The World Photography Organization is pleased to present the finalists and shortlisted photographers for the Sony World Photography Awards 2020 Professional Competition. In addition, the organization revealed details about the new projects of the 2019 Sony Professional Grant recipients. Professional Competition finalists and grant recipients will be shown at the Sony World Photography Awards 2020, to be held at Somerset House in April this year.
© Maximilian Mann, Germany, Shortlist, Professional competition, Environment , 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
Now in its thirteenth year, the Sony World Photography Awards 2020 professional competition recognises outstanding series of entries for technical excellence and fresh perspectives on current topics. The winner of the title “Photographer of the Year 2020” will be selected from among the winners of all categories of the Professional Awards and announced at the Sony World Photography Awards 2020 ceremony, which will be held on April 16 in London.
The four Sony World Photography Awards 2020 received more than 345,000 photographs from creators in 203 countries. In addition, more than 135,000 entries were submitted in ten categories of the Professional Competition – the highest number of entries to date. A new category, “Environment,” was introduced this year in recognition of the growing importance of this topic in both contemporary photography and photojournalism.
This year’s finalist projects address a wide variety of topics and use a variety of photography techniques and methods of presentation, while the projects themselves cover a wide range of subjects, including personal themes and observations, inventive approaches to storytelling in photography, and shed light on little-known but relevant issues.
Sony World Photography Awards 2020 finalists and finalist projects were:
© José De Rocco, Argentina, Finalist, Professional competition, Architecture , 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
ARCHITECTURE
Shapes and textures are the main theme of Jose de Rocco’s series of abstract photographsé De Rocco’s Formalisms, which depicts striking exteriors of buildings, and the minimalist black and white works in Structures, by British photographer Jonathan Walland UK , which depict modern buildings. Canada’s Sandra Herber’s “Ice Fishing on Lake Winnipeg” series shows the fantastically colorful fishermen’s cabins that literally dot the frozen surface of the lake in winter.
© Pablo Albarenga, Uruguay, Finalist, Professional competition, Creative, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
CREATIVE
Uruguayan author Pablo Albarenga’s Seeds of Resistance series shows photographs of an area threatened by mining and agriculture and portraits of activists fighting to preserve nature. The series Kill me with an overdose of tenderness by Dione Roche from Italy is composed entirely of images from social networks, chat rooms, Skype or WhatsApp video calls and shows how close relationships and the need for close communication live in today’s digital world and are expressed through online tools. “Witness Objects,” by British author Luke Watson, includes images of historic objects preserved from the Bosnian War and temporarily turned by him into a pinhole camera, as well as photographs of significant sites around Sarajevo taken with these cameras.
© Hugh Kinsella Cunningham, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional competition, Discovery, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
DISCOVERY
In Invisible Wounds photographer Hugh Kinsella Cunningham from the UK uses red tones to convey the pain and suffering of the people of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the Ebola virus disease outbreak and in The Cave series Maria Kokunova from America uses symbolism and allegory to explore mental trauma. In “Exiled from Paradise,” Iranian photographer Hashem Shakeri explores the lives of those forced out of Tehran by the economic crisis and into less attractive municipal housing estates.
© Robin Hinsch, Germany, 1st Place Finalist, Professional competition, Environment , 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
ENVIRONMENT
In the Wahala series, German photographer Robin Hinsch shows the devastating effects of ongoing oil spills and natural gas burning along the Niger Delta. In “Atlas from the Edge,” Spanish author Alvaro Laiz Á The documentary photography by Lvaro Laiz explores the concept of “natural symmetry” of the indigenous Chukchi people, whose traditional way of life developed in relation to their environment. The Future of Farming by Luca Locatelli presents high-tech farming systems from around the world that may be the solution to the world’s looming food crisis.
© Didier Bizet, France, Finalist, Professional competition, Documentary, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY
French photographer Didier Bizet’s “Baby Boom” series explores the phenomenon of so-called “reborn” dolls – extremely realistic baby dolls. They are in high demand today for adoptive parents in preparation for adding to their families, or for elderly patients who need companionship and an opportunity to show their care. Tearful portraits of Hong Kongers wounded during protests are the focus of Chung Ming Ko’s “Wounds of Hong Kong,” while Chinese photographer Zhang Youqiong’s “From Made in China to Made in Africa” series shows workers at a Chinese venture in the Ethiopian East Industrial Park, a key venture of China’s Belt and Road initiative &lsquo Belt and Road Initiative’ in Africa.
© Ronny Behnert, Germany, Finalist, Professional competition, Landscape , 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
LANDSCAPE
German author Haggard Benhert’s Torii features photographs of Buddhist and Shinto temples in Japan, and Korean author Chang Kyun Kim’s New Home features photographs of Japanese internment camps, which housed thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Florian Ruiz’s Project 596 France presents the desolate nature of Lobnor, a dried-up salt lake in China formerly used as a nuclear testing site.
© Masahiro Hiroike, Japan, 2nd Place, Professional competition, Natural World & Wildlife, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
NATURAL WORLD & WILDLIFE
Japanese photographer Masahiro Hiroike shows the fascinating lights of fireflies in the forests of Tottori, Japan, in his ‘Himebotaru’ project, and in his ‘Macro’ series Adalbert Mojrzisch Germany uses macro photography to capture close-ups of colors and patterns of complex insect and amphibian eyes. Brent Striton from South Africa in his series “Pangolins in Crisis” describes the challenges of the illegal pangolin trade, considered the most illegally trafficked mammal in the world.
© Denis Rouvre, France, Finalist, Professional competition, Portraiture, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
PORTRAITURE
In Passengers, Spaniard Cesar Dezfuli juxtaposes the stunning portraits of migrants taken in 2016, when they first arrived in Europe, with more recent photographs that better capture their personalities and their transformation over time. Unsung Heroes by Denis Rouvre France includes portraits and harrowing stories of women victims of violence, and in the series Ukrainian Railroad Ladies, Sasha Maslov Ukraine shows women working as train station security guards and explores their social role as a symbol of continuity in a country experiencing war and political upheaval.
© Fangbin Chen
, China Mainland, Finalist, Professional Competition, Still Life, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
STILL LIFE
Disassembled Memory is a catalog of photographs showing the disassembled parts of Fangbin Chen’s childhood bicycle, an attempt by the photographer to recall and preserve memories of his childhood. In her project Plexus, Elena Helfrecht from Germany uses her family’s archives to explore the impact of hereditary trauma and collective memory. In the project “IMMORTALITY, Inc. Or Can One Live Forever??”Italian photographer Alessandro Gandolfi travels to research laboratories and institutes to document the processes and objects that reflect the achievements of modern science in its quest to overcome death.
© Á ngel Ló pez Soto, Spain, Finalists, Professional competition, Sport , 2020 Sony World Photography Awards
SPORT
Laamba, Senegal’s most popular sport, is embedded in the cultural code of Senegalese society where good results can pave the way to a new life. In “Senegalese Wrestlers,” Spaniard Angel Lopez Soto explores these practices and shows young athletes in training. In “Jumping,” Andrea Staccioli of Italy shows a poetic image of athletes in mid-air diving at the World Diving Championships in Gwangju. In “The long and arduous journey of the Mauritanian national women’s soccer team,” Frenchman Lucas Barioulet explores the difficulties and the cultural tensions facing female athletes in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
The winners and finalists of the professional photography competition were judged by: Claudi Carreras Guillé n , independent curator, editor and cultural manager Touria El Glaou, founding director of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair Katie Hollander, director of Annenberg Space for Photography Gwen Lee, director of the Singapore International Photography Festival Brent Lewis, photo editor at the New York Times co-founder of Diversify Photo and Mike Trow, photo editor and consultant, chairman and curator of the exhibition.
SONY PROFESSIONAL GRANT 2019
Among the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards finalists in the professional category, new Sony Professional Grant recipients have been selected: Yan Wang Preston UK, 1st place, Landscape , Edward Thompson UK, 3rd place, Brief , Kohei Ueno Singapore, 2nd place . place, Sports and Tuomas Uusheimo Finland, 2nd place, Architecture . Each photographer in April 2019 received $7,000, Sony’s latest digital equipment, and with it the opportunity to create brand new work and long-term projects.
The following projects will be on display:
In Wilderness Expanses, Yan Wang Preston continues to explore the complex role of nature in contemporary society. In her work, taken in various regions of China where ecological restoration work is taking place, Preston draws on a black-and-white aesthetic in the tradition of classical landscape photography to explore wildlife conservation and restoration. Edward Thomson uses the theme of Britain’s exit from the European Union as the backdrop for his project, in which he documents various national and local events.
Kohei Ueno’s project The beauty of life, forgiveness, and the power of positive change focuses on the annual migration and gradual recovery of the so-called ‘Tongan Tribe’, a group of humpback whales on the verge of extinction as a result of extensive commercial whaling in the postwar era. Tuomas Uusheimo’s Out of bounds project explores architecture, space and boundaries in sports venues.
Read more at the Sony World Photography Awards
Which categories are included in the Professional Competition of the Sony World Photography Awards?