Gold…GOLD! Classical Beats Wins at the AOP Awards

Portraits from my ‘Classical Beats on Brixton Streets: the Brixton Chamber Orchestra’ project won Gold in the Documentary Category at the AOP Awards, in a night packed with stunning imagery and a whole lot of people.

Now in their 37th year, the AOP Awards are a red-letter day on the UK photography calendar, equivalent to the BAFTAs or Oscars in rewarding & celebrating image makers.

So, to be shortlisted as a Finalist for the first time was fantastic. And the fact the Documentary Category was judged by photographer, documentarian & activist Giles Duley, made it all the more special.

It was an amazing night at Village Underground in Shoreditch, showcasing an exhilaratingly diverse array of projects, subjects, outlooks & aesthetics across all the AOP and Open categories.

Plus, it was amazing to be back in the room where it all happens with the great & good of the industry after the Covid Zoom years…

Winning Gold

This would all have been more than enough, but to my genuine surprise, my project ‘Classical Beats on Brixton Streets: The Brixton Chamber Orchestra‘ was awarded Gold. Cue much celebration and delight!

The winners are all featured in this Guardian piece: The Guardian on the AOP Awards

The project was about showcasing the vibrant identity of the Orchestra‘s young players in an evolving modern Brixton, but situating them in the context of the social and demographic history of the local streets.  I wanted to create elegant portraits of music being made in non-traditional local spaces that also showed those places in a rich, full detail & revealing them in a new light.

So, it felt really good to read in Gile’s introduction to the category that the joy of judging was “seeing stories and places that are familiar, but shown from new perspectives and with fresh ideas.”

This was exactly our aim, so it feels like an award for us all and the place.

See the full project here: Classical Beats on Brixton Streets

See all the AOP Finalists here: https://www.aopawards.com/announcing-the-winners-of-the-37th-aop-photography-awards/

Learn more about the Orchestra and its work in the community, here: https://brixchamber.com/