Sergio Muscat Photography

LONDON – Photographer Sergio Muscat was presented with the 5th Annual Black and White Spider Awards Nominee title in the category of Photojournalism at a prestigious Nomination & Winners Photo Show attended by 35,000 online viewers who logged on live from 154 countries to see the climax of the industry’s most important event for black and white photography.

Thousands of images were received from 68 countries worldwide. The awards international Jury included captains of the industry from Magnum Photos, The Armory Show, Fratelli Alinari, Contrasto to Tate and Hamiltons in London who honored Spider Fellows with 84 coveted title awards in 28 categories. The judges reviewed the entries online for eight weeks before making their final nominations and Sergio’s “Just One Coin,” an exceptional image entered in the Photojournalism category, received a high percentage of votes overall.

“The Spider Awards celebrates photographers who operate at the highest levels of their craft,” said Basil O’Brien, the awards Creative Director. “Sergio’s work represents black and white photography at its finest, and we’re pleased to present him with the title of Nominee.”

You can view the 5th Annual Winners Gallery at http://bit.ly/aHUOUS

More black and white images may be viewed at http://bit.ly/cMTlGY

BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS is the leading international award honouring excellence in black and white photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honours the finest images with the highest achievements in black and white photography.

As another year rolls by mercilessly, we tend to reflect on what we’ve achieved during the past year, and what we would like to achieve in the year ahead. When I look back, I realise the importance that this year has played in my growth as an artist and photographer. The year took off with a bang when I was awarded the “International Press & PR Photographer of the Year” recognition from the SWPP for Just One Coin. Great motivator, I must say. Shortly after, another award came from the International Colour Awards, for Beach Shop. These awards drove me to keep pushing towards creating more work and evolving my style.

During the year, I became ever more involved in the local photography scene, and helped the MIPP, one of the local photography organisations, to get through a pretty tough year after some radical changes. It was hard work but greatly inspiring. I can now start giving back some of what I have received, helping those who love photography immerse themselves into the art.

Throughout this period I was working on a new set of architecture images which eventually were presented for the Associate qualification. I was greatly encouraged by the judges’ comments which I will treasure for a long time to come. This was a goal I needed to achieve, and it helped me gain more confidence in my abilities.

I am now ready to move to the next step – a step further into the direction of art. It is important for the artistic community to understand that photography is not about creating technically perfect images. Photography is just another medium for the expression of art. It is a very particular medium in itself. It is a tool which allows us to manipulate reality, and show only what we want to show, the way we want to show it. No wonder it was, and still is, a favourite medium for the surrealists. When looking at a photograph, viewers cannot help but associating what they see with what they know, and that is a very strong manipulative tool in the hands of the artist. It takes time to master this technique of distorting reality, but when we manage, the whole world flips upside down. It becomes a dream – rooted in reality, but free of reality’s constraints. I look forward with excitement to the moment I will manage to master that. This is the path I will be taking throughout the coming years.

This coming year, I also plan to participate in some exhibitions. It is time to expose myself once again to the world. I will be doing this through a few collaborative exhibitions – at least that is the plan. I will not reveal details as yet, since they are still on the drawing board, however I can say that there will be some experimentation involved.

The coming year promises to be a very exciting one ahead. I plan to make it so. I have been encouraged greatly throughout the past years, and it is thanks to this continuous encouragement and support that I am able to keep ploughing through. So I keep ploughing through – one day there will be a harvest to collect.

Finally, I wish you all a successful year ahead, full of joy, success and unrestrained creativity.

Seems like 2009 is turning out to be a really good year! First the Modernist Architecture exhibition, then the Press & PR award and now this. I received an email yesterday evening notifying me that I gained a nomination in the Fine Art category of the International Photography Masters Cup, which is one of the largest competitions of its kind in the world. Thousands of images are submitted from over 90 countries, and the judging panel is made up of the “who’s who” of photography – and by that I mean the like of Christie’s, National Geographic, Fox Broadcasting Company and so on. I’m still digesting the news.

The nominated image is one of my first works to be exhibited, and is entitled “Beach Shop”. The image portrays the common and generally unnoticed as glamorous and imposing, creating an impact through the realisation that whilst most of us have seen this or similar scenes before, we never really gave it such importance. Beauty is also in the simple things, and it is up to the photographer to realise this and portray it.