The evening was a blinding success after months of preparation, days of hanging prints and the arrival of the new magazine (copies are posted and will be with subscribers in the next few days). Its official… Lally has pulled off the party of the century and I think the agnes b. staff were blown away by us, we certainly were by their hospitality and amazing generosity.

To spice up the evening we devised a simple raffle so that everyone could get a copy of the new mag, and stand to win more… First prize any print in the show to take home (at the end of the exhibition in May of course). Second prize a complete set of back-issues Vol.1 No.1 to Vol.6 No.2 (22 issues including the sold out rare copies unavailable now – yes I have a secret stash). Third prize free subscription to 8.

Not a bad list of goodies and the winners were well chuffed at the end of the night not to mention everyone else with their mags in hand and the heady happiness of seeing so many good faces all aligned for the night in agnes b.-foto8 unison. Justin Jin’s masked factory worker was chosen by first-prize winner Hengameh Golestan.

And that was the biggest prize of all for me, seeing Hengameh there as she looked with pleasure at the 16 pages in the magazine of her husband Kaveh’s photography from Iran. It was that, and the chance to thank and celebrate with good friends that made it such an enjoyable night.  Amidst the craziness I managed to catch sight of Steve Macleod, John Cleur, Jeremy Leslie, Harriet Long, Tom Pilston, Jassim Ahmed, Designers ByBoth, Chris Steele Perkins, James Meek, Dana Popa, Monica Allende, Graham Cross, Bipin Mistry and many many others (literally hundreds). The FOTO8 team were backed up for the night by an amazing army of volunteer helpers, thanks so much to you all for the effort and time you all put in keeping it flowing. Yes Lally 90 bottles of Cava was a good idea and Lauren, your invention Cava – Guava is now the official FOTO8 tipple.

So here, without the pressure of the microphone and a couple hundred people watching, is what I want to say. Thank you to the photographers, the contributors,  the agents and agencies, our readers, our colleagues and the champions we have that offer so much support. Thanks also to the dedicated FOTO8 team, our new art director and the extended family of fellow editors, writers, photographers and revellers who party with and participate in FOTO8, and of course to agnes b herself and her welcoming staff for hosting The Cover Stories exhibition in the first place.

Here we are at dinner afterwards, Maurice leading the proceedings, naturally, joined by Max, Lauren, Sophie, Flora, Harriet, Grace, Guy (his photos), Jonathan, Josh, David and Rosie amongst others.

Well Done and Cheers to all! And lets do it again in October for the next issue release!