T HE JO Y O F AC HI EV E ME NT A P H O TO G R A P H I C E S S A Y BY SA RA H LEE f, as US President Franklin D Roosevelt thought, “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort”, then BAFTA’s Awards must be some of the most jubilant dates on the moving image calendar. Celebrating and rewarding creative excellence is the driving force of our Awards, and there’s always an air of nervous excitement and genuine good humour among the attendees. In 2015, photographer Sarah Lee was commissioned by BAFTA to officially document the Awards over the coming years. Given unprecedented access, she was briefed to photograph whatever she wanted, however she liked, to capture the unique narrative of these gala events. Lee, whose work has been featured in TIME, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, shot most of the series in digital black and white with the aim of capturing semi-private moments in what is otherwise a very public forum. In this essay, we feature a selection of her candid and playful photographs, capturing a selection of BAFTA winners in unguarded moments of joy.
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