Well done Yury!

photo (c) Yury Toroptsov


Yury took part in our monthly photo project “A hotel photo, an artist’s view” last April, and has also taken some photos of our hotels as a commission (and they’re great), but he’s also very busy with other – very interesting – projects.

For example, there’s his Marilyn & Me project. Yury acquired a dress that belonged to Marilyn Monroe at an auction in Los Angeles, and has taken a series of photos of fans of Marilyn posing with the dress. More about the project here on his site and here on the official Myspace page for the project.

However, it is his series of photos of people sleeping that is currently earning him the most interest. A jury composed of the director of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, its the general administrator, and an ex-director of the Magnum photo agency have chosen Yury as the winner of this year’s SFR Jeunes Talents prize for photos on the theme of ‘happiness’. As such, his work will be displayed at Paris’ prestigious Maison Européenne de la Photographie starting 16th January 2008.

We’re really pleased for Yury. He deserves this prize, and it’s great to see him recognised by his peers. Hopefully, this will be just the beginning of a great career for him.

Want to see more of Yury’s work?

Yury’s official site is here.
Yury’s page for the A hotel photo, an artist’s view project is here.
SFR Jeunes Talents page for Yury here.
Official Myspace page here.