Bird on a Wire – the winning image, by Michael Duke
The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition displays works in a variety of mediums and genres, created by emerging and established contemporary artists and is described as the world’s largest open submission show.
Michael’s image, ‘Bird on a Wire’, which he captured on a Hitachi E161 digital camera, was one of 1,200 paintings, watercolours, sculpture, and photographs chosen to make it into the final exhibition, which is currently running from 13 June to 21 August 2016.
Michael Duke, a keen member of Hampstead Photographic Society is one of of the few photographers to have an image accepted for this major event. The image has already been sold by the academy for £350, with smaller prints available for £7.
A spokesperson from the Hampstead Photographic Society said about Michael’s image, “Although ostensibly a record of a chance observation of birds gathering on a network of wires, his artful manipulation of the dusky sky background added visually interesting depth to the image.”
The Royal Academy website also describes the image having “a stark, almost eerie quality, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s horror masterpiece, The Birds.”
Michael Duke at a recent exhition of his work
Michael started photography when given a Kodak Brownie box for his ninth birthday in 1968, and has been a member of the Hampstead Photographic Society since 2005, where he regularly contributes to their newsletter. His work is described by David Reed, the chairman of the society, as often having an ‘experimental touch’. Recently his images have been gaining attention from international salons and on-line galleries, and have been published in magazines in Israel, the UK and the USA.
His acceptance into the prestigious Royal Society exhibition represents a considerable achievement for an amateur photographer and is hopefully one of many that his images will continue to gain.
Find out more about the upcoming Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition
For more details about Hampstead Photographic Society, and their upcoming exhibition at Burgh House in August visit: www.hampsteadphotosoc.org.uk
