Photographic Portrait Prize 2006 - Deloitte Commission

Exhibition| Winner| Commended Artists| Publication

The winner of The Deloitte Commission, for the best portrait taken by a photographer aged 25 or under, is Erin Kornfeld for Prudence and Julie. She receives £5,000 as well as the opportunity to undertake a portrait commission for Deloitte and the National Portrait Gallery.

Erin Kornfeld, 24, was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. After gaining a BA in Photography from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where she studied under Stephen Shore and Larry Fink, Kornfeld moved to London in 2005 and recently finished an MA in Art Business at Sotheby's Institute of Art. Since being in the UK, she has established the East London Art Company, a non-profit organisation which helps community artists, and has assisted on shoots for FHM magazine.

Using the camera 'to communicate on a deeper level' with her subjects, Kornfeld mostly photographs family and friends. Her winning portrait, Prudence and Julie, depicts two of her closest friends one Sunday morning at their home in Tivoli, a small town on the Hudson River. Using a Mamiya 6x7, she lit the scene with a small flash tilted at the ceiling. 'I've photographed Prudence and Julie many times before' she says. 'We were reading the news and drinking coffee, trying to piece together the remnants of the night before. I wanted to capture their relaxed state in the serenity of the Sunday morning light. Locations are very important to me. I like to get to know people by photographing them in environments that reflect who they are. The environment reveals a sense of place and history that represents the nature of the individual.'