Photo News: Sony World Photography Awards 2013 Shortlist announced

2013 SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

Photos from top to bottom: © Jens Juule, Finalist, Portraiture; © Fausto Podavini, Italy, Finalist, Lifestyle; © Paolo Pellegrin, Italy, Finalist, Current Affairs; © Satirat Damampai, Thailand, Shortlist, Campaign.

122,665 images were entered in total to the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards – 62,654 Professional entries, 54,851 Open entries and 5,160 Youth entries images

Just announced, I’ve had my finger on the Publish button ready to fly with news that the World Photography Organisation today reveals the shortlists for the Professional, Open and Youth categories of the sixth 2013 Sony World Photography Awards with the highest number of entries to date.

“In a year that saw over 122,000 entries from 170 countries… the judges have selected a shortlist of photographs that stood out beyond all others for their impressive high quality, originality and modern appeal. Topics ranged from haunting shots of the Syrian conflict to the Obama presidential campaign; an intimate study of cinema-goers in Kabul to quirky and witty shots of the animal kingdom. Photographers returning to the awards include: Javier Arcenillas (Spain); Robin Hammond (New Zealand) and Paolo Pellegrin (Italy). Exciting up-and-coming photographers new to the awards include Ed Kashi (USA) and Andrea Gjestvang (Norway).” From press release.

SHORTLIST
Professional Competition
Honorary Jury
Presiding Chair: Catherine Chermayoff (USA), Director of Special Projects at Magnum Photos

Chairs: Edmund Clark (UK) Photographer; Tim Paton (UK), Managing Director, Balcony Jump; Francesca Sears (UK), Director, Panos Profile at Panos Pictures and Monica Suder (Germany) Photographic Consultant and Coach

Additional Jury: Juana de Aizpuru (Spain), Gallery Director, Galeria Juana de Aizpuru; Chien-Chi Chang (Taiwan) Magnum Photographer; Brandei Estes (France), Assistant Director, Galerie Nelson Freeman; Macduff Everton (USA), Photographer; Caroline Metcalfe (UK), Director of Photography, Conde Nast Traveller: Andrew Sanigar (UK), Commissioning Editor, Thames & Hudson and Fiona Shields (UK), Picture Editor, The Guardian.

The Honorary Jury were required to choose a minimum of three and a maximum of 10 photographers per category. Photographers entered a minimum of three and maximum of 10 images per category and were judged on a body of work. All images must have been taken in 2012 or first published in 2012. One winner per category will be chosen from the finalists and announced on 25 April 2013.

*Photographers are listed alphabetically

Architecture
Finalist
Fabrice Fouillet, France
Reinis Hofmanis, Latvia
Christof Pluemacher, Germany

© Reinis Hofmanis, Latvia, Finalist, Architecture

Shortlist
Dilip Bhatia, India
Yannic Bartolozzi, Switzerland,
André Ferreira, Brazil
Julia Anna Gospodarou, Greece

Arts & Culture
Finalist
Myriam Meloni, Italy  Niccolo Rastrelli, Italy
Danish Siddiqui, India

Shortlisted
Yannick Cormier, France
Fausto Podavini, Italy
Daniele Tamagni, Italy

Campaign
Finalist
Christian Aslund, Sweden
Spencer Murphy, UK
Scout Tufankjian, USA

© Christian Aslund, Sweden, Finalist, Campaign, Professional Competition

Shortlisted
Satirat Damampai, Thailand
Tomoe Hayakawa, Japan
Kelly Hesburn, USA
Andreas Meichsner, Germany
Tine Poppe, Norway
F. Scott Schafer, USA
Michael Schnabel, Germany

Conceptual
Finalist
Edurne Aguinaga, Spain
Florian Ruiz, France
Roman Pyatkovka, Ukraine

Shortlisted
Julia Borissova, Russia
Maia Flore, France
Gail Albert Halana, USA
Jenny Magruder, USA
Sergey Varaksin, Russia

Current Affairs
Finalist
Manuel Brabo, Spain
Paolo Pellegrin, Italy
Ilya Pitalev, Russia

Shortlisted
Fabio Bucciarelli, Italy
Colin Delfosse, Belgium
Ed Kashi, USA
Andrew Lubimov, Ukraine
Angelos Tzortzinis, Greece
Oliver Weiken, Germany
Alexander Junior Zemlianichenko, Russia

Contemporary Issues
Finalist
Valerio Bispuri, Italy
Samuel James, USA
Daesung Lee, Republic of Korea

© Samuel James, USA, Finalist, Contemporary Issues

Shortlisted
Javier Arcenillas, Spain
Adam Dean, UK
Robin Hammond, New Zealand
Justin Jin, Hong Kong
Peter Muller, USA
Altaf Qadri, India

Fashion & Beauty
Finalist
Thierry Bouët, France
Alice Pavesi, Italy
Klaus Thymann, Denmark

Shortlisted
Rory Carnegie, UK
Rafal Milach, Poland
Filippo Mutani, Italy
Meeghan Ogilvie, Canada
Dominik Tarabanski, Poland

Landscape
Finalist
Regis Boileau, France
Arjen Schmitz, Netherlands
Nenad Slijic, Croatia

Shortlisted
Sandra Herd, Australia
Li Fan, China
Bernhard Winkler, Germany
Kechun Zhang, China

Lifestyle
Finalist
Alice Caputo, Italy
Fausto Podavini, Italy
Kuni Takahashi, Japan

Shortlisted
Aleksey Myakishev, Russia
Mohammad Rakibul Hasan, Bangladesh

Nature & Wildlife
Finalist
Hudson Garcia, Brazil
Ernest Goh, Singapore
Satoru Kondo, Japan

© Ernest Goh, Singapore, Finalist, Wildlife, Professional Category

Shortlisted
Regis Boileau, France
Walter Fogel, Germany
Mehmet Karaca, Turkey
Jose Ramon Moreno, Spain

People
Finalist
Balazs Gardi, Hungary
Andrea Gjestvang, Norway
Pete Muller, US

Shortlisted
Adam Dean, UK
Ivan Kashinsky, United States Minor Outlying Islands
Jacek Świerczyński, Poland
Michela Taeggi, Italy
Paul Wenham-Clarke, UK
Lisa Whiltse, US

Portraiture
Finalist
Jens Juul, Denmark

Shortlisted
Marcco Ceccaroni, Italy
Maxim Dondyuk, Ukraine
Li Fan, China
Davide Monteleone, Italy
Agnieszka Rayss, Poland

Sport
Finalist
Isabela Pacini, Brazil
Ryan Pierse, Australia
Adam Pretty, Australia

Shortlisted
Fernando Borges, Brazil
Michael Löwa, Germany
Yusuke Murata, Japan
Alma Photos, Italy
Vilhelm Stokstad, Sweden
Rob van Thienen, Belgium
Robin Utrecht, Netherlands

Still Life
Finalist
Vanessa Colareta, Peru

Shortlisted
Rastislav Čambal, Czech Republic
Nick Todak, USA

Travel
Finalist
Daniel Duart, Spain
Johannes Heuckeroth, Germany
Gali Tibbon, Israel

Shortlisted
Matteo Butturini, Italy
Agurtxane Concellon, Norway
Kelly Hesburn, USA
Val Proudkii, USA

For the shortlists for the Open and Youth, read more…

Guest Blogger – Join Hotshoe Blog discussing creativity over on the World Photography Organisation Blog

Today and for the next few Wednesdays, I’ll be guest blogging over at the World Photography Organisation Blog starting with my first post, Creativity and Photography: Partners in Time. To whet your appetite, I’ve included the intro from the post.

To read more and see the full post, click on the link above in bold.

“In order to create, we have to stand in that space between what we see in the world, and what we hope for…” Julie Burstein, TED talk.

“Creativity lies at the heart of producing any photographic or artistic work. But it is not limited to these areas, it exists everywhere. I believe that we all have that potential to be creative within us, we just need to find the space and opportunities to allow ourselves to be open and free to play. For my first post on the WPO blog, I want to share some ideas with you about creativity in the hope that you all feel inspired to go forward and create…”

Photo News: Sony World Photography Awards 2012 Shortlist announced

The World Photography Organisation announces the shortlist for the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards.  Billed as the global photographic event of the year, the Sony World Photography Awards celebrate the very best in photography from around the world, from the next generation of emerging photographers through to the established masters of the art.

The 2012 competition has garnered increased worldwide interest with over 112,000 entries from 171 countries, with the shortlisted images depicting the stories of extraordinary lives from around the world.  The Professional competition reflects a turbulent year of global events with the war in Libya; the Greek and European economic crisis; the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and the fall of Gaddafi, in the Photojournalism & Documentary categories.  The shortlist for the Fine Art and Commercial categories gets to the very heart of daily life –  a small sheep-farming community in Iceland; the rice harvest in South China; a religious pilgrimage in Poland and gold diggers in Chile.

This year the honorary jury found the quality of work exceptionally strong across all categories, discovering many photographers new to the Sony World Photography Awards roster.  Manuel Geerinck (Belgium);  Lee Chee Wai (China); Alejandro Cartagena (Mexico), Irina Werning (Argentina); Gwenn Dubourthoumieu (Republic of the Congo) and Simon Norfolk (UK), are but a few of the new names to place as finalists and shortlisted photographers.

Returning photographers from previous years, include 2010 Professional Landscape winner, Peter Franck (Germany); who this year is a finalist in three categories; 2011 Professional Contemporary Issues and Current Affairs winner, Javier Arcenillas (Spain); and Chan Kwok Hung (Hong Kong) whose stunningly dramatic image ‘Buffalo Race’ won the  Overall Open Competition in 2011.

Photomonth announces Youth Photography Award winner

16-year-old Jasper Cox from Milton Keynes, UK has won the first Youth Photography Award sponsored by The World Photography Organisation. The award is organised by photomonth east London’s annual photography festival.

© Jasper Cox winner of the first Youth Photography Awards, organised by photomonth

Cox was at the launch of the Sony World Photography Awards 2009 Global Tour last night to receive his prize, which includes a trip to Cannes to attend “the annual Sony World Photography Awards accompanied by a parent”. At the presentation, held at the swishy Hempel Hotel, it seemed that there have been discussions in Cox’s household between his parents, as to which one should accompany him to Cannes in April. Dad sealed the deal, the Sony spokesperson told the crowd.

Cox is also ” a keen photographer and has been inspired by some works of Ansel Adams hanging in his home”. Judges for this year’s awards, who had been holed away in a hotel room wading through this year’s entries, made guest appearances at the opening and could be seen checking out last year’s winning entries. I have to admit that, bar a few bodies of work and individual images, the selection was a little disappointing. In fact, I thought that the commercial and fashion categories produced some of the stronger photography, on all levels.

Online marketing tool for photographers launched

“The past decade has seen a significant increase in the number of galleries exhibiting photography as well as photography being sold as art and in auction rooms around the world. The World Photography Collection facilitates this process internationally and enables galleries to source new images and photographers that they may have otherwise never met. The majority of photographers are one-man industries and as such do not have the time resource to establish partners across the World. The Collection serves as a global platform for them, assisting them by enabling them to have their portfolio of work viewed by galleries, collectors and buyers of photography worldwide.”
Scott Gray, Managing Director of the World Photography Organisation

The World Photography Organisation is at it again. This time to launch Collection – billed as an online resource for photographers and industry professionals. Basically, it’s a hub for photographers and a searchable directory for industry professionals. Collection is described as a global marketing tool which “enables photographers to promote their work to industry professionals worldwide” and allows “galleries to search for images for their next exhibition, collectors to browse the site to buy prints and help creative professionals hire photographers for commissions”.

Interestingly, this business model puts the financial burden on the photographer, not those who search the site for free. So it will be worth seeing how many photographers sign up and how it pans out. If you decide to join up, or know someone who does, please feel free to let me know so I can monitor the progress and effectiveness as a marketing tool. In theory, it should lead to more work, sales and leads for photographers.

COST
The annual membership fee for photographers is £45. However, membership for creative professionals searching the site is free, and via registration.

WHAT YOU GET
A dedicated homepage to feature news of upcoming exhibitions and awards, and a portfolio with storage of up to 10GB. Industry professionals can “search for photographers by their name and location (country/ city) as well as their speciality of photography using the tags application”.

Collection does not take commission on assignment work organised through the site, or on prints sold.