2017 Sony World Photo Awards: the shortlist
Ten photographers have been announced as winners in the Open categories of the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards, the world’s largest photography competition.
More than 105,000 entries were submitted to the competition with Chair of the Open competition, journalist and photographer Damien Demolder, saying it had been an “inspiration” to be exposed to “such a volume of great work”.
“And a privilege too that I could share in the personal moments, the joys, tears, life and losses of photographers from all around the globe who recorded their experiences through their pictures,” he said.
Now in its 10th year, a number of Australian photographers also received recognition in 2017, with highlights including an image of a 'masong', a young man being impaled by swords during a traditional ritual by Gisselle Natassia, and a striking image from the Lofoten islands, Norway by Jingshu Zhu.
The winners of the Open categories and the national awards will be featured at the Sony World Photography Awards and Martin Parr — 2017 Exhibition at Somerset House in London.
The exhibition opens on April 21 and runs until May 7.
Here's a selection of some of our favourites.
Photo has been taken in The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi. Copyright: © Amri Arfianto, Indonesia, Commended, Open, Architecture (open), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards Rustic Public Housing Singapore at dawn. Copyright: © Lester Koh Meng Hua, Singapore, Shortlist, Open, Architecture (open), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. It is a Spectacular Seda Monastery called Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in China. It is famous of full mountain's red house. Despite its remote location, it grew from a handful of disciples gathering in Khenpo's home to be one of the largest and most influential centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism in the world, numbering to nearly 10,000 monks, nuns, and lay disciples by the year 2000. However In 2016, reports emerged from Tibet that there was mass demolition drive by the People's Republic of China. The freedom of Monks are suppress. Copyright: © Ming Keung Tam, Hong Kong, Commended, Open, Architecture (open), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards Having just arrived in Berlin on a bright summer's day, my wife and I decided to take a morning walk along the River Spree. We soon came across a large concrete building, and I was immediately struck by its geometry and scale. Across the river, I positioned myself for a single point perspective and waited for the right moment to capture it. A couple came into the viewfinder and I noticed the cyclist out of the corner of my eye. I waited for them to move into the frame and hit the shutter to try and balance the composition. Copyright: © Tim Cornbill, United Kingdom, 1st Place, Open, Architecture, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. I've got this image of Square Coloseum building in Eur district in Rome just after sunset at end of march. A cold and windy evening with the lights of arches that brights in the night. the very difficult task has been to compose carefully and avoid the crowdy traffic in the zone. Copyright: © Claudio Cantonetti, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Architecture (open), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. I always have at least one camera with me at all times, and now that I have a 2-year old son most of my images are made between work and home. Because I work across the street from the Stata Center — which contains the Computer Science and Artificial Laboratory (CSAIL) and Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, among other things — I come across the building several times a day. It’s an easy building to shoot in that it lends itself to photography, and I’m constantly bumping into people taking a photo of it. However, it’s difficult to make a unique image of the building that stands out from the plethora of photos online. This image was taken in 2016 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I used the iPhone with the "Contrast" app to make images that highlights the strong visual elements that this building, created by Frank Gehry, presents. Copyright: © Joshua Sariñana, United States of America, Commended, Open, Architecture (open), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. The 'Masong' (Those who invite the spirits of the gods to possess their bodies) are rewarded by the nine gods by leaving few scars and drawing little blood despite the gruesome administered body modification. A variety of rituals are performed at the temple so the gods can inhibit their bodies and they can practice by impaling the cheek, tongue and body piercings with 'little pain' or scarification. Copyright: © Giselle Natassia, Australia, Commended, Open, Culture, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards One of the work from series "The key".This series I have been started 5 years ago. This work - digital self-portrait photo. And Start new series Internal Portraits. Copyright: © Alex Belko, Belarus, Commended, Open, Enhanced, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards This characteristic wreck of the ship "Dignity" is located in Hooe Lake, Plymouth, England. Unfortunately it is nigh on impossible to take a good night time image, due to the amount of light pollution from the nearby city. So with this in mind I decided to shoot the milky way on my local coastline at East Prawle and composite the two shots together. Copyright: © Neil Burnell, United Kingdom, Commended, Open, Enhanced, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. The photo was taken in Lofoten Islands, Norway during my trip in March. Clouds were very dramatic when I was shooting. It began heavy raining just after I finished shooting. Five images stitched in photoshop. Copyright: © Jingshu Zhu, Australia, Commended, Open, Enhanced, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. It was photographed at a train station in Bangladesh when the boy jumped accross from one train to another. Copyright: © Huizhen Liang, China, Commended, Open, Motion, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. I set up a last minute photo shoot in my small apartment, while dog-sitting my sister's Italian Greyhound, Maximus. He wouldn't sit still so I bribed him with treats and captured this shot of him chewing. Copyright: © Stacy Anguiano Cain, United States of America, Shortlist, Open, Motion, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. © Oktay Subasi, Turkey, Shortlist, Open, Motion, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. Everyday aims towards a collective goal. The Colombian national team is immersed in white, grey, and black, fighting together for the ultimate position. With accredited prestige, an invitation was sent to participate in the European Junior Championship, as a guest team. Ana Maria and her team are constantly fighting, pushing their lungs to the limit and transforming their everyday lack of resources to an idea of opportunity. The volume of water suggests a calm while the surface gives constant chaos. It is in this scenario that the South American team is named youth world champion winners in Norway. Copyright: © Camilo Diaz, Colombia, 1st Place, Open, Motion, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. Taken during an amazing Sunset at Valensole France. Copyright: © Fabio Antenore, Switzerland, Commended, Open, Nature, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards "Determination" was taken after a fresh layer of snow coated the landscape. The rocky terrain turned into a wildly mounded scene, with only one small tree poking through. This scene reminded me of a classic underdog story of determination and success. Copyright: © Max Foster, United States of America, Commended, Open, Nature, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards May 16th 2016, a tornado warned high precipitation supercell storm is rolling over the town of Stratford, Texas, USA. Its structures and color seem unreal and belong to the most dramatic I have ever witnessed in many years. I only had a few moments to find a decent spot to capture this amazing view. There was a bigger gap in the traffic along the highway so I had enough time to take a few photos. Image is a panorama of two images, further editing includes primarily color and local contrast enhancements, highlight recovery, foreground brightened up and adding vignette. Copyright: © Maximilian Conrad, Germany, Shortlist, Open, Nature, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. Picture of dew soaked damselfly was taken early morning when ambient environmental temperature is too low and insect mobility is limited. Final image is stacked from 5 exposures. Used camera EOS 70D + MP-E lens, handheld. Copyright: © Frantisek Dulik, Slovakia, Commended, Open, Wildlife, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. Anna's Hummingbird and bees drinking from a water fountain on a very hot California day. Taken 9/26/2016 (timestamp is wrong) at Filoli. Copyright: © Toshiyasu Morita, United States of America, Commended, Open, Wildlife, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. A Yellowhead Jawfish mouth broods its future offspring. The eyes on each egg are clearly visible and indicate that the eggs are almost ready to be released after a 5-10 day brooding period. The father takes on the role of guardian during this period of incubation and will forsake his own sustenance in order to give them the best chance of surviving. Shot in Saint Lucia. Copyright: © Henley Spiers, United Kingdom, Commended, Open, Wildlife, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards A puffin with a mouthful of sandeels taken this June on a trip to Skomer Island in Wales. Copyright: © Nigel Hodson, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Open, Wildlife, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. Image Description: Portrait of Ugne, Dovydas and Egidijus with their beloved dog Meskis taken during my ongoing photographic journey across Lithuania in search of the disappearing signs of Lithuanian countryside. Copyright: © Tadas Kazakevicius, Lithuania, Shortlist, Open, Portraits, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards The year 2016. reminds me the time in which selfie culture determines our existence if we were somewhere or doing something. The photo was taken at a concert Massive Attack in Pula/Croatia. Copyright: © Jelena Janković, Serbia, Shortlist, Open, Street Photography, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. Kaifeng,China. The man kills dogs to sell while some kids plays around there. The kids didn't feel any uncomfortable about this situation. They are more sensitive about my camera. March,12th,2016. Copyright: © Da Yang, China, Commended, Open, Street Photography, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards The mountain is there! Copyright: © Jiajun Xia, China, Commended, Open, Travel, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards The sun setting over Yosemite Valley as shot from Taft Point while my girlfriend poses on the cliff edge. Shot October 2, 2016 during our road trip across the Americas. Copyright: © Rob Wilson, Canada, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. On one of the coldest days this past winter in Alberta, Canada, I was inspired by this frozen formation to capture the contrast of fire and ice. Although I struggled with the near -30 degree Celsius temperature and the technical difficulties it presented, I was excited when I was finally able to capture the way both blue and ash covered icicles framed my subject. Copyright: © Kirsten Quist, Canada, Commended, Open, Travel, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. A very cold and clear winter morning in the Bavarian Alps (Germany). Allgau mountains and famous Neuschwanstein Castle are covered with fresh snow and make the landscape looking like in a fairytale. I tried to find an unusual viewpoint of the Castle with the snow covered mountains in the background. The Image should let you feel the icy temperature. A big challenge was the wide dynamic range of sunlight and shadows - perfect for my Sony A7RII. Copyright: © Achim Thomae, Germany, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards. On April 2, 2016, fujian fuding, tea farmers of green coffees which scene. Copyright: © Fanjing Lu, China, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards This fisherman gets up before sunrise and go fishing with a gas lamp, a net, and a bird who helps him fishing. This kind of fishing is a thousand year old tradition that some chinese fishermen keep it alive. I got up an hour before sunrise and followed him with his daily journey in river Lee. I even went into the water to get a different angle for my shot . Copyright: © Khalid Alsabt, Saudi Arabia, Commended, Open, Travel, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards.
