Abreu

I was the official photographer for the annual Royal Philharmonic Society Awards held at The Dorchester Hotel on Thursday 15th May 2008. I met and photographed Dr Richard Holloway and Dr Jose Antonio Abreu. Both are involved in the amazing Le Sistema project which through music brings inspiration and purpose to youth in deprived and poor areas of the world. Le Sistema is coming to Stirling in Scotland next year and is already, since its inception in Venezuela in 1975, in other cities around the world including New York and Singapore. Abreu is the founder and guiding light in the movement that has been bought to prominence recently by Gustavo Dudamel the conductor of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra through their flamboyant and colourful performances.

The evening was full of technical challenges. I had an off stage studio with off camera flashes, a tripod and low light set up for the stage and another off camera flash set up for the close-up stage shots. The picture above is one of the close up stage shots which was another challenge because Dr Holloway is well over 6ft and Abreu is only 5ft tall. For this shot I got Abreu to stand on the top step of the stage stairs and Holloway on the bottom and then a wide angle with the flash and diffuser about 10 feet away.

When photographing in the studio I asked the award winners what they won the awards for and one of the winners said that she felt really special being photographed by the world famous Simon Jay Price and that she should have bought her kids with her. I told her that my kids are never interested in my photos and don't wish to see them even if I try and bribe them. "I meant the kids that were involved in the project that I won the award for" Doh!