Upside Down – Magdalena Wasiczek

Overall winner of International Garden Photographer of the Year 2011 competition. This entry also won the ‘Wildlife Havens’ category.

Summer in Rain – Magdalena Wasiczek

Winner of the Beauty of Plants category

In the Garden of the Four Seasons – Roger Foley

Winner of the Beautiful Gardens category

Boat House – Dace Umblija

Winner of the Breathing Spaces category

Quince – Henrique Souto

Winner of the Bountiful Earth category

Forest Dwellers – Kerekes István

Winner of the Trees, Woods & Forests category

Lava Ferns – Steve Nicholls

Winner of the Fragile Landscapes category

Conversations from a Balcony at dusk along the High Line – Clare Takacs

Winner of the Greening the City category

Hummingbird (Grey-tailed Mountaingem), by Patrick Corning

Winner of Young Garden Photographer of the Year 2012

Do you have a great garden photography image? The sixth IGPOTY competition is now open and accepting entries until 20 November 2012. Visit the IGPOTY website to find out how to enter.

Krzysztof Browko, Poland, Open Shortlist, Travel, Sony World Photography Awards 2012

Winning images from the Sony World Photographic Awards 2012 will be exhibited at the World Photo London festival, running from the 27th April to 20th May, it has been announced.

This year’s successful snappers will have beaten off competition from over 112,000 entries in 171 countries worldwide.

Shortlisted entries, released earlier this month, represent work by budding amateurs as well as seasoned professionals in categories spanning from photojournalism and documentary to nature and sport.

Taking pride of place at the show will be the images from new L’Iris d’Or – the Sony Professional Photographer of the Year. The photographer taking the crown from last year’s winner Alejandro Chaskielberg is due to be announced at the Sony World Photography Awards Gala Ceremony.

The World Photo London 2012 programme offers a range of talks, seminars, exhibitions, and creative workshops and is being billed as the ‘global photographic event of the year’.

Image copyright Mark Smith

British wildlife photographers have a chance to win a cash prize of £5,000 and their work showcased in a national touring photography exhibition as the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2012 kick off.

With an overall prize fund worth £20,000, entries have now opened for the 2012 competition. Winners and commended entrants will have their work showcased in a national touring exhibition, as well as reproduced in a book published by AA Publishing.

The Awards’ 12 categories include Animal Portraits, Animal Behaviour, Urban Wildlife, Hidden Britain, Coast and Marine, Wild Woods, Wildlife in my Backyard, Habitat, Living Landscape, British Seasons, Documentary Series and Wildlife in HD Video.

Images may be entered by purchasing ‘credits’, which cost £5 each. Entry of a single image costs 2 credits, while 3 credits lets you enter up to 5 images and 4 credits up to 10 pictures. For a full breakdown of the fee structure visit the BWPA competitions website.

Now in its fourth year, the British Wildlife Photography Awards were established to recognise the talents of wildlife photographers of all nationalities practising in Britain, whilst at the same time highlighting the great wealth and diversity of Britain’s natural history.

Samuel Aranda/Corbis Images/World Press Photo

The votes are in, and the World Press Photo of the Year 2011 award goes to Samuel Aranda from Spain.

Aranda, who was on assignment for The New York Times in Yemen, shot his image of a woman holding a wounded relative in her arms during clashes in Sanaa, Yemen, on 15 October 2011. The woman was inside a mosque being used as a field hospital by demonstrators who were clashing against the rule of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Some 5,247 photographers from 124 countries entered the World Press Photo 2011 competition, now in its 55th year, submitting a staggering 101,254 pictures by the mid-January deadline.

The World Press Photo 2011 jury gave prizes in nine themed categories to 57 photographers of 24 nationalities, hailing from Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the USA.

Jury member Koyo Kouoh said of Aranda’s picture: “It is a photo that speaks for the entire region. It stands for Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, for all that happened in the Arab Spring. But it shows a private, intimate side of what went on. And it shows the role that women played, not only as care-givers, but as active people in the movement.”

Fellow World Press Photo 2011 jury member Aidan Sullivan added: “The winning photo shows a poignant, compassionate moment, the human consequence of an enormous event, an event that is still going on. We might never know who this woman is, cradling an injured relative, but together they become a living image of the courage of ordinary people that helped create an important chapter in the history of the Middle East.”

The judging is conducted at the World Press Photo office, where all entries are presented anonymously to the jury, who discuss and debates their merits over a period of two weeks. The jury operates independently of the World Press Photo organisation.

The World Press Photo contest is open to professional press photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers.

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

The Manchester-based photographer has been profiled by Time magazine in a lengthy piece traces the origins of Lee’s intimate work with the world’s homeless populations and how interest in his work has exploded following his POTY 2011 win.

In addition to the Time interview, Lee has also been profiled by CNN, The Guardian and The Independent following his POTY win.

A book of Lee’s work is due to be published soon by Yellow Korner.

“What we are…”, by Lee Jeffries (UK)

The overall winner of this year’s competition was Lee Jeffries, a Manchester-based amateur photographer who submitted an image of a homeless man called “What we are…”

“I’m incredibly honoured and surprised as the kind of shots I take don’t usually win competitions,” said Lee.

“I took this shot last November – I was walking around Manchester when I noticed something about this guy’s eyes. There was something wrong with them, obviously, but there was a quality about them too… I try to get an almost religious feel to my shots and I think it comes through in this image, with the way the light falls on his face. Anyway, winning this prize is a huge honour.”

See the other amazing images from the 2011 competition

• View the Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2011 winner
• View the Landscapes category winners
• View the Action and Movement category winners
• View the Creative Licence category winners
• View the Documentary category winners
• View the Family and Friendship category winners
• View the Fashion category winners
• View the Gardens and Plants category winners
• View the Portraits category winners
• View the Travel category winners
• View the Wildlife category winners
• View the Commended photos

Landing time, by Mohd Nazri Sulaiman (Malaysia)

What the judges were looking for:
“How exotic your subject is matters less than if your image is full of originality and impact. Judges will be looking for pictures that tell them something about the life of the animal.”

2nd place

Be in the right place at the right time, by Jacopo Colombo (Italy)

3rd place

A visit to the penguin pool, by Karen Oliver

• View the Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2011 winner
• View the Landscapes category winners
• View the Action and Movement category winners
• View the Creative Licence category winners
• View the Documentary category winners
• View the Family and Friendship category winners
• View the Fashion category winners
• View the Gardens and Plants category winners
• View the Portraits category winners
• View the Travel category winners
• View the Wildlife category winners
• View the Commended photos

Waiting for mum, by Karen Oliver (UK)

What the judges were looking for:
“What does it mean to travel? Images that capture the spirit of a journey can be just as interesting as those that reveal the final destination.”

2nd place

Teacher, by Phi Long Vo (Vietnam)

3rd place

Mount Bromo’s kid, by Khairel Anuar Che Ani (Malaysia)

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“What we are…”, by Lee Jeffries (UK)

What the judges were looking for:
“Images entered into this category need to say something about the character of their subjects. Images should reveal the subjects’ personalities and enable the viewer to really connect with them.”

2nd place

Harrison’s pie and mash, by Hannah Maule-ffinch (UK)

3rd place

Jim and his pigs, by Charlie Clift (UK)

• View the Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2011 winner
• View the Landscapes category winners
• View the Action and Movement category winners
• View the Creative Licence category winners
• View the Documentary category winners
• View the Family and Friendship category winners
• View the Fashion category winners
• View the Gardens and Plants category winners
• View the Portraits category winners
• View the Travel category winners
• View the Wildlife category winners
• View the Commended photos