Sony World Photography Awards winners
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The World Photography Organization and its sponsor Sony have announced the winners and finalists for the Sony World Photography Regional and National Awards 2023. The National Awards were established to highlight talent from local photographic communities and 55 countries participated. Over 415,000 images were submitted from photographers representing 200 countries and territories. New this year are four Regional awards, highlighting an array of photos from across Europe.
Everything from an owl’s intense gaze with its yellow eyes to an aerial view of fields on fire made the final cut. Winners were gifted Sony camera equipment and their imagery will be on display at the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition and in an accompanying book. More information about all competitions put on by the camera manufacturer and World Photography Organization, including how to participate, can be found on the official site.
1st Place, National Awards: ‘Phoenix’ by Hajime Hirano
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Image Description: After the harvest, the farmers in my hometown burn the straw back to the soil. From the air, this burning wheat field looks like a phoenix.
1st Place, Latin America National Awards: ‘Galaxy Explosion’ by Pável Vélez
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Image Description: Fireworks celebrate the dawn of a new year in the small town of Santa Rosa Xochiac, Mexico.
Shortlist, Regional Awards: ‘Bosnia Old Bridge Diving’ by Armin Durgut
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Image Description: Stefan Jevtic dives from the Old Bridge during the 456th traditional annual high diving competition in Mostar, Bosnia. A total of 31 divers from Bosnia and surrounding regions leapt from the 23-meter-high bridge into the Neretva river.
Winner, National Awards: ‘Run’ by Mawaruddin Mawaruddin
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Image Description: A para-athlete running during the Asian Para Games competition.
Shortlist, Regional Awards: ‘The Girl with the Red Hat’ by Elena Georgiou
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Image Description: A little girl walking through Eleftheria Square in Nicosia, Cyprus. This great building was designed by Zaha Hadid.
Winner, National Awards: ‘The Captivating Eyes’ by Protap Shekhor Mohanto
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Image Description: This spotted owlet was photographed from a hide at the National Botanical Garden of Bangladesh. During the day these amazing birds tend to hide in nests made in the holes of tree trunks, but they sometimes peep out to observe their surroundings with their captivating yellow eyes.
Winner, National Awards: ‘Turtle Dream’ by Thiện Nguyễn Ngọc
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Image Description: A female diver glides peacefully alongside a friendly sea turtle off the coast of Perhentian Island, Malaysia, a harmonious coexistence between human and nature.
Winner, National Awards: ‘Confident’ by Abdulla AL-Mushaifri
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Image Description: A picture of a young ‘knight’ demonstrating his horsemanship, while simultaneously looking at the assembled photographers waiting to take a picture of him. This photograph was taken in the Sultanate of Oman.
Winner, National Awards: ‘Siren’s Dawn’ by Mateusz Żurowski
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Image Description: A portrait of a woman I met at the Baltic Sea in Poland.
Winner, National Awards: ‘Pink Village’ by Saravut Vanset
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Image Description: Every year between November and February, wild Himalayan cherry trees blossom around the village of Ban Rong Kla in Thailand. On the way to the village you have to pass through Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park, which was a key communist stronghold in the long-running conflict between the country’s Royal Armed Forces and the (now defunct) Thai Communist Party.
Shortlist, Regional Awards: ‘An Absolution’ by Niks Freimanis
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Image Description: The second night of the volcanic eruption in Meradalir valley, Iceland, which started in early August, 2022.
Winner, National Awards: ‘Iceberg’ by Huazheng Hong
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Image Description: The Ilulissat icebergs off Greenland’s coast lend perspective to the staggering immensity of the distant ice walls, which stretch for several kilometres and can be as tall as a one-hundred-storey skyscraper. That is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’, though. The glaciers extend well below the water, to an average depth of 2,100 metres, and discharge more ice into the global oceanic current than any other glacier in the Northern Hemisphere.
Winner, Regional Awards: ‘Nature’s Abduction’ by Cristina Băzăr
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Image Description: While travelling in Madeira, I was mesmerised by this specific tree engulfed in fog. I decided to photograph it alongside a mysterious human presence.
3rd Place, National Awards: ‘Ki-Re-i’ by Takahiro Toh
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Image Description: The diverse array of vending machines and photo ID machines is unique to Japanese culture. I felt that a woman coming out of this photo booth in Shibuya, Tokyo, with the two vending machines to the side, would create a stylish scene. Ki-Re-i means ‘beautiful’ in Japanese.
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This article comes from DP Review and can be read on the original site.
