Bronze in Portraiture/Culture / 2024 / Portraiture / Culture

World Bog Snorkeling Championships

Driving through Llanwrtyd Wells,
There’s a mysterious feeling in the air.
The sun is fraught, burning through the clouds,
Easing tensions in the crowds.
The fabric of reality bends,
A whole new fantasy awaits,
As I pass through the gates,
First impressions seem in place.
As I mingle with the herd,
I come across an affable horde,
Not unlike those I Know,
From back across the plateaux.
Looking on with bewilderment,
Their modern garb lacks the filament,
Standing there in their grace,
Yet it’s me who’s feeling out of place.
With these pipes up in the air,
They seem to help with life in here,

Richard Pilnick works with photography as a way of seeing, not only the world in front of the lens, but the interior landscape we carry within. His portraits and studies of people are less about capturing an image and more about entering a conversation: a threshold between self and other.

Over twenty-five years he has photographed across four continents, from mountain communities in the Himalayas to concrete plants in Luxembourg, from hotel rooms in Vienna and San Francisco to fishing villages in southern India.