There are talent shows for singing, dancing, business ideas, cooking, dating, surviving, racing, and more. The latest is the Sky Arts Master of Photography TV Talent Show which is dedicated, as the name implies, to photography. It will air July 21 to September 8 in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria.
Master of Photography will be hosted by actress Isabella Rossellini and will feature eight episodes where 12 contestants will face challenges both in the studio and outdoors while touring several European locations. Each episode will be a photography assignment that the contestants will have to pass, and each night one contestant will unfortunately get to leave the show and go home.
As most TV talent shows go, there will be a jury comprising of three photographers (with one playing the requisite “judge to hate”): Rut Blees Luxemburg, Oliviero Toscani and Simon Frederick. The contestants will have 10 guest photographers and celebrities to advise them and the winner (crowned Best New European Photographer) will receive a prize of 150,000 euros (@ US $167,600) and the winning photograph donated to a prestigious museum for display.
While the trailer above shows different brands of camera (with the Minolta SRT-101 film SLR featured prominently), Leica is in fact the exclusive technical provider of the show, so each of the 12 contestants will be equipped only with Leica cameras, lenses and accessories.
Love ’em or hate ’em, no matter what your views on talent shows are, one thing is for sure: You will be entertained. But, you will learn nothing about photography (apart from some vague head knowledge).
Let the show begin!
