Next time you take a photograph remember to free yourself from inhibitions; get on the floor, climb up a wall, dive straight in and take inspiration from the bold photographers below…

Attaching an umbrella to your tripod in an attempt to stay dry? It wasn’t everyone’s favourite idea…

We admit that the previous umbrella might have been a little big. This umbrella is sure not to blow your tripod over.

Via Very Amateurish on Flickr

We suspect that these people had never seen flowers before.

Via Sam Lair on Flickr

Batty for photography? Don’t forget your hard hat.

This solution will keep your child under control, and you can get some great shots in the process.

Educated at the Jackie Chan school of photography.

When it comes to photography, sometimes it’s best to just dive straight in.

He’s behind you.

It’s always best to be flexible with your photography.

The flash was clearly heavier than he anticipated.

The results of his photography were always a bit wooden.

A dedicated photographer until the very end.

The scale of this shot wasn’t lost on this young photographer.

A good photographer leaves no stone unturned.

He stopped smiling about 2 seconds later.

A display of the latest image stabilisation technology.

It’s yoga and photography combined; yogography. You heard it here first.

This photographer hasn’t quite understood the meaning of ‘zooming in’.

Via TheChive.com

What they lack in fashion sense they gain in camera kit.

Via Jan Jasinski via Flickr

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6 lens.

Copyright Serge Kozintsev

The trick here is to get the shot and get away quickly before your camera melts.

Who wouldn’t want to grab a shot of the world’s first hover-car?

We only hope that the shot he took will sell for enough to cover the cost of the antique vase that he smashed to take it.

Crikey!

He risked his life for his shot and he’s forgotten to remove his lens cap.

Now is not a good time to realise you’ve forgotten to bring another film.

First rule of landscape photography; always check your surroundings for potential hazards first.

The bull from the previous photo would’ve loved this opportunity.

It’s a toss up about who is more patient here; the kingfisher, or the photographer.

Getting the right shot can be a leap of faith.

Image credits: Via Curiousphotos & AcidCow unless otherwise stated

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Winners in the Youth and Open categories of the Sony World Photography Awards 2012 have been announced.

After revealing their shortlist a few weeks ago, the World Photography Organisation announced the winners this morning who will be formally announced at the annual Sony World Photography Awards ceremony and gala dinner on 26 April at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane.

The Open Competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2012 is for anyone with an interest in photography and photographers are judged on a single image. The winners in this category are:

Architecture: Filippo Di Rosa (Italy)
Arts & Culture: Sanket K (India)
Enhanced: Victor Vargas Villafuerte (Mexico)
Low Light: Natalia Belentsova (Russian Federation)
Nature & Wildlife: Giovanni Frescura (Italy)
Panoramic: Denise Worden (United States)
People: Ana Gregorič (Slovenia)
Smile: Piotr Stasiuk (Poland)
Split Second: Tobias Bräuning (Germany)
Travel: Krzysztof Browko (Poland)

New for the 2012 Awards, the Youth Competition is open to any photographer under the age of 20. The Youth category winners are:

Culture: Kolyaskin Sergey (Russian Federation)
Environment: Bernard Pieterse (South Africa)
Portraits: Karina Sembe (Ukraine)

The awards take place alongside World Photo, London, a month long event that offers a mix of photographic events at London’s Somerset House from the opening weekend of 27 – 30 April, which will feature selected events such as portfolio reviews, workshops and symposiums, many led by the Honorary Judges for the Sony World Photography Awards 2012 and other international industry experts.

The Sony World Photography Awards 2012 winners’ exhibitions, curated by Michael Benson and the Candlestar team, will continue through to 20 May 2012.
The World Photography Organisation has also announced today the shortlists for the 3D and Moving Image Award and winners for the Save The Children Photo Competition and Young Tate Award. For more information please visit the WPO website.

Famous Photographers: The World’s Top Female Photographers

Julia Margaret Cameron 1815 – 1879

Although Cameron is celebrated as one of the first famous photographers and a significant and influential artist of her time, she only obtained her first camera at the age of 48. This marked the beginning of her photographic career,  where her portraits of famous and attractive people hinted at the birth of a celebrity culture. This just goes to show that it is never too late to start a new trade or learn a new skill!

Dorothea Lange 1895 – 1965

An influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, one of Lange’s most famous photographs (featured here) is ‘Migrant Mother’ taken in 1936. Lange documented the Depression-era for the Farm Security Administration, photography for which she is best known. She is credited for having humanised the consequences of the Great Depression and for influencing the development of documentary photography.

Lisette Model 1901-1983

Austrian-born American photographer Model taught in photography at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Her best known pupil was Diane Arbus, who studied under her in 1957.

Margaret Bourke White 1904 – 1971

An American documentary photographer, Bourke White is most famous for being the first foreign photographer to photograph the Soviet Industry. She was the first female war correspondent and the first female photographer to have been featured in Life magazine.

Diane Arbus 1923 – 1971

An American photographer, Arbus was most famous for her black and white square photos of ‘unusual people’ such as dwarfs, giants, transvestites, nudists, or circus performers. A notable part of her career was also spent in fashion photography. She took her own life in 1971. In the years after her death, her photography has been exhibited worldwide, and she was the first female photographer to have her work displayed at the prestigious Venice Biennale.

Mary Ellen Mark

An American photographer, Mark is best known for her photojournalism, portrait and advertising photography. She has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums worldwide and has received three Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, and three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. She also made a name for herself for shooting production stills on movie sets, including Apocalypse Now.

Lauren Greenfield

Lauren has been named by American Photo as one of the 25 most influential photographers working today (May/June 2003). She is most famous for photographing youth culture in her projects ‘Girl Culture’ and ‘Fast Forward’.

Annie Leibovitz

One of the most famous female photographers of today, Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer most famous for photographing celebrity portraits. As well as numerous other celebrity shoots throughout her life time, she is famous for doing a photo shoot with John Lennon for Rolling Stone.

Annie Griffiths

Griffiths is one of the first female photographers to have worked for National Geographic magazine. She has received awards from the National Press Photographers Association, the Associated Press, the National Organization of Women, and the White House News Photographers Association. Her photography has been exhibited worldwide.

Sally Mann

American photographer Mann is perhaps most famous for Immediate Family, published in 1992, which was a collection much celebrated by the New York Times. Time magazined named her ‘America’s Best Photographer’ in 2001.

Jill Greenberg

Greenberg is most famous for her controversial ‘End Times’ series depicting children showing emotional distress. However, her photographic career has also often focused on feminist issues in society.

Cindy Sherman

Sherman is an American photographer who is best known for her conceptual portraits. In her photographic career, she has questioned the role and representation of women in society and in the media. Her photographs include some of the most expensive photographs ever sold.

The World Photography Organisation has revealed its shortlist for the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards.

Billed by organisers as the “global photographic event of the year,” the Sony World Photography Awards 2012 competition has recorded more than 112,000 entries from 171 countries, with the shortlisted images depicting a range of stories of extraordinary lives from around the world.

In the Professional competition, many of the images depict the major global events of 2011, such as the war in Libya, the European economic crisis and the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, while the Open competition covered an even wider gamut of subjects and genres.

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.

As shortlisted photographers in the Sony World Photography Awards, each will have their work exhibited at an exhibition at London’s Somerset House to coincide with the award ceremony in April 2012.

The annual Sony World Photography Awards ceremony and gala dinner will take place on 26 April at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane.  The awards celebration will once again take place alongside World Photo, London, a month-long event full of guest speakers, workshops and other photographic events for photographers of all abilities.

The opening weekend of World Photo London will be held at Somerset House from 27 – 30 April with selected events including portfolio reviews, workshops, symposiums and the Sony World Photography Awards winners’ exhibitions, which continue through to 20 May 2012.

Open shortlisted photographers

In each category judges were able to select up to ten images.
Architecture

●    Babul Bhatt                                       India
●    Patrice Carré                                    France
●    Filippo Di Rosa                                  Italy
●    Fabrizio Intonti                                   Italy
●    Francisco Mendes                           Portugal
●    Rui Nunes                                          United Kingdom
●    Fulvio Pellegrini                                 Italy
●    José Ramón Montes                       Spain
●    Thai Son Huynh                                 Vietnam

Arts & Culture

●    Dovile Dagiene                                Lithuania
●    Levi Fanan                                         Brazil
●    Kushal Gangopadhyay                  India
●    Antonio Iubatti                                 Italy
●    Sanket K                                            India
●    Klaartje Lambrechts                        Belgium
●    Oliver Mezger                                   Germany
●    Tan Nono Rahardian                       Indonesia
●    Samanta Sollima                              Italy
●    Paul Störm                                         Australia

Enhanced

●    Alexandr Afonin                               Russian Federation
●    Sandra Cifo                                       United States
●    Paul Irving                                          United Kingdom
●    Milan Makarský                                Czech Republic
●    Frank Martin Eisele                           Germany
●    Rodolfo Mejías                                 Venezuela
●    Jochen Resch                                  Germany
●    Oren Shved                                      Israel
●    Victor Vargas Villafuerte                Canada
●    Antonios Vlachou                            Slovakia

Low Light

●    Elmar Akhmetov                              Kazakhstan
●    Edoardo Brotto                                Italy
●    Ignasi cunill                                        Spain
●    Teng Hin Khoo                                  Malaysia
●    Sergey Kochmak                             Russian Federation
●    Christoph Krüger                              Germany
●    Belentsova Natalia                          Russian Federation
●    Pansiri Pikunkaew                            Thailand
●    Derrick Woo                                      Hong Kong
●    Heng Zee Kek                                   Singapore

Nature & Wildlife

●    Nadav Bagim                                   Israel
●    Anita Erdmann                                Canada
●    Handri Fitrido                                     Indonesia
●    Felicitas Frei                                       Switzerland
●    Giovanni Frescura                           Italy
●    Peter Krejzl                                       Czech Republic
●    Chan Kwok Hung                             Hong Kong
●    William Lee                                        United States
●    Kuntal Paul                                        India
●    Petar Sabol                                       Croatia

Panoramic

●    Pramiga Aditya                                Indonesia
●    Ionut Hrenciuc                                  Romania
●    Istvan Nagy                                       Netherlands
●    Noel Plaszkó                                      Hungary
●    Matthew Post                                   Australia
●    James Rider                                      United Kingdom
●    Terry Soo                                            Australia
●    Ian Taylor                                           United Kingdom
●    steve Williams                                   United Kingdom
●    Denise Worden                                United States

People

●    Victoria Bolshemennik                    Israel
●    Tommy Braxton                                United Kingdom
●    Thomas Dymond                              United Kingdom
●    Mehmet Fatih Yaldiz                        Turkey
●    Ana Gregorič                                   Slovenia
●    Paul MacKinnon                               United Kingdom
●    Christine Pearl                                  United States
●    Fulvio Pellegrini                                 Italy
●    Zulkifli Thalib                                       Indonesia
●    Игорь Лобанов                                Russian Federation

Smile

●    Ricky Alexander                               Indonesia
●    Nguyen Duc Tri                                   Vietnam
●    Gerold Guggenbuehl                     Switzerland
●    Arnold Jumpay                                Philippines
●    Anom Manik Agung                       Indonesia
●    Kivera Mara                                      Réunion
●    Diana Mrazikova                              Slovakia
●    Meghann Prouse                             United States
●    Nick Redman                                    United Kingdom
●    Piotr Stasiuk                                       Poland

Split Second

●    Cemhan Biricik                                 United States
●    Tobias Bräuning                                Germany
●    Samuel Chan                                    China
●    Andrzej Chrobot                              Poland
●    Alessandro Falco                             Italy
●    Don Horne                                         Ireland
●    Johnny Joo                                       United States
●    Gustavo Magnavacca                  Argentina
●    Greg Parker                                      United Kingdom
●    Peter Prazenka                                 Slovakia

Travel

●    Krzysztof Browko                              Poland
●    Krzysztof Browko                                  Poland
●    Marco Lachmann-Anke               Germany
●    John Lai Teck Kee                           Malaysia
●    Carlos Macedonio                          Brazil
●    N S Ng                                                Singapore
●    Keith Pace                                        Malta
●    Suprijanto Suprijanto                       Indonesia
●    George Turnbull                               United Kingdom
●    Malte Wittmann                               Germany

Professional shortlisted photographers

PHOTOJOURNALISM & DOCUMENTARY
Current Affairs

Finalists:
●    Fernando Alfonso Brito Lizárraga         Mexico
(El Debate de Culiacan)
●    Rémi Ochlik (IP3 Press)                France

●    Donald Weber (VII PHOTO)            Canada

Shortlisted:
●    Javier Arcenillas                 Spain
●    Fabio Bucciarelli                Italy
●    Pietro Masturzo                 Italy
●    Giorgos Moutafis                 Greece
●    Goran Tomasevic                 United Kingdom

Contemporary Issues

Finalists:
●    Kasia Bielska                     Poland
●    Alessandro Grassani                 Italy
●    Gustavo Jononovich                 Argentina

Shortlisted:
●    Francesco Giusti                 Italy
●    Sebastian Liste                 Spain
●    Ivor Prickett                     Ireland
●    Jose Luis Rodriguez Maldonado         Columbia
●    Natasha Shulte                 Ukraine
●    Anastasia Taylor-Lind                 United Kingdom
●    Donald Weber (VII PHOTO)            Canada

People

Finalists:
●    Alejandro Cartagena                 Mexico
●    Maja Daniels                     Sweden
●    Simon Norfolk                    United Kingdom

Shortlisted:
●    Philippe Leroux                 France
●    Kerry Mansfield                 United States
●    Francesca Oggiano                 Italy
●    Huage Shang                     China
●    Salvi Danés Vernedas                Spain

Sport

Finalists:
●    Pawel Kopczynski (Thomson Reuters)        Polish
●    Andrew McConnell                 Ireland
●    Palmer + Pawel                 United Kingdom

Shortlisted:
●    Delfosse Colin                     Belgium
●    Alvaro Deprit                     Italy
●    Mikhail Domozhilov                 Russian Federation
●    Adam Pretty                     Australia
●     Scott Robin Barbour                 New Zealand
●    Robin Utrecht                    Netherlands

Nature & Wildlife

Finalists:
·    David Chancellor (Institute)            United Kingdom
·    Jacek Kusz                    Poland
·    Palani Mohan                    India

Shortlisted:
·    Salil Bera                    India
·    Terence du Fresne                Switzerland
·    Barbara Leven                    United States
·    Suren Manvelyan                Armenia
·    Tapash Paul                    Bangladesh

Arts and Culture
Finalists:
●    Rob Hornstra                     Netherlands
●    Anastasia Taylor-Lind                 United Kingdom
●    Mattia Vacca                     Italy

Shortlisted:
●    Javier Arcenillas                 Spain
●    Jacek Swierczynski                Poland
●    Yannick Cormier                 France
●    Alvaro Deprit                     Italy
●    Susana Girón                    Spain
●    Davide Monteleone                 Italy
●    Andrea Santolaya                Spain

COMMERCIAL

Campaign
Finalists:
●    Javier Arcenillas                 Spain
●    Peter Franck (Büro stoltenhoff)            Germany
●    Laura Pannack                 United Kingdom

Shortlisted:
●    Michael Blann                     United Kingdom
●    Felipe Cantillana                 Chile
●    Jan von Holleben                 Germany
●    Miguel Navarro                 United Kingdom
●    Michelle Siu                     Canada
●    Roberto Soares-Gomes             Brazil
●    Daniele Testa                     Italy

Travel
Finalists:
●    Jan Brykczynski                 Poland
●    Luis Henry Agudelo Cano             Colombia
●    Peter Franck                    Germany

Shortlisted:
●    Giancarlo Ceraudo                 Italy
●    Andrea Hamilton                 United Kingdom
●    Cristina De Middel                 Spain
●    Yurian Quintanas Nobel             Spain
●    Gianluca Pulcini                 Italy
●    Lisa Wiltse                     United States

Fashion
Finalists:
●    Peter Franck                    Germany
●    Elizaveta Porodina                 Germany
●    Jayden Tang                     United Kingdom

Shortlisted:
●    Michelle Beatty                 United Kingdom
●    Susi Belianska                     Italy
●    Romano Decker Dejan Kutic            Croatia
●    Filippo Del Vita                 Italy
●    Alice Pavesi                    Italy
●    Dasha Ketsko                     Ukraine
●    Frauke Thielking                 Germany

FINE ART

Architecture
Finalists:
●    Igor Chirikov                     Russian Federation
●    David Ibernón Boria                Spain
●    Simon Norfolk                    United Kingdom

Shortlisted:
●    Robin Broderick                 Canada
●    Riccardo Budini                 Italy
●    Tamas Bujnovszky                 Hungary
●    Alejandro Cartagena                 Mexico
●    Paula Gortazar                 United Kingdom
●    David de Jong                 Netherlands
●    Michael Joseph                 United States

Portraiture
Finalists:
●    Lei Liu                         China
●    Paolo Marchetti                 Italy
●    Irina Werning                     Argentina

Shortlisted:
●    Gwenn Dubourthoumieu             The Democratic Republic of Congo
●    Lavinia Parlamenti                 Italy
●    Johann Rousselot                 France
●    Javier Arcenillas                Spain
●    George Mayer                    Russian Federation

Landscape
Finalists    :
●    Rona Chang                    United States
●    Lee Chee Wai                     Malaysia
●    Mitch Dobrowner                 United States

Shortlisted:
●    Regis Boileau                    France
●    Ximena Etchart                 Argentina
●    Jeroen Hofman                 Netherlands
●    Zhang Kechun                 China
●    Matthias H. Risse                 Germany
●    Chaoliang Shen                 Taiwan, Province of China
●    Stephen Wilkes                United States

Still Life
Finalists:
●    Renan Cepeda                 Brazil
●    Rena Effendi (INSTITUTE)                Azerbaijan
●    Helen Thompson                 United Kingdom

Shortlisted:
●    Michal Cole                     United Kingdom
●    Peter Franck                    Germany
●    Martina Geccelli                 United Kingdom
●    Miri Mor                     Israel
●    Song Nian Ang                 Singapore
●    Gicheol Shin                     Republic of Korea

Conceptual
Finalists:
●    Manuel Geerinck                Belgium
●    Luis Mallo                     United States
●    Cristina De Middel                 Spain

Shortlisted:
●    Carlo D’Orta                     Italy
●    Photographer Hal                 Japan
●    Giuseppe Parisi                 Italy
●    Carlos Henrique Reinesch             Brazil
●    Sanne Maloe Slecht                 Netherlands
●    Frauke Thielking                 Germany
●    Patricia van de Camp             Netherlands

Youth shortlisted photographers

Culture

·    Hanne Grannestad                Norway
·    Lam Ka Ho                    Hong Kong
·    Sahil Lodha                    India
·    Merijn Mulder                    Netherlands
·    Carolina Paltrinieri                 Italy
·    Adrian Pelegrin  Bonet                Spain
·    Kolyaskin Sergey                Russian Federation
·    Benedek Varga                Hungary

Environment

·    Alla Aliokhina                    Ukraine
·    Kolyaskin Sergey                Russian Federation
·    Thamyres Matarozzi                Brazil
·    Adrian Pelegrin Bonet                   Spain
·    Bernard Pieterse                South Africa
·    Imanuel Thallinger                Austria
·    Kazi Sudipto                    Bangladesh
·    Kseniya Sovenko                United States

Portraits

·    Tertious Alio                    Russian Federation
·    Hadi Asgari                    Iran
·    Lidia K                        United Kingdom
·    Darya Kasyanova                Russian Federation
·    Samujjwal Sahu                India
·    Karina Sembe                    Ukraine
·    Kolyaskin Sergey                Russian Federation
·    Felicia Simion                    Romania
·    Marina Tkhorzhevskaya             Russian Federation
·    Berta Vicente                    Spain