The results of the AOP Photographers Awards 2010 have been announced, and I am very pleased to let you know that the "Wish Series" has been selected for this year book and exhibition, following the success of last year "Vertigo Series". The Wish series was created during the winter 2010 in Brighton, when the UK went through its most severe winter in the last 30 years. In short, the images were inspired by the fantasy of a group of 10 year old kids who were doing group wishes at a specific appointed time (from their respective bedroom windows) hoping for more snow in therefore further school holidays. The three images were selected for the "Non-Commissioned Environment Series". The official book launch, exhibition and private view dates will be announced in the next week or so. Below is one of the three images selected.

Good news from my personal archive! Gatwick Airport is displaying one of my images (Pier & Seagulls) from 2005 in the Airport, so if you happen to be traveling to/from Gatwick in 2010, keep an eye for it - (see image below). Also the Condé Nast group (New York) is using another image of mine from that same year. A large urban crowd seen from above, as an editorial, in one of their publications. 

I have just uploaded a new series of images in the portfolio, called "Edge". In fact the name of the series is "Living at the Edge", but that was too long for my website lay-out. They are a visual night study of suburban neighborhoods situated in between towns and on top of the White Cliffs in Southern England. The images were created with very long exposures late at night. The result is an eerie and atmospheric set of images, where real homes look like miniatures houses or small toys in deserted streets. The combination of the diffuse moonlighting combined with the homes ambient lights & the hardly existing street illumination help to create a surreal palette of colors with a incredibly strong cinematographic feel... as if, each image depicts a scene from an imaginary suspense movie. To view it, just follow the link: http://www.photoandre.com/portfolio/  or click in the portfolio section. I hope you get excited as much as I do.

Spent a couple of nights wandering the South Coast of UK with another artist (Gavin Peacock) looking for interesting lighting, locations, backgrounds & playing with ideas. The below images were created in a deserted foot path that connects the motor-way to the sea, crossing a train line & passing through some old ruins. The night was very bright (Full Moon) and I decided to create a series of images by experiment with some slow traveling light with some ridiculously long exposures (up to 9min). It was a kind of therapeutic process, a test for patience and almost mathematical in some ways. In the end, the small details captured by the long exposures combined with the quality of the diffuse reflected moon-lighting was just amazing... I can't wait to make some really large prints...  More images coming soon!

Good news! I have been invited to be the artist of the week in the "Brighton Arts Fair" and "Made UK" website. To read the interview and see images please follow the link:  http://madeuk.blogspot.com/2010/06/artist-of-week-andre-lichtenberg.html   Brighton Arts Fair 2010 will be held at the Corn Exchange building, in Brighton. From the 16th to the 19th Sep. Please pop in and see me at stand no 64.
 

Apologies for the lack of communication lately... but last month (May) has been ubber busy in the HQ. A new series was selected to the final stages of judging of the prestigious AOP Awards London, the final judging will take place shortly in July. The Vertigo series was curated for the HOUSE Open exhibition in the glorious Brunswick Town House... (the images on show were then shortlisted for the Visiting Brighton Awards (voted by the visitors) & the Spectrum Awards - unfortunately didn't win neither but hey...). Apart from that I was commissioned to shoot some new landscapes (full moon images) in Southern Ireland and to produce and photograph an advertising campaign for Gillete in Scandinavia, shooting either in Finland in Norway. Now I am back home in lovely Hove and hungry to create more personal fine art work. (Below an image from Helsinki with its stunning architecture)

Last week was the private view of the HOUSE Open Exhibition at the gorgeous Regency Town House, 13, Brunswick Square - Brighton. The show beautifully curated by Nicola Colbey, Simon Martin & Woodrow Kernohan will also hold a special Award evening (Tue - 18th of May), were several prizes will be awarded: "The Brighton Festival Prize", the "Spectrum Photographic Prize" and "The Visit Brighton Award". Two images from the Vertigo Series have been selected and part of the show. Below is an image from the private view.

Saturday 8th of May, 3rd day in Helsinki and not shooting today... also NOT rainning!!  So, great opportunity to explore the city and visit some galleries. There are some amazing shows in town: Susanna Majuri is showing her beautiful large scale, colorful water based fantasies (my own words) and we just found out that today is the private view of the new show of Anni Leppala at the Ama Gallery, which is conveniently very near our hotel. Yesterday had a long day shooting a very interesting commissioned project which I am not allowed to reveal yet. We are traveling to Oslo Norway tomorrow (then going North to Lillehammer) for another shooting day on the same project.

Just back from Southern Ireland. I had an amazing time with my art director friend Abbey Cummings creating new images around and about Fenit. We worked a lot at nights around the full moon, in fact the weather during the day was quite bad. This week I am very busy again... brilliant!! In one hour I'm off to Scandinavia to shoot two projects, one in Finland and another in Norway. New images will be here soon...

Interesting month for usage-rights (image representation) around the World (hmmm... maybe the economy is actually recovering?) MTV New York is using a portrait of my friend Evandro Cela that I took a few years ago in Brighton, OGILVYONE Worldwide (France) is using an image created in a swimming pool in Brazil and TBWA (Paris) is using a picture from a production in the South Downs in UK. Below is one of the images from Evandro's shoot.

I am delighted to let you know that my work has been selected to the prestigious HOUSE Open Exhibition in the stunning Regency Town House in Brunswick Square - Brighton/Hove. Just a visit to the building is already worthy the trip.  The curators chose two pieces from the Vertigo Series to be part of this year show, which theme was "Regeneration". This year the Show will offer three prizes for winning artists:  The Spectrum Photographic, VisitBrighton and the £600 Festival Prize, whose winning artist will be selected by Festival Director Andrew Comben and Brian Eno (This year's Festival Guest Artistic Director).

HOUSE Open Exhibition - The Regency Town House - Brunswick Sq - Hove - BN3 1EH
Private View date - TBC    Exhibition open - first four weekends of May - 11am to 5pm

Brighton Festival 2010 is approaching very quickly... and I still have sooo much to do!  And apart from several other deadlines I am also off to Southern Ireland the week before the Festival starts to shoot some new Full Moon images. So, before I forget... here are the list of shows and private views where you can see my work:

After the amazing success in New York , London, San Francisco, L.A. etc... The pop up concept finally comes to British Riviera. "Residence" will be the first Pop Up Restaurant in Brighton and will exist between the 1st and the 23rd of May (during the Brighton Festival 2010).  The organizers selected and invited several artists to collaborate with the project. Each artist will be been given a small gallery space to exhibit and create work during the festival. I'll be showing my work Friday 14 May (6pm to 10pm).  So, if you around sunny Brighton during that weekend, do pop in to see the work.

Residence Pop Up Restaurant.  Whitecross St - Brighton - BN1 4FA - (1st to 23rd of May)
For more info visit: www.residencepop-up.com

February 2010 was another fantastic month to add new images for my ongoing Full Moon project. The atmospheric conditions were almost as perfect as January (and almost as cold as... ). So I went in another adventure on the South Coast of England exploring the soft, mysterious and unusual light bounced by the Moon. For more images please visit the "latest portfolio" added recently to the site.

Last week I spent a day in East London with one Art Director from Shelter creating a new series of images for their publicity.  Our subject was youth... we worked with (employed for the day) a group of students from London East Education Youth Services (which run structured courses to help school drop out kids to get back into education, employment and housing). The plan was to capture the youngsters being just themselves (as natural as possible) and we used the surrounding streets as our backdrop. Everyone got really involved suggesting locations, situations, ideas, etc... It was a freezing cold day but everyone was excited and buzzing with energy towards the end.

Thursday 11th of March was the private view of "New Collectives" at the AOP Gallery in Old Street - London. "Two red buses" from the Vertigo series has been curated for the show which is launching a permanent photographic print collection by the AOP Gallery. It was a great night where I had the chance to catch up and have a few drinks with lots of old friends from the photographic world.

Image magazine (issue 406) is running an editorial (The White Stuff) in the recent snow falls. I am really happy to announce that they not only chose one of my images from the "Wish series" shot in Brighton, to illustrate the piece but also decided to run the story behind to open the magazine, in the humorous editorial note written by Helena Rhodes (the editor). This is the introduction of it: "It's rumoured that the BBC is putting its weather forecasting contract to tender. They should sign up Poppy Lichtenberg immediately.Poppy is the daughter of André Lichtenberg who tells us of the part she played in the recent snowfalls..."
 

Last Saturday night,  28/01/2001 I went out with artist Gavin Peacock:   www.themanfromicon.com  - to photograph and film the brightest full Moon of 2010. The Moon was at its closest perigee. In other words, the nearest it gets to Earth (app.356,593 kilometers) during its elliptical shaped orbit. Gavin and I were both working on separate projects, but it was great to have company while working for several hours at night in deserted locations. For our luck it turned out to be totally clear night and the conditions were just perfect. I have created a whole new series of images and a time lapse movie (using very long exposures) which will be in the site soon...  meanwhile you can see one image (attached below) created in the south coast of Sussex.

I have just been invited (and donated one limited edition print from the vertigo series) to the ForgetMeNot art auction. The project aims to give fans of art and collectors the opportunity to snap up some fantastic pieces by international contemporary artists while helping a good cause; "all profits from the sales will be donated to Age Concern charity in UK". The Live Auction will be conducted by auctioneer Edward Rising and advanced bids will be administered by a FMN representative. For more info, to see the other artists and the artworks donated so far, please visit: www.forgetmenot2010.org

I was invited to run a one day photography lecture/workshop at the WAES London, to a class of (very talented) mature students who will be graduating in the next few months. I decided to explore the theme: "Seeing the Invisible". Or, in other words: recording the ordinary with an extra ordinary awareness. The day was divided in two parts: in the morning I showed them several examples of photographic work (my own and other artists) and we discussed theory, philosophy, style, techniques... In the afternoon the students were challenged to produce a small body of work (to photograph, edit and retouch...)  which was finally concluded by a group discussion. The day was fun, fast, informative and hands on...  A few hours later I received a lovely email from one of the students. read below:

"Dear Andre,

We were so fortunate to have you today at WAES university. 
I have shown your pictures to my partner and they are fantastic. I really like your style.
Thank you for coming today, a great opportunity for all of us. 
As I said to you, I can assist you for shoot I will be honoured.
Thanx a lot and hopefully see you soon, 

Phil"

One evening a few weeks ago, just before bed time, my daughter (who was standing for a while by her bedroom window) told me she had just made a "proper" wish for it to snow... and a lot! That was very unusual... her expression was serious and she really meant it. The reason was: if it really did, there would be no school the next day. Well, half hour later... while she was already a sleep, a very strong snow storm started. I got the equipment out and started working, I shot an experimental time lapse clip (which will be in my site soon) and a few stills. The image below is the view from her window where the wish was made. The following morning (obviously) there was no school, and since then we have spent a lot of evenings by this window chatting and looking at the white street below. The temperature is so low at moment that the street is still white (well... now is ice). And we are in Brighton, one of the warmest part of UK where it rarely snows.

A few months ago I was commissioned to produce and shoot Shelter UK Xmas campaign. We had to capture a scene involving 21 people all in one shot: a mixture of models, actors & real people... (real mother with child, elderly and Shelter staff... yes, we had a very long casting). The main image was in a train platform in a quiet station outside North West London. It has been a real pleasure working in the project along with a great team and for such a good cause. Our main problem was in fact the weather, as it turned out to be one of the hottest day of the year, and we were shooting a winter scene (representing a cold December) with everyone wearing winter coats, scarfs & hats. Some of the images can be seen now... I have just been told that the posters are currently in Kings Cross Station in London.

Proximity Ad agency in London hosted their annual X'mas Photographic Competition in a rainny Dec night. The photographer who wins receives a commission for 2010 and the proceeds from the print sales go to RNLI charity in London. I contributed with one of my Snow Series images. The night was great fun with plenty of drinks flowing and chatting to friends from the industry. I had the most amazing time while on my way there: strangely, in a traffic jam...  observing & capturing the beautiful shapes & texture created by the city lights against the wet and steamy glass of the window screen. (see below).

Over the weekend of 5th & 6th of Dec, Lensmodern.com held an exhibition (print sales) at the beautiful Dairy Studio in South London. The weekend was a feast for photography lovers as there was an amazing collection of classic (Pink Floyd original covers, Rolling Stones early days images) and contemporary photography, all in one large room... and with plenty of wine and beer flowing during the whole event. I had the opportunity to show my work to a new audience plus meet and chat with great photographers who I knew and admire the work of, including: Max Forsythe, Ken Griffiths, Andreas Heumann, Barry Cawson & Chris Simpson to name a few...  

Last night was the private view of the Red Dot Exhibition at the beautiful AOP Gallery, The event was designed to raise money for the PhotoVoice charity. Images were selected from AOP members and auctioned during the evening. All proceeds from the sales were donated to PhotoVoice. I had two of my "Snow Series" selected and luckily they both got sold.

I had the honor and greatest pleasure of being commissioned by the Sunday Times magazine to take the portrait of Dame Vera Lynn. The photograph took place at her beautiful home in Sussex and I was lucky enough to meet most of the family for a lovely afternoon with tea and cakes while chatting & listening to amazing life stories. "We'll Met Again: Very Best Of Vera Lynn" released by Decca Records, has recently reached number one again, making Dame Vera Lynn (92) the oldest living artist to make into the number one spot. 

Studio 106 (a 300m2 artist studio in Hove) is opening for another Xmas show. This years exhibition involves a collaborative theme, based on the Samuel Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan. Artists include: André Lichtenberg, Maria Tribe, Henrik Simonsen and Dan Bennett to name a few.

Studio 106: 1st Floor - 106, Coleridge St - Hove - BN3 5AA

Private View: Thu 26th Nov (6 to 9)

Opening hours:
Sat 28th - Sun 29th Nov (11am to 5pm)
Sat 5th - Sun 6th Dec (11am to 5pm) 

Brighton Photo Fringe is delighted to announce that the OPEN 09 exhibition "From Here" has been extended until 29th November, due its huge popular and critical successes. The show, curated by John Gill (lead curator), is being held in a fabulous space in central Brighton and has images from artists from all corners of the globe. (some artists work are featured below).

From Here: 13, Black Lion St - Brighton
Opening times: Fridays to Sundays  (12 to 5pm)

The Sunday Times magazine commissioned me to take the portrait of Graham Short, a hand engraver who became famous by engraving the Lord's Prayer on the head of a pin (see image below), currently on display at The Art Lounge gallery in Birmingham. Graham uses an old school approach to his work (he uses a microscope, a lamp and a box os small tools... also Graham engraves mainly at night and between heart beats). He currently works from a small room in his mother's house (see below), Among Graham clients you'll find the Royal family and celebrities such as Richard Branson.

Two of my Snow series images have been selected for the RED Dot Exhibition 2009 at the AOP Gallery in London. The private view and auction evening will take place on Wed 2nd of Dec (6-9pm). All profits from print sales (opening bidding for all prints will be £ 40) will be donated to PhotoVoice charity.

Red Dot Exhibition will run from 2nd Dec 2009 to 14th Jan 2010.
Opening times: Monday - Friday from 10am - 6pm
AOP Gallery: 81, Leonard St - London EC2 

At Halloween weekend, the Guardian and the Observer published a 2 part stylish guide called "Guide to the night". They selected and invited two artists whose work explore "night", to feature in the central double page. The first part of the guide (Guardian 31st Oct) shows the work of the Gregory Crewdson, a well known and successful American artist, and part two (Observer 1st Nov) features "Night Travellers" from my Full Moon series. To see more of the series click: "portfolio" followed by "moon". Below are copies of the double pages...

Oct 31st 2009, Hallowen morning - A dressed up, colorful and happy crowd of a few thousands gathered in Brighton beach with the intention of breaking the Time Warp World record. The weather was not helping (cold, dark & wet) but the crowd didn't seem to mind, dancing and screaming along with Richard O'Brien & the Rock Horror crew. I happened to be passing by with my camera and a press pass, so I joined the backstage party and took a few pics to share with you.

I've just received an email letting me know that some of the Vertigo Series images have been selected for a show about the AOP Awards 2009 in the London Offices of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. The exhibition, showing only 32 images from the Awards, will remain at AMV until November 2009.

I've spend a few hours with the new up and coming band "the Perils", creating some new images for their press. We shot in three different locations but my favorite was definitely the roof top on the Brighton sea front (see images below) which looks just like a hotel roof top in Copacabana or Miami. 

"From Here", an exhibition curated by John Gill (Mentor curator, Brighton Biennial - together with three up and coming curators: Chloe Hoare, Max Houghton and Yasmina Reggad) is currently open in the old lanes in Brighton. The opening night was a big success with the gigantic floor space looking stunning & feeling actually crowded from time to time. From Here will be open until Sun 8th of November. Below are some pics from the Private View.

Opening hours: Friday to Sunday 12 - 6 pm
Moore House: 13 Black Lion St. - Hove - BN1 1ND 

This October, as a prequel to next year’s Biennial Festival of Photography, Brighton Photo Fringe is pleased to present From Here.
Three emerging curators, Chloe Hoare,Max Houghton and Yasmina Reggad, were chosen to work with mentor curator John Gill to select an exhibition from over 4000 images submitted from all corners of the globe.

The Brighton Arts Fair 2009 has just finished and I was exhibiting there for the first time.
I feel very positive about the experience and also totally exhausted... after three and a half days of giving my full attention to art & photography lovers and people from the art industry.
The "full moon", the "snow" and the "vertigo series" were received really well and the early numbers of the small limited editions quickly snapped away.  

Just received an envelope in the post which wasn't a bill (now, that's a change...)
Inside (for my pleasant surprise) was a professional looking A4 golden Award saying that I have won the title of Nominee in Architecture/Professional with my Vertigo "Neon Blue", Great!!!
Reading further I've learnt that the judges included: Christie's (New York), National Geographic Channel, Musee de la Photographie, National Museum of Singapore, Dazed & Confused (London), Fine Art Society (London), Musee de L'Elysee (Switzerland), etc...
I normally don't like the post but this one has made my day!!!

This is the book that I used to look for inspiration while at Uni, and dream of one day be able to be part of and have my images published in. Well, it took a while... several submissions in many Awards annual competitions, but it finally happened. Vertigo Series were selected for the Contemporary Landscape & Cityscape Series. 

Last night was the Gala presentation of the AOP Awards 2009. Below is a couple of images from the event. One showing the Vertigo Series that were selected for the Personal Contemporary Landscape & Cityscape Series, and another one from the event in the "Vertigo style", showing the beautiful architecture of the newly redesigned theatre.

Vertigo Series made to the Sunday Times magazine this weekend. The image was printed quite large in "Spectrum", a section of the magazine designed to show what's is happening in the World of photo art and photojournalism. 

The Sep. issue of the London, Sunday Times Travel magazine is printing a four pages interview with photographs about my work. I have been invited before by smaller publications but this is the first time I have four pages in a national glossy mag dedicated to my photography. Just had a look at the proof today and it is looking quite cool.

See a small copy of the article below:

This is the portrait of Antony Micallef at his studio in Hove, about a month before his 2007 "Impure Idols" L.A. show in Hollywood Blvd. I was lucky to have had this rare opportunity to capture Antony with some of his latest work before they all got snapped up by collectors. "Impure Idols" organized by Lazarides Gallery from London, was sold out by the end of its private view.

Pantanal with Full Moon was published as a double page in the London, Condé Nast Traveller.
The image was used to illustrate the "Where Are You" competition page. I have recently come back from Brazil were the project was photographed and it was wonderful to see it printed quite large in one of my favorites magazines. 

The new series I shot recently in Brazil, "Pantanal with Full Moon", has been selected to the final judging stages of the IPG/Terry O'neill Awards 2007. I received an email and phone call yesterday telling me the good news. Now the series needs to be printed as the final judging stages will take place at the IPG Gallery in two weeks. The selected images can be seen below:

I'm pleased to announce that my "Northeast Series" will be exhibited at the Focus On Imaging 2007, Birmingham NEC - from 25th to 28th of Feb. The images will be at TPOTY stand as part of the show announcing the winners of the Travel Photographer of the Year 2006. The just launched book, "Journey Two" (see image below) will also be available from TPOTY. Focus on Imaging is currently the largest annual imaging show in Europe attracting over 20.000 visitors.

I have just received a phone call that my B/W entry "Northeast series" are the Winner of the Travel Photographer of the Year 2006. YEESSSS!!!!! Apart from the honor of being chosen the winning one, among so many good international photographers, the prizes are also brilliant: an adventure trip to Brazil for two (sponsored by Land Rover), the new version of photoshop and my images in the book. CAN'T WAIT!!!

I have just received an email letting me know that my entry, (a high contrast Black & White series of four images from the Northeast Brazil), has been selected to the finals of the Travel Photographer of the Year. Now fingers crossed to see if they make to the book!!