Virgile Simon Bertrand is a French photographer who has been based in Asia since the late 1990s. Bertrand studied Applied Arts at the prestigious Ecole Boulle (1988 - 1991, Paris), Graphic Design at Ecole Duperré (1992 – 1993, Paris) and Photography at the Ecole Nationale de la Photographie (1993, Arles). Bertrand began his career assisting Magnum photographer Abbas and working as a photographer for the Opéra National de Paris. In 2004 Bertrand was awarded the Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong Photograph of the Year for his portrait of Cardinal Zen and was a finalist in the ‘Best Commissioned Portrait’ category for the 2009 WORDS FOR PICTURES LIMITED P.O. Box 5764, General Post Office, Hong Kong. AOP Awards. His work has been exhibited in Taipei, Hong Kong, Paris, Arles and in London in the 2008 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery. Bertrand has also been selected as one of ten finalists in the Architectural Category of the 2009 Hasselblad Masters Competition.