Pulchritudo Vulgaris (The Beauty of the Ordinary)
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Prize
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PhotographerRichard Boll, United Kingdom
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StudioRichard Boll Photography
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Website
Pulchritudo Vulgaris (The Beauty of the Ordinary)
Though a regular sight above Brighton in East Sussex (UK) throughout the winter, the
evening gathering of Common Starlings (Sturnus Vulgaris) is an occurrence of exceptional
grace and beauty.
With varying degrees of abstraction these images are intended to express the shifting and
poetic amalgamation of Common Starlings, known as a murmuration, before they flock below
Brighton's East Pier to roost.
The flocks are estimated at reaching 40,000 at their peak in December, and feed up to 20
or so miles from where they gather in the evening. The numbers of starlings in the UK are
in sharp decline, and are consequently Red Listed as a bird of conservation concern.
Richard Boll is an editorial and advertising photographer, carrying out assignments in London and internationally. Clients include Emirates Airlines, Sony, Zeiss, Land Rover, Rolls Royce and M & C Saatchi Worldwide.He graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Photography from Edinburgh College of Art in 1999, and gained an MA with distinction from the University of Brighton in 2016.Awards include first place in the Taylor Wessing National Portrait Gallery Prize and the Audi/ Next Level Award for contemporary photography, and he was a selected winner in the Magenta Flash Forward competition.
Awards 2020 Moscow International Photography Awards, Silver medal for Here For You
2019 Minimalist Photography Awards, Honorable mention for Six Degrees of Freedom
2016 Photoworks Award Winner for Six Degrees of Freedom
2016 Exhibitor in The International Festival of Photography, Shanxi Province, China
2015 The International Photography Awards, Honourable Mention for Form & Void
2015 The PX3 Photography Awards, Honourable mention for Form & Void
2014 The International Photography Awards, Honourable mention for Looking Towards France
2014 The PX3 Photography Awards, Honourable mentions for Nothing Happens and Pulchritudo Vulgaris (The Beauty of the Ordinary)
2013 The International Photography Awards, Fine Art category finalist for Nothing Happens and three honorable mentions for 99 Woolworths
2012 The International Photography Awards, Two honorable mentions for portraiture
2011 International Photography Awards, Honourable mention for Death in the Afternoon
2008 London International Creative Competition, Shortlisted for Studio II
2011 Renaissance Photography Competition, Sponsor’s Prize
2011 Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Exchange, Selected winner
2007 The National Portrait Gallery Photographic Prize, Finalist
2007 A National Portrait Gallery commissioned portrait of Sir David Attenborough
2006 First place in The National Portrait Gallery Photographic Prize
2004 First place in The Audi/Next Level International Award for Contemporary photography
