London based photographer Panikos Hajistilly has won THE top prize in a major national and international photography award ceremony held at the Jurys Inn Hinkley Island Hotel in Leicestershire.
Celebrating the Masters of Photography, the annual Master Photographers Association (MPA) Awards welcomed some of the greatest photography talents in a glittering awards ceremony on Sunday 8th October 2017.
Bringing the photographic industry together, with unprecedented awards, the Master Photography Awards is the most anticipated event in the professional photographic calendar. Judges from across the globe selected a record number of nominees this year, which reflected the high standard of photography entered into the awards this year. The MPA annual awards celebrate the Masters of International Photography.
Panikos won the Animals (Pets) and Classical Portrait Categories and the most coveted UK Master Photographer of the Year 2017/18 with the 5 highest scoring images in the 2017/18 Master Photography Awards. Panikos beat-off stiff competition to scoop his prize, with other leading photographers from across the UK and Overseas all striving for recognition in the awards.
Professional photographers from around the world were joined by representatives from the major photographic companies and trade, with other knowledgeable industry observers keenly attending the awards ceremony.
These are Panikos’ fourth, fifth and sixth MPA National awards in addition to many other regional and national trophies gained since he started working independently. He specializes in family, maternity & newborn, pet photography, fashion & beauty and of course classical portraiture.
The awards, run by the Master Photographers Association (The MPA), are one of the most prestigious within the photographic profession, both in the UK and Overseas. Membership of the Association is restricted to professional photographers who must qualify to the minimum required Licentiateship standard. The organization, a not for profit, exists to promote and maintain standards of photographic excellence within the photographic industry.
Ray Lowe, Chairman of the MPA comments: “Panikos is probably the most popular and worthy winner of the Master Photographer of the Year award in the last decade. The standing ovation, which went on for many minutes was a testament to the high esteem that Panikos is held in. The set of 5 outstanding images that won Panikos this accolade showed the variety and depth of his portraiture.”
For further information, please visit www.panikosphoto.com or call 020 8447 6970.
About Panikos Hajistilly
Born in Cyprus, Panikos, 58, came to London in 1964. He grew up in Wood Green, moved to Edmonton after he married in 1981 and then to Palmers Green. He currently lives in Winchmore Hill where he has been for the past 18 years.
Since his days at Stationers Company’s School in Hornsey, Panikos has always loved photography; in fact, his final project for his English O’Level was on the subject.
His first route into photography was at the age of 14 through helping a friend with camera repairs. In 1976, he got a job in Finsbury Park repairing Russian cameras. Since then, he’s worked for Canon, Olympus and Nikon for 15 years, where he was workshop supervisor. He then bought into the Venture franchise and opened his first studio in Alderman’s Hill, Palmers Green, which is one of the few remaining Venture studios. He sold it in 2009 and has worked on his own ever since.
Panikos’ style of photography is trying to make people look the very best they can, with sympathetic lighting styles to suit their character. That’s one of the reasons why he asks people to wear plain, unfussy clothes for their photo shoots, as clothes sometimes detract from the faces and expressions.
His real passion is in high end “Fine Art” photography, whether that is of models on location or of the natural world. He has gained awards in Landscape, The Natural World, Black & White, Wildlife, Events, Classical and Creative Portraiture.
On winning his latest accolades, Panikos said it was “totally unexpected”. On the weekend of the Awards Ceremony, he was shooting a wedding in Johannesburg so wasn’t able to attend. On the night, the organisers were able to connect with Panikos via FaceTime as he was announced the winner of the Animals category. Fifteen minutes later, he got a second call, this time for the Classical Portrait section, which he also won. The final call came as they were announcing the finalists for the overall UK Master Photographer of the Year. Panikos said, “I was dumbfounded, I couldn’t speak at all. I felt very emotional – there was a huge lump in my throat and I think my eyes were leaking a bit. I couldn’t believe that I had won that award.”
Panikos aim now is to simply carry on doing what he loves with the support of his wife Joanna and his six children, Chris, Mario, Sarah, Abigail, Margarita and Rachel.
