I finally got hold of a copy of the 27th Photographers Awards book (the post has been delayed due to Xmas & heavy snow). Well done everyone involved in the AOP! The book looks gorgeous with a classic, simple & timeless design. The AOP (Association of Photographers) was founded in 1968 in London and aims to promote and protect the rights of professional photographers. The AOP Awards is an annual competition for its members and has received over 4000 entries in it 27th edition. The lucky ones to be selected have their images immortalised in an exhibition and book. This year I have had the pleasure of 3 images (Wish Series) being selected for the "Non-Commissioned Environment Series".See copy of pages 178 and 179 below. 
AOP Ltd. - 81 Leonard St - London - EC2A 4QS - www.the-aop.org

The below images are from a walk between my studio and home in early Dec.  I woke up to a very silent day... looked through the window and saw a gorgeous view of an all white street. It was a busy day for me so I wrapped up warmly & walked to the studio to work on some projects and deadlines. I decided to finish a bit early (before it got dark again) and go for a walk with my camera... (I love snowy days - I was born in Brazil and snow was rare in my childhood) to charge up & explore some of the beauty, peace and silence of that unusual day.

The Aesthetica Creative Works Annual 2011 have just been delivered though my door. Thanks to the post man who is still working while some mild snow is falling form the sky. Well done to him as most of the country seems to stop when it snows in UK. The book looks beautiful and I'll look forward to seat down during the Xmas holiday (with a cup of tea or glass of wine) and go through all the artists and work selected. Neon Blue, from the Vertigo series, has been shortlisted this year and is on page 63. In London, Aesthetica Magazine is stocked in WH Smith and prestigious locations such as Tate Modern, Serpentine and National Portrait Gallery. Visit www.aestheticamagazine.com to find stores Worldwide.

I'm pleased to announce that Red Dot and Neon Blue (from the Vertigo series) will be on show in December at the new Temporium concept design store opening today in Knightsbridge (221, Brompton Rd - London SW3) in collaboration with Flaere gallery. 

Another freezing and silent day in Brighton. The city woke up all white and my back garden had 20cm of fresh thick snow. Beautiful!!!  Yet mad... no trains running to London, airports and schools closed, motorways not coping.  Anyway... back to images.  Yesterday while on my way back from dropping my daughter to School... I came across a massive HMI in the sea front, lighting the landscape in a gorgeous way. I quickly went home to get my camera and back hoping the light would still be there. For my luck it was, and the crew busy producing a TV ad. didn't mind me hanging around taking pics. People tend to become really friendly in snowy days...  This is one of the images from the series with the snow flakes lit by the light in the foreground. Warning... This image needs to be seen large to be fully appreciated.

350 leading photographers have been invited to donate an original signed print not bigger than A5 in size to the annual AMV BBDO Charity Arts sale. 

I feel honored to have been one of the artists invited to participate and have donated a print from a recent series (the artist/work are supposed to be kept secret, so cannot reveal which print... but can assure it is an interesting one as, it has been recently selected to another major Award and exhibition). The Abbott Mead Vickers event will be held at agency head quarters in Marylebone Road (London) on the 25th of Nov. (7pm) with all the prints being hung anonymously and available for sale for £ 35.00 - All the profits will go to Kids Company charity.

Sometimes good news can come in an email... I received a fantastic one a few hours ago from Aesthetica, an international Art & Culture publication based in the UK.  "Dear André Lichtenberg... With 4000 entries this year, I am pleased to announce that you are a Finalist in the Artwork & Photography category for Neon Blue in this year’s Aesthetica Creative Works Competition. Congratulations – this is a fantastic achievement". The winners will be announced early in dec when the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual 2011 gets launched. Can't wait to see it!!!  For further info on Aesthetica magazine and the Annual, just follow the link:  www.aestheticamagazine.com

Last week to see "You are Here" at Flaere Gallery, the exhibition finishes on the 12th Nov. The show & Vertigo series, have had an incredibly positive response, receiving great reviews & images being sold & shipped to collections all over the world.  The other week, the curators of the show asked to bring an extra image to the gallery, "Sunday Shoppers", (see below) as one collector was interested in seeing the large version framed. Within two days of the image arriving at the gallery... two pieces were already sold, including one to a collector in Vienna. But the most exciting news for the Vertigo was that the first two Neon Blue (from the small series of 5 images) have been purchased by the board members from the Tate. If you haven't seen it yet, this is your last chance. Further info at:  www.flaere.com 

Was invited to work as a visiting lecturer the other day at The University of Westminster (London). Had to run whole day class teaching B/W film processing and dark room printing. I must admit it was a very interesting day and full of nostalgia... as I used to be an expert in that field (when I was a student myself) spending days in the dark room, working tirelessly on my portfolios and exhibition prints. Life & photography have changed so much in the last decade and now most of the work I produce is digital. So... the day before the lecture I shot some B/W and did the whole processing, contact sheets & printing again, (I wanted to be true and fair with the students) and it was great fun. Once you know something well... it naturally comes back to you. The students (well... the ones who really care) learnt a lot and some very interesting work was produced by the end of the day.

The first week of "You Are Here" has been incredibly busy & positive. Apart from the fantastic overall interest & feed back... just a few days ago Flaere Gallery has had some very interesting visitors.  A Trustee of the Board of Museum of Contemporary Modern Art in Miami", who used to be a benefactor of the Tate, have bought (with her partner), "Neon Blue" no 1/5 and 2/5. One to stay in a collection in London while no 2 will be sent to Miami. If you haven't seen the show yet,  you still have time... The exhibition will only end Nov 12th.  

Flaere gallery - 221 Brompton Road - London SW3
Opening time: Tuesdays to Sundays - 12 to 8pm. 

"You Are Here" opened last night at London's stunning new Flaere Gallery, 221 Brompton Road - SW3  The night was magical with the very large two floors gallery totally packed. Upstairs a fantastic DJ kept the crowd entertained (some even dancing) while socializing and looking through the art work. Downstairs the bar was really busy and the party atmosphere went on till very late for a Tue night. Flaere is a new gallery based in London & Paris which specializes in contemporary limited edition photography. The show will run in London's Knightsbridge till Nov 12th 2010. For further info visit: www.flaere.com   
Below a couple of images from the new gallery with the Vertigo - Neon Blue at the window. 

Opening times: 
Mon: 10.00 - 13.00
Tue to Sat: 10.00 - 18.00

Brighton Arts Fair 2010 has just finished. Every year the organizers and curators of the "Made Collection" choose two pieces between all the artists and galleries exhibiting to celebrate the best in show. The pieces selected (between paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, ceramics, etc...) are then purchased directly from the artist or agent and become part of the ever growing "MADE Collection". I'm very pleased to announce that Atlantico 1, from the "Oceano" series, currently no 2 of an edition of 20, has been selected as a prize winner this year.    

Vertigo series will be showing at the new London's Flaere Gallery in Knightsbridge, 221 Brompton Road - SW3 2EJ - from the 12th of Oct to the 12th of Nov.

Brazilian photographer André Lichtenberg’s award-winning opus VERTIGO presents the kind of original insight into a familiar landscape that only an outsider can achieve. 

Lichtenberg is known for exploring the voids that exist on the very margins of his subjects - often shot in remote locations - composing what he finds, with anatomical precision, into characteristically high definition, deep perspective pictures, epic in scale, and cinematic in their narrative complexity and heightened reality. VERTIGO is Lichtenberg’s personal take on Britain’s iconic capital city. 
 

Looking beyond the classic images of London endlessly reproduced and imprinted in the national and international consciousness, Lichtenberg took his camera to the top of the UK’s highest building, sited in Canary Wharf, home of the financial elite including Barclays, Credit Suisse, HSBC and Citigroup, and looked down. In the following moments, captured here, the viewer’s eye is drawn down into a visual story, both beautiful and terrifying, that explores both the connection between form and function of these late 20^th-century buildings, and the financial district’s relationship with society and the wider world beyond. 
 

One striking effect of Lichtenberg’s framing of the cityscape below him is an extraordinary abstraction of scale – there are few familiar objects to give a sense of perspective, or classifiable reference points to enable the viewer to read what they are seeing. Are we looking at an enlarged microscopic image of a computer chip, or a section of circuit board? Only when a recognizable form, such as a vehicle or a road marking, is identified does the illusion of a microcosmic world fall away in an instant into the macrocosmic reality, the visceral impact of height and drop giving the name to the series. 
 

Once the viewer has been pulled into this vortex, they can reflect on what they are seeing with a new understanding born of this sudden gestalt-like switch in perception. A fascinating aspect of these towering symbols of financial prowess, is the sense that as they reach for the sky they disconnect from the earth below. Why are these corporate monoliths built on such a scale that their human creators are defined only by the uniform long shadows their distant ant-sized forms cast in the setting sun – appearing like so many models stuck on an architect’s miniature? And what do these gleaming geometrics, dominating the underlying topography to the point of obliteration - even the mighty river Thames is annexed in perfect perpendicular borders - say about the city’s relationship to the natural world? 
 

With VERTIGO Lichtenberg poses such questions with a profoundly original insight into his subject, the poetic narrative of a master storyteller, and a breathtaking aesthetic grace.
© Michael Bentham - 2010.
 

Last month Full Moon was a very challenging one. We had Gale Force winds in the South Coast and plenty of clouds and rain - testing any artist's determination to wait for the right conditions. I was at home recovering from a whole day shooting on location under similar conditions, when my phone rang... it was another friend & artist, Gavin Peacock who also likes to explore the full moon light. So we decided to go for a quick session in a possible location (1 hours drive) found on a Goggle maps search. My tripod is heavy but I had to really hold and press it down to earth to cope with the blasting wind. Very difficult to keep several minutes exposure sharp, but hey... there's plenty of atmosphere! Below are two images from the shoot.

The largest visual art exhibition on the south coast, Brighton Arts Fair returns to the city's Corn Exchange this Autumn. Artists will be showing and selling their work directly to the public, giving you the chance to actually talk to the makers before you buy. Paintings, prints, photography, sculpture and ceramics will all be on display. This year, we'll be looking out for work by André Lichtenberg, Ian Peterson and Matthew Chambers. ELLE Decoration No 218 - Oct 2010 - pag 134

Red Dot, from the Vertigo series has been selected for the 4th Photography Masters Cup - International Color Awards 2010 - the image was nominated for the Aerial Professional category. The news came early this morning via email. I was still in bed and saw it in my phone (it is amazing to observe how much technology & life have changed over the last 10 years or so... ). Anyway,  this is fantastic news for the Vertigo Series which has been winning awards in both sides of the Atlantic for two years consecutively. To view all the categories and shortlisted images, you can visit: http://www.thecolorawards.com/gallery/    
The selected image, Red Dot, can be seen below. 

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.