Recently, the list of winners of the professional group of the 2021 Sony World Photography Competition was announced.
Sony World Photography Awards is one of the most influential photography awards in the world. The competition is open to all photographers, including professional photographers, amateur photographers, young photographers and photography students. The event is now the most authoritative voice in the industry, providing a powerful platform for all winners.
In the past year, most people have been restricted to a certain range and cannot conduct photography and field trips everywhere, but the number of participants and the high quality of the entries have made the organizing committee feel deeply moved, and the ultimate display of the beauty and diversity of the earth. From eye-catching aerial photography to vivid portraits, the winners show their superb skills, divergent thinking, and personalized style.
China Photography Network learned from the event organizers that the total number of entries in this competition exceeded 330,000, and the expert judges selected 30 finalists and 58 shortlisted photographers from the professional group.
Professional Group Photographer of the Year Award will be selected from the 30 photographers who entered the finals on April 15, 2021. While winning the title of "Professional Group Photographer of the Year", there will also be a cash prize of US$25,000, a set of Sony digital imaging equipment, and works will be exhibited at Somerset Palace in London, England.
China Photography Network will continue to pay attention to the progress of the event and announce the finals and shortlisted works of each group. Today, we will analyze the award-winning works of "Professional Group-Still Life" for you.
compiled by: Chen Gan Zhou Yibeng Fu Xiaochun
review: Chen Xiaojun
final work
▲ "Mexican Feast" Photographer: Paloma Rincon (Spain)
Mexican Feast is a celebration of Mexican culture through its food and handicraft traditions. In this series, photographers combine these two worlds together, mixing edible and imaginary. As a Mexican-born photographer, the influence of colors, textures, bright lights and handmade products are an important part of the photographer’s style. The picture juxtaposes Mexican food trays and ingredients with traditional crafts and recognizable everyday local props, and the series was taken in a studio in Madrid.
▲ "Still Life Photographed on Wet Boards" Photographer: Peter Eleveld (Netherlands)
In this project, the photographer used ordinary objects such as glassware, fruits and flowers, and applied wet board fire cotton glue technology to make them extraordinary things. Once the subject is found, he begins to imagine what it will look like. This particular process requires a lot of patience and careful planning of composition, lighting and exposure time. As the photo slowly developed in front of his eyes, all efforts finally paid off in a unique, magical moment. This moment doesn't always happen, but when it happens, you're leaving an image behind.
▲ "Current Interests" Photographer: Alessandro Pollio (Italy)
"Current Interests" is a visual survey that was born and developed during the first national lockdown in Milan, Italy. Still life, made of a combination of food or other everyday items, is easily available at home, and appears on a bare kitchen countertop, a key and core element of the home environment. The changing nature of light and the use of different perspectives add a unique charm to the work, becoming a key memory of isolation and a souvenir of forced isolation.
shortlisted works
▲ "Blue Design" Photographer: Lorenzo Pennati (Italy)
This series was taken for Italian magazines. This is a series of photos representing the choice of contemporary design reinterpretation in different shades of blue. When creating this series, the photographer remembers: "The deeper the blue, the stronger it calls humanity toward infiniteness, awakens people's desire for purity, and finally, the desire for supernatural... The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound until it becomes silent and turns white.
▲ "Cat in Contemporary Art" Photographer: Igor Kryukov (Russia)
In modern art, especially in photography, cats are often derogated to comedy. Photographers feel why they should not be portrayed as different images. Working in classical and conceptual still lifes for a long time, the photographer decided to try something unusual – letting these beautiful animals interact with objects, backgrounds and light. One thing his colleagues are right, that is the difficulty. But the photographer Prove this is possible, photographers prove that cats are not only a source of entertainment, but they can also play serious models.
▲ "Tomorrow Menu" Photographer: Maryna Masel (Ukraine)
Imagine you are in a restaurant and order your favorite seafood, which is what you want to eat. Marine pollution is one of the biggest killers of marine life, but for most people it feels abstract and out of touch with our daily lives. We use the gift of nature, and in return we leave a mountain of garbage that ends up falling into the sea. Feed our oceans. Regarding tomorrow’s menu, the photographer wants to remind everyone that environmental issues affect everyone, and more than we think The image is much closer. Each of us is responsible for how we treat the environment. Today we throw the garbage on the earth, but tomorrow the garbage will be returned to us. So, what is our menu tomorrow?
▲Photographer of "Space Plants": Jan Prengel (Germany)
This series consists of minimalist portraits of extraordinary flora. Obviously, they come from this world, and they remind us of the strangeness and beauty that exists in the complexity of nature.
▲《Memories》Photographer: Wesley Dombrecht (Belgium)
During lockdown, the photographer dug out an old photo album that evokes my childhood memories of food that made him happy as a child. In this series, the photographer created minimalist works with old kitchen utensils in his grandmother’s barn.
▲Social Media Photographer: Berenice Riu (Spain)
Photographers see social media as a reflection of human nature, with all its strengths and weaknesses, and therefore also a way for us to understand each other. There is a lot of criticism around social media, but we are all using it. It is important to understand it as a channel of communication and always realize that there is always another person on the receiving end. In the eyes of photographers, it makes no sense to try to escape social media: it is part of our society, an instant and accessible form of communication. The solution is to learn to use it in a more honest, kind and humane way.
