While all of us serious photographers grind for the slightest recognition of our best work, Iceland Air is about to sling US$50,000 (approximately £37,500 / AU$71,000) to a terrible photographer.
Back in March, the airline opened a competition in search of a “really bad photographer” to be sent on an all-expenses-paid, 10-day trip to, ironically, what is one of the most beautiful countries on Earth, for a marketing campaign, and offered the cash prize for their efforts.
After slogging through more “questionable compositions” than imaginable, the airline announced last week that its search had come to an end, proudly naming 28-year-old Blanche Mortemard of Paris, France, the worst of the worst.
Speaking to DPReview, the airline said: "Blanche Mortemard... impressed the judges with her admirable lack of skills and knowledge of basic photography."
Mortemard was chosen from precisely 127,642 applicants who submitted a “mountain of bad photos” and endured 2,000+ hours of screening to be crowned Iceland Air’s terrible photographer, having been shortlisted as a finalist alongside 12 other photographers whose photos were awful at best.
Her application includes photos of a Statue of Liberty overexposed to white, blurred city lights, and an unusual guest appearance of someone's ear in the corner of a shot.
Commenting in an Instagram post on her victory, Mortemard said “there was some seriously tough competition” and that she’d do her “absolute worst to make you proud!”
In the same victory post, she said her mission is now to “fully commit and let confidence and autofocus fight it out.”
A $50,000 travel photography assignment is a dream for many photographers. But the campaign intentionally went in the opposite direction of most photographer searches. As Icelandic Air puts it, "We want to prove that even the worst photographer can take great photos of Iceland."
The resulting photos could spark an interesting conversation on the balance between photography skills and epic locations. I'm eager to see what sort of images the winner comes back from the trip with.
Iceland Air has commented that now the “fun part” begins as Mortemard’s “lack of skills” gets put to the test, although the exact ten days over which the trip will take place haven’t yet been announced.
However, as Blanche sets out on her adventure this summer, it won’t be long before we are “treated” to her horrendous or, perhaps, iconic photography, which the airline says you can follow along with on its social media.
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