2016 Sony World Photography Awards - 2nd Place, Sport, Professional Competition
2013 Sony World Photography Awards - Winner, Portraiture, Professional Competition
Jens Juul prefers to see portraiture as a collective visual statement ‘portraying’ the human condition intertwined at its most vulnerable points of truth. Blunt, almost savage, in their revelations and vulnerability, Juul’s images blur the lines between documentary, environmental portraiture, and fine art references. Trained as a painter at Billedskolen in Copenhagen and New York Arts Students League, as well as being trained as portrait painter by the Spanish artist Artero Wiismundo, Juul transitioned from painting to pursue formal photographic training at Copenhagen’s Technical College where he graduated from in 2012. Due to this education he acquired a range of technical skills, that are important when you work with a camera and all the related equipment modern photography offers. But he realized it was going to take a different set of skills if he was to accomplish portraying. “Making a good portrait is not about having the right equipment; it’s about having the right attitude. It’s 98% psychology and 2% artistic skills. What makes me able to take the pictures that I do is not so much the equipment I bring, but my ability – and desire! – to speak, ask questions, and do a lot of listening.”
Occupation: Independent photographer, fine art professional Graphic designer, Gottlieb & Co, Copenhagen, 1999 – 2010 Lithographic artist, Egmont Wangel, Copenhagen, 1997 – 1999 Partner, Over Stregen, Copenhagen, 1995 – 1997
Awards: Finalist in the Magnum Photography Awards 2017 Silver in Prix De La Photographie PX3, Paris, in the portraiture category 2017 Winner of the Annual Press Photo, Danish Press Photographers Assiciation, in the open category 2016 3rd prize in Portraits – Hellerau Photography Award 2016 Grand Prize Winner, International Photographer of the Year. IPOTY 2016 Winner of the Magnum Photography Awards 2016, in the portraiture category 2nd prize in the Sony World Photography Awards 2016 in the sport category Honorable mention, IPA – person category, 2015 3rd prize in the Sony Photography Award 2015, in the portraiture category Honorable mention, Editorial – IPOTY 2016, in the sport category Honorable mention, IPA – portraiture category, 2014 Exellence Award, Black & White Portfolio contest 2014 Winner of the Sony World Photography Awards 2013, In the portraiture category Finalist in KL International Photoawards 2013, in the portraiture category Portfolio Contest Winner, Black & White 2013 Honorable Mention, IPA . Portraiture category, 2013 4th palce for the Su-ture 1 st Edition by Gomma 2013 Finalist in Renaissance Photography Prize 2013.