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2022 Sony World Photography Awards: Portfolio and Portraiture

2022 Sony World Photography Awards: Portfolio and Portraiture
"Hunter 3". LEFONDO, BOENDE DISTRICT, TSHUPA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, 25 APRIL, 2021: Bushmeat hunter Arthur Bengo, 28, sits for a portrait in the early morning outside his village of Lefondo, about 30kms outside of Boende town. The scars on Arthur’s face are what remains from an attack of monkeypox, a virulent zoonotic disease carried in certain monkeys and rodents that can be devastating when passed to humans. Arthur says he shot a monkey and noticed that it did not seem to be doing well. He ate a third of the primate and took the other two thirds back to his family. By the time he arrived he was not feeling well and advised his family to throw away the remains of the monkey. The next day Arthur started to see the tell-tale lesions that accompany monkeypox appear on his body. He developed a high temperature, became very sensitive to noise and could not sleep for more than two months. The only relief he could get from the lesions was cool water and that was always very temporary. Arthur was fortunate that he recognised the signs of monkeypox and went to the nearest health center where he was immediately given penicillin. It took Arthur three months to recover but his scars are still evident. A number of people in his village die of monkeypox every year, it is particularly dangerous to young children who often do not survive. The more remote the village, the less the chances for people who contract monkeypox. This can be very challenging in areas where food is scarce and education is low. This is a series of bushmeat hunter portraits taken in Guyana, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo. These men are seen in an age-old act, bringing animals they have hunted back to their villages. Some of these men are hunting for other, wealthier men who have employed them, others are hunting for their families. In all cases, very little of what they hunted was consumed in the village. Bushmeat commands a high price, which increases as it gets to major cities. These days, hunting of this kind is almost always about an economy of supply and demand. © Brent Stirton, South Africa, Finalist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

Now in its 15th year, the Sony World Photography Awards returns to celebrate contemporary photography and the ways the arts reflect the world around us. Here is a selection of the images from the winners of this year's national awards in the Portfolio and Portraiture categories.

“Queen’s Park”. I saw this person having a quiet reflective moment at my local park. It made me feel nostalgic and calm. A selection of images taken over the last couple of years. For me, this series evokes the quiet, isolated, reflective moments I felt during the pandemic. © Hugh Fox, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Smokey”. During lockdown, I photographed my family a lot – this is our cat, Smokey, who spends a lot of his time doing this. It’s something we all ended up doing a lot of… © Hugh Fox, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Migrantes 01.” Carlos Soyos, age 34, a migrant from Guatemala City, Guatemala and his son, Enderson Soyos, age 8, takes a portrait of himself and Enderson at the El Buen Samaritano migrants shelter in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico on April 28, 2021. They have been in Jaurez 20 days and travelled by bus. “I want to go to the USA to get medical treatment for my son. In Guatemala I couldn’t get good treatment because I didn’t have the money to pay for it”, Carlos said. Enderson is autistic with West syndrome, tuberous sclerosis. They have tried to cross the border once and were caught by border patrol, finger printed, and departed to Mexico. “I am going to New York to meet my wife”, Carlos said. His wife and two daughters, age 12 and 6, are already in NY. His six-year-old daughter has the same condition as Enderson, tuberous sclerosis. Hi wife crossed the river from Juarez into USA in 2019 with the daughters, and they are currently in immigration process. Carlos started crying and said, “I talk to my wife everyday”. She called during the interview. “Its been very difficult to be separated (from wife), we are so good together”. This is a series of self-portraits of migrants in Mexico, as they wait to cross the border into the United States. The life of a migrant at the border, waiting for the right moment to cross into the United States, is often in flux. To capture a piece of this uncertain journey, I mounted a medium format camera on a tripod with a cable release and then stepped back, allowing the migrants to choose the moment of capture and give them agency in the process of documenting their lives. © Adam Ferguson, Australia, Finalist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Migrantes 02.” Stephanie Solano, age 17, from Zacapa, Guatemala. She takes a portrait of herself at an informal migrant camp at a municipal park in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico on 3 May 2021. © Adam Ferguson, Australia, Finalist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Costumes of Vlachi Ethnic Group.” Western Macedonia, Veria, Seli. Costumes of Vlachi ethnic group. Caryatis is a study of Greek women’s traditional costumes deriving from different time periods in Greece’s rich history. This project evolved out of Tatakis’ previous work, Ethos, which looked at Greek traditions and customs. Each photograph is meticulously staged; postures, attitudes and even hand placements depicted are all typical of the area from which the costume originates. © George Tatakis, Greece, Finalist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Costumes of Vlachi Ethnic Group.” Western Macedonia, Veria, Seli. Costumes of Vlachi ethnic group. © George Tatakis, Greece, Finalist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Roopa Farouki.” Dr. Roopa Farouki, photographed at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother hospital in Margate, UK, for the Guardian’s Saturday magazine. Roopa, a novelist, retrained as a doctor after years as a successful writer. A series of portraiture, landscape and feature work shot over the last year or so, some commissioned and some personal. © Julian Anderson, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Otty.” Otty, a groom at John Quinns yard, Malton, photographed for Royal Ascot’s annual magazine. © Julian Anderson, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Hunters 1.” DOUME VILLAGE, LASTOURSVILLE, GABON, 29 JUNE 2021: Expert bushmeat hunter Nkani Mbou Mboudin is seen with an antelope he just shot hunting in the forest around his village. This village survives on fishing and bushmeat. Gabon has a sustainable bushmeat culture, largely because of its small population and large protected habitats. This is a series of bushmeat hunter portraits taken in Guyana, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo. These men are seen in an age-old act, bringing animals they have hunted back to their villages. Some of these men are hunting for other, wealthier men who have employed them, others are hunting for their families. In all cases, very little of what they hunted was consumed in the village. Bushmeat commands a high price, which increases as it gets to major cities. These days, hunting of this kind is almost always about an economy of supply and demand. © Brent Stirton, South Africa, Finalist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Rishad.” Rishad, 18, was photographed in February while selling live turkeys for slaughter in central Kabul. He said he’s been selling birds this way since he was 10 to help support his family. A month after the Taliban’s takeover, Rishad wanted to flee Afghanistan, but had no plans to. “I want to leave Afghanistan with my family, but it’s impossible for us because we can’t afford it,” he said. At the beginning of 2021, I started to photograph people in the streets of Kabul. Foreign forces were to leave Afghanistan later in the year, and the portraits focused on those who would remain – predominantly, Afghans who sold goods or services in the streets and earned little. Everyone I photographed had different expectations for the future. No one expected to be living under the Taliban’s strict Islamic rule by the year’s end. However, on 15 August 2021, the Taliban seized Afghanistan’s capital, and it instantly transformed the portraits into images of a bygone era – one meant to provide hope for Afghans, but which ultimately failed many of them. By September, nearly the entire country risked sinking into poverty, according to the UN, which warned of a “rapid, catastrophic deterioration in the lives of Afghanistan’s most vulnerable” including many of those who made a living in the streets. © Phillip Walter Wellman, United States of America, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Mohammad Massoud.” Mohammad Massoud, 63, was photographed in April, during Ramadan. He usually sells vegetables on a cart he pushed through the streets, but during Ramadan – when observers fast during the day – watering cans sell better. He wasn’t too concerned about the imminent departure of foreign forces. “We Afghans are all Muslims, if we come together and accept each other when the foreigners leave, everything will be fine,” he said.

“01.” Kirill, in Kuyacha village, Altaisky Krai, in 2021. This is a visual story dedicated to the Old Ritualist settlements in the Altay mountains of Russia. The members of these communities profess the ‘true faith’, a form of worship that existed before reform was introduced to the Russian Orthodox Church by patriarch Nikon in the 17th century. The policy aimed to modernise both church and faith and strengthen Russia’s ties with Europe. It was met with strong resistance from religious people; especially the serfdom-bound peasants who drew great comfort from their faith and its rituals and traditions. When the government ordered for these to be changed many decided to flee in order to protect the ‘true faith’. Thus, the Altay region became one of the centres where Old Ritualists found their refuge and the opportunity to live freely. The mountains that cover the terrain ensured a secure hideout and nature’s abundant resources allowed them to establish their settlements. During my travels and meeting the inhabitants of these Old Ritualist villages I adopted the state of mind of those who originally escaped from persecution and found their heaven on Earth among the beauty and abundance of nature. Spirituality and a deep connection to nature, became their escape as well as their foundation for a simple, sincere life. Stories like this present an opportunity to consider the principles of a more sustainable life that is built upon labour, natural resources and spiritual values. It serves as an invitation to reflect upon the historical processes of development; the condition that the modern man currently finds himself in, and also the prospects of alternative directions in which the society could develop. © Areshina Nadezhda, Russian Federation, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“09.” Sasha, in Kuyacha village, Altaisky Krai, 2021. © Areshina Nadezhda, Russian Federation, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Indre.” A photo taken on the balcony of her apartment, at the lowest point of her life. This series reflects a person’s inner world that can be communicated without words or objects. These portraits do not capture the image the person wants to present to the world but rather leaves the viewer to interpret what is happening. Sometimes we want people to think we have more than we do. In some people, it’s the expression of their whole face or body language. In others, it’s the eyes alone – the eyes can capture and hold you tight. There is a lack of convention in some people that carries us into their world. Yet, as physically close the image is to the person, there is a distance that physical space does not cross. © Vladimir Frumin, Russian Federation, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Amy.” An environmental portrait of my friend. © Vladimir Frumin, Russian Federation, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“In the Market (Istanbul).” A Toned cyanotype, 30 x 37cm. “No one pays heed to the apparently abstruse fact that other people are also living souls.” – Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet. I usually photograph people in the street; passersby I come across with when I’m walking in different cities around the world. Photography allows me to see an underlying dimension that I could hardly perceive with the naked eye. It’s a hybrid process that begins with digital capture and ends with the completion of the blueprint, whose monochromatic tones and loss of detail contribute to emphasising the most essential elements in images. This way, without imposture or context, the faces of passersby are revealed to me in an unequivocally transcendent manner. © Joan-Ramon Manchado, Spain, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“In the Cocktail Bar (La Habana).” A Toned cyanotype, 30 x 37cm. © Joan-Ramon Manchado, Spain, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Portfolio-4.” World Championship of Table Tennis for People with Parkinson’s in Berlin
with 130 participants from 21 countries. Table tennis trains the eye-hand-connection
and can help to delay the progress of the disease. Parkinson´s is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that, once erupted, progresses relentlessly: with the tremor, with movement and speech difficulties as the most visible symptoms. Parkinson’s is not fatal, but neither is it curable. “It doesn’t kill you, but bit by bit it takes away all joy.” The problem with Parkinson’s: There are drugs that can help – but they only fight the symptoms temporarily, not the disease itself – and the price is high. Parkinson´s – just like Alzheimer’s – might be curable if only enough money would be invested in research.
But generally people who suffer from Parkinson´s are old and less visible and active in public. This is a selection of pictures I have taken over the last three years, for personal projects or on assignments, that represent the topics I work on and my visual approach. © Marlena Waldthausen, Germany, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Portfolio-10”. Lise Scott, who works as a Nanny but decided not to have children on her own. © Marlena Waldthausen, Germany, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Cycling Alone.” This photo was taken in Tehran on 25 April 2021.This line directs the eyes, so I added a cyclist . It is fine art. All of these photos were taken by me during 2021, in Tehran, Iran. I have tried to present this photography style by using and taking photos of shadows, lines, light and negative space – creatively using fine art skills to change the space to fit my vision. © Sara Goli, Iran, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“The Forbidden Zone.” This photo was shot at the Milad Tower in Tehran on 27 March 2021. I thought the columns looked like a prohibition sign, so I used it for a conceptual photo. © Sara Goli, Iran, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Immigrant Father Cradles Daughter.” Francisco Antonio Navarro, 34, an asylum seeking migrant from Honduras, cradles his nine month old daughter Megan from the early morning cold and wind, as they await for transport to a processing centre after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States from Mexico on a raft in La Joya, Texas on March 25, 2021. Over 750 migrants crossed into the U.S. from Mexico in La Joya and nearby areas early morning on March 25, agents on the scene said, and slept along a border road next to farmland for hours before being transported to a U.S. border patrol processing facility. Francisco and this family were eventually granted asylum and currently reside with relatives in Mississippi. A set of ten images, taken between 2020-2021, covering a variety of topics: immigration along the US-Mexico border (including a drone image of a migrant camp in Del Rio), the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, fires on the West Coast, a devastating tornado that ripped through Kentucky, a Black Lives Matter protest after the death of George Floyd, and a prison in Honduras. © Adrees Latif, United States of America, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Solidarity March Against Death of George Floyd.” Black American equestrians raise their fists in solidarity during a march against the death of George Floyd through downtown Houston, Texas, June 2, 2020. Tens of thousands of demonstrators shouted “Justice for George Floyd” and “Black Lives Matter,” as they poured into Floyd’s hometown of Houston for an emotional and peaceful march and rally to honor his life and protest police brutality. Floyd died while in Minneapolis police custody on May 25, 2020. © Adrees Latif, United States of America, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Future Studies 3.” Since Hélène and Fary have been breeding bees, which are more of a terror to the local population than hyenas, no one goes into the mangroves of Joal in central Senegal to chop wood and damage this vital ecosystem. Beekeeping is proving to be a decisive resource for the protection of the environment and the economy: colored honey, born from mangrove flowers, will be sold at the village market. One of the most characteristic symptoms of the time in which we live is the growing sense of loss of a better future, of a hypothetical tomorrow perceived as something promising and yet unknown. If we’re going to re-establish a healthy relationship with the plane, it is imperative to reflect on our attitude toward the future. In the 21st century we need to learn how to use our knowledge in a more sustainable way, find new ways to live on our planet and confront today’s critical environmental issues. Future Studies is an ongoing piece of research spanning more than ten years, aimed at triggering the viewer to join the critical debate on our precarious balance on Earth, and hopefully contribute to restoring hope for the future of mankind. © Luca Locatelli, Italy, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Future Studies 6.” The patriarch – that’s the name given to this millenary oleaster, a wild olive tree. It’s struggling for survival after fires devastated Sardinia, Italy, in July 2021. The extraordinary vitality and resilience of olive trees will allow for many to rebound. This tree is in ‘intensive care’, with a tarp protecting it from heavy winds and rain that could damage it further. One of the most characteristic symptoms of the time in which we live is the growing sense of loss of a better future, of a hypothetical tomorrow perceived as something promising and yet unknown. © Luca Locatelli, Italy, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Escape.” Fashion photography. This series features my best images from 2021 and 2020. I wanted to show, above all, my view of the world, my sensitivity and my great desire to tell stories about the world that surrounds me. © Mikołaj Marczuk, Poland, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Closeness?” What is closeness? © Mikołaj Marczuk, Poland, Shortlist, Professional, Portfolio, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

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