The best photos rejected from the National Portrait Gallery's Taylor Wessing prize Published duration 21 November 2019

The Portrait Salon Awards 2019 celebrate images submitted to, and rejected by, the National Portrait Gallery's Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.

image copyright Mark Wallis image caption "Ché-Loui and Evelyn-Rose were photographed at their home in Kent on the morning of their mother's wedding." - Mark Wallis

The awards were founded by Carole Evans and James O Jenkins in 2011. Photographer Peter Dench selected this year's winners.

"I lived with the portraits for a week and looked at them every day. It was a short, intense and rewarding relationship," Dench said.

"From the bedroom to the kitchen, the mountains to the sea, the park to posh public school.

"The selection, I hope, will move you and motivate, inform, encourage and engage. It's what a portrait should do and in my opinion, these succeed."

image copyright Amit Lennon image caption Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, also known as The Black Farmer. "He is quite an impressive and inspiring character. After a successful career in TV as a producer, and running a food marketing agency, he set up his farm in Devon and founded his gluten-free brand, The Black Farmer." - Amit Lennon

image copyright Ben Roberts image caption Hunting competitor Kadirbarj Abylajkhan poses with his tazy dogs at the World Nomad Games, high in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. "Over 2,000 athletes from 80 different nations gathered to compete... from wrestling on horseback to traditional archery with a handmade bow and arrows." - Ben Roberts

image copyright Carol Allen Storey image caption "Brian, three, snuggles up to his mum, Florence, to take a snooze. Florence Nyiramahirwe, 19, is in a relaxed mood as she recollects how she was despondent when she became pregnant at the age of 15. Her family and community created a cloud of shame because she was unmarried." - Carol Allen Storey

image copyright David Vintiner image caption "The shoot took its inspiration from portraits of [artists] Gilbert and George. I started off well but inevitably ended up confusing which one was Ant and which one was Dec, constantly calling them by the wrong name. I guess they're used to it." - David Vintiner

image copyright David Woolfall image caption "Jenni, from a project about people and their life-changing moments." - David Woolfall

image copyright Francisco de Gomez image caption "[This] was the last Christmas with my mother. The tradition at home is to kiss the baby Jesus at midnight before putting the nativity together. After three months of chemotherapy treatments for liver cancer, my mother was exhausted... we brought the baby Jesus figurine to [her] bed to continue the tradition." - Francisco de Gomez

image copyright Nicola Muirhead image caption "These young Bermudian girls are representative of what will be the future generation of the island of Bermuda. They will have to take up the challenge of navigating through the legacy of the island's colonial past; finding strength in their shared human stories, of which we are all connected." - Nicola Muirhead

image copyright Zoe Norfolk image caption "Alex, Maddie and Daniel." - Zoe Norfolk