Silver in Paris … But Not In The Olympics …

… it’s the … 2024 Prix De La Photographie De Paris … Paris Photo Prize … or PX3 for short.

PX3 is arguably the most prestigious and largest annual photography prize in Europe … so it was excellent when an email dropped in on the weekend with two pieces of excellent news.

The major item of news was the announcement that my image “George at the Bus Stop – Dr George Skeene OAM” … had been awarded SILVER in the ‘Portrait’ section of the prizes. I momentarily came across George at a Cairns bus stop and managed a few portraits before his bus whisked him away. Sadly, George is currently in ill health and I do hope this recognition cheers him up somewhat. You may read more about George and our encounter … and the previous awards his portrait has featured in by visiting … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/images/2023/06/george-at-the-bus-stop/ … and … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/awards/

Also in the email was the news that my work “Escaping Cyclone Jasper Alive – Bill & Michelle” received an Honorable Mention, also in ‘Portrait’. Bill and Michelle are lucky to be alive after surviving the Cyclone Jasper flood event. Their story of being swept from their Degarra home of 45 years and clinging to trees for ten hours in the midst of a once in a hundred year flood is both fascinating and frightening … and you may find more details of their ordeal and survival here … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/images/2024/01/bill-michelle-cyclone-jasper/

Massive Thanks and respect to my subjects who were … and still are … going through very difficult times in their lives. I seriously respect you all for your patience and understanding in allowing me the opportunity.

Of course … thanks also to PX3 for the giving my work some ‘air’ 🙂 .

Images © Brian Cassey

Travel … UK, France, China, Japan …

Just returned from a five week trip to the UK, France, China and Japan. Ostensibly it was for recuperation and a respite from taking pics (with the bonus of a UK Christmas).

However, as a freelance, the reality is that far too many pic opportunities regularly rear their heads whilst travelling … and I always found myself lugging at least one camera (Nikon Df, Fuji XE-1, Fuji X100), sometimes more (in addition to the obvious iPhone for the odd Instagram). There is a persistent deep seated optimism that images made on a trip may make the odd dollar/quid somewhere down the track!

Occasionally hefting the kit paid dividends … (although how I failed to leave at least one camera or lens in any of bar, bistro, boulangerie, museum, gallery, palace, temple, hotel, hutong, noodle or teppanyaki restaurant is beyond me … )

Below I’ve posted just a few of my favourite images from the past weeks overseas.

Unfortunately, I left Japan on the day the big January Grand Sumo Tournament commenced at the National Sumo Hall in Ryogoku Tokyo, so I decided to get up very early the previous day and attempt to catch Sumo in last minute training at their ‘Beya’ or Sumo ‘stables’. The stables were very difficult to find … and when found even more difficult to gain access. (I now understand the Japanese ‘sign’ for ‘NO’!)

However, persistence paid off … and I made the top image below through a small glass window of Sumo going through their final training session.

What must be the most bizarre rail journey on the planet was the subject of the second image.
The weirdly named ‘Shanghai Pedestrian Transit Tunnel’ runs from the beautiful Bund under the Huangpu River to the new Pudong skyscraper district of Shanghai China. It isn’t a ‘pedestrian’ tunnel at all … passengers are transported under the river in little carriages and assaulted with a trippy light and sound show during the four minute journey. Money … and not just a few dollars … well spent! (in contrast the ferry across the river costs less than 35 cents!).

The image gives some sense of the insanity of the journey.

In the third image … there is no place better to read a book on a sunny but bloody cold winters day than on the pavement of the Avenue Victoria on the west bank of the Seine in Paris !

Images © Brian Cassey

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Shanghai Pedestrian Tunnel

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