Winner of the Harry Page Photo Prize 2019 announced

Chris Houldsworth wins with National Theatre photo

The winner of the 2019 C20 Harry Page architectural photography prize is Chris Houldsworth (@chris_houldsworth) for his images of two London landmarks: the National Theatre (Denys Lasdun, 1969-77) captured in ‘Interior’ and the King’s Cross Tunnel (Allies and Morrison, 2014) in ‘King’s Cross, St Pancras’. ‘Interior’ was taken on a Canon EOS 6D, with the aperture at f4.0, shutter speed of 1/20 and the ISO set at 800; and the ‘King’s Cross St Pancras’ on a Sony ILCE-6000 camera, with the aperture at f5.0, shutter speed of 1/80 and the ISO set at 400.

The judge, Tim McCoy Page, described the winning pair as “fine photographs showing off the structures beautifully”. He also said, “it continues to astound me that not only are the photographs for the competition year on year so precisely and professionally taken, but the sheer array of new buildings and structures that pop up each time is mind-boggling. And that often is what it’s about – a new, unusual building, or often a cleverly taken photograph bringing a new light and perspective on a building.

It’s that combination of architecture (after all that’s what people are members of 20 Society for), along with the quality of the composition or the care and consideration about the light, that I look for. The winning entry this year is imaginatively framed and showcases the incredible design within a structure, not just the whole. And black & white is such a superb format for highlighting building form and texture.”

The prize was established in 2013 in memory of photographer and dedicated C20 Society member Harry Page.