Slideshow: Student and Youth Shortlist for the annual Sony World Photography Awards

Student and Youth Shortlist for the annual Sony World Photography Awards

Yesterday, Sony and the World Photography Organization announced the shortlist for their Student & Youth competitions. Works from 10 photographers attending higher education institutions (college) around the world were selected for the Student competition and another 10 teenagers were selected for Youth.

Connections to culture, identity, the present and past were themes explored with this competition. Winners of Student Photographer of the Year and Youth Photographer of the Year will be announced on April 12th and their work will be displayed at Somerset House in London. More info on this and other Sony World Photography competitions can be found at www.worldphoto.org.

2022 Youth competition – Portraiture, Monthly Winner: ‘Under the Moonlight’ by Tri Nguyen

Image Description: This photo is part of a series that investigates self-reflection and a yearning to break the mold. Rather than appreciating only beautiful and perfect things, it is a world untainted by societal judgment, a celebration of imperfection. The photograph depicts a young man basking in artificial moonlight as he feels himself resonating with the derelict, messy background. The moonlight symbolises a spotlight shining on the young man, and his longing to accept his flaws.

Youth competition – Open Call, Shortlist, 2022: ‘En Garde’ by Benjamin Joel

Image Description: I took this image of a fencing champion in December 2021. The subject is a national champion and this photo conveys her strength and determination as a competitor.

2022 Youth competition – Street Photography: ‘What Fashion is Like’ Zinou Shi

Image Description: In a random local market, two aunties were standing near an upside-down advertisement poster from the 00s of a caucasian woman wearing glasses. I thought this might be their idea of what current fashion is like – or not.

2022 Youth competition – Landscape, Shortlist: ‘Lake Helen McKenzie on the 6th of January, 2021’ by Emery Sanderson

Image Description: This image was taken during a snowshoeing trek in Strathcona Park, the largest park on Vancouver Island.

2022 Youth competition – Culture & Travel, Shortlist: ‘Surfers Paradise’ by Cameron Borg

Image Description: The classic Australian weekend tradition of surfing these huge waves.

Student competition, Connections, Finalist, 2021: ‘Cariño’ by Chris Rosas Vargas

Image Description: For the past couple of months I have developed a series of sentimental portraits of my communities in both the Bronx and Harlem. This project explores the sentimental and tender relationship between myself and the urban landscape. Photographs included consist of environmental portraits of found objects.

As opposed to following the traditional photojournalistic style, I explore a more nuanced and nostalgic approach to making photographs that deeply resonate with notions of home. Through the use of color and composition I construct a warm and familiar environment which at times did not exist and would cast me out as a queer person of color.

Student competition, Connections, Finalist: ‘Disconnected’ by Oriel Naxhielly Martins

Image Description: As someone who frequently ran away from their parent´s house, it’s easy for me to find a home through intimacy with others. The foundations of my identity were built from the relationship with my peers. The isolation caused by the pandemic made me go through really hard times. Feeling so disconnected blurred the reflection of my self-perception, and being incapable of meeting people increased my anxiety and unnecessary self-awareness. But being able to portray myself and my environment, made the introspective process less painful.

Photography allowed me to create a personal document which, voiced in tangible images, eased the burden. Just like a picture, I’m not completed until other eyes see me. As the restrictions adopted to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 decrease, I’m finding chances to reunite with my loved ones to hopefully start feeling whole again.

Student competition, Connections, Finalist: ‘Becoming South African’ by Aidan Murgatroyd

Image Description: As a third culture kid born and raised in various regions of the world and spending more time outside South Africa than in it, I’ve always desired to explore, understand and connect with what it means to be South African. As a child of mixed cultural background with one English and one Afrikaans parent, even in the midst of family gatherings, I felt a sense of otherness.

As a result upon my return to South Africa in 2017, and the rapid onset of covid thereafter, I had not had the necessary freedom in order to travel, connect and interact with the people, places and spaces that make up the South African experience. Thus at the first chance available, I undertook a countrywide road trip over 5 months. The goal? To ascertain what it means to be South African, especially in a nation which encompasses so many cultures/languages/identities. Who are we?

Student competition, Connections, Finalist: ‘The Butcher’ by Dennis Mubanga Kabwe

Image Description: The photograph was taken on 24th June, 2021 at Chilenje Market in Lusaka, Zambia. The photograph goes into the life of Mr. Banda a butcher who is passionate about what he does. I shot the image with the Canon 5D Mark IV with a 24-105mm Lens with two point lighting.

Student competition, Connections, Finalist: ‘Tiramisu’ by Alexander Komenda

Image Description: The term Tiramisu can be understood as a pick-me up or cheer me up. Visual stanzas gathered into a multi-narrative piece that’s a testament to connecting with those closest to our living space, and what can be accomplished as a team between wit, spontaneity and action. Friends, roommates and neighbours. What’s closest to home, the opposite of the photographer’s obsession to exoticize – fellow foreigners that convene in the familiar feeling of being somewhere new. Covid-19 and the stark winter darkness of the 60th degree.

Exploring via dialectic, with emphasis on the collaborative process where the subjects provide ideas on where and how to be photographed; casting aside the dictatorial picture-maker; a wolf leading from behind. Members of the Chinese student community in Espoo, Finland, aiming at subverting stereotypical categorizations of what’s typically viewed in the media and a chance at writing their own tale. The undertaking itself as a healthy social support system that culminates into a document that’s situated between fact and fiction – sporadically implementing a collective imagination that shapes experience, interconnectivity and memory. A familiar life ritual at a crossroads of larger global phenomena.

An opportunity to knock at the neighbour’s room and showcase the thrill of togetherness; a simplicity slowly dissipating via virtual hyperconnectivity. A chance to reimagine quotidian surroundings, the stairs used weekly to do the laundry, the bed that’s slept on, the expressions that are manifested after a profound statement or an embarrassing instant. Sitting at the common room table, sharing home-cooked meals, continuing the evenings’ gathering by placing the mirror uncannily in an attempt to reveal something new.

Student competition, Connections, Finalist: ‘Self- Portrait #5’ by Angela Stoll

Image Description: For me, finding a way of connecting to the world and feeling grounded during this difficult time is through dance. Dancing is a way of connecting with my environment, by being present within the space and allowing the movement to direct me around my surroundings. By dancing in an abandoned building enables me to not only freely express how I feel, but to develop a connection with an empty environment that has now been forgotten.

Therefore, movement is a passage of time that provides a visual form of how one got from beginning to end. Exploring the relationship between time and movement through dance, reveals a narrative showcasing how the body remembers what the mind has forgotten within this emerging world.

Student competition, Connections, Finalist: ‘Memories of Family’ by Xu Han

Image Description: Series Description: When I entered college, I began to think about my relationship with my family. This group of works metaphors my feelings for my father and mother, which are intimate but separated. Finally, I chose to use paint to express my melancholy and hesitation. This group of works was shot in June 2021 and completed in Nanjing Academy of art.

Student competition, Connections, Finalist: ‘The Identity of Holland’ by Ezra Bohm

Image Description: In this series I photograph the last people wearing the traditional costumes of the Holland. This work is intended to celebrate and cherish the old culture of the Netherlands. These groups have something in common that we often miss in modern society: solidarity, geniality and collective pride. modern citizens ofter are disconnected to their own roots, which I think is very important to form your identity with. I romanticize a world that I want to be a part of. The people in the picture are my superheroes, they have to inspire people to look back at our origins and learn from the past.