- 19th May 2013
- Working with photographers in 23 countries.
Series Winners and finalists Portraiture competition-Lets Face It 6
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First place - Gold |
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Second place - SilverTaliban is a series which questions the way we look at the war in Afghanistan. It forces us to reexamine our notions of the truth in that war. The 'enemies' evidenced in these images, for instance, are in fact not Afghani at all; they are German citizens, living in simulated Afghan villages located not in Afghanistan but Bavaria, Germany. These villages are a constructed 'reality' a liminal place, a waypoint, a holding station for those soldiers bound for Afghanistan itself. It's a construction which offers a glimpse into the training that American soldiers face before their deployment to Afghanistan; more importantly, however, it forces the viewer to confront their expectations and preconceptions about these people we fight. |
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Third place - BronzeTRAVELING TO THE WOMEN OF KABUL JAIL In chaotic downtown Kabul stands a particularly sinister building,the ghosts of it's past hover around the patios and walls. This prison complex is a nest of human rights violations. Prisoners from different places with one thing in common, all are in prison accused of committing 'crimes against the family'. Contrary to what may appear, today Afghanistan is a country still sustained in the family, traditions and an archaic society. |
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CommendedA selection of portraits made in Trincomalee, North East Sri Lanka, Dec 2009. For year’s tensions among the local communities of Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims have impacted the area socially and economically, resulting in suffering for all. Since the Government declared an end to the war on 21st May 2009 these tensions are beginning to ease, bringing tourism, trade and hope to the ordinary people of this war torn area. |
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CommendedThe Vegetarian Festival held in Phuket, Thailand celebrates the Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. Over nine days various ceremonies are held to invoke the gods. Firewalking, body piercing and other acts of self mortification undertaken by participants acting as mediums of the gods have become more spectacular and daring each year. Men and women puncture their cheeks with various items including knives, skewers and other household items believing the Chinese gods will protect them from harm. |
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CommendedMasks. All kinds of masks. Looking for to come closer to the soul of the women I have to travel through a complex, deep, sweet and mysterious universe. What a beautiful combination. |
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CommendedMy latest project is a series of pictures called ‘Reflections on Life’. These were taken over the summer and document my travels throughout Eastern Europe including Albania, the Ukraine, and Sarajevo. As I traveled I became increasingly fascinated with the idea of reflections and the ability these have to change and re-conceptualise our perceptions of everyday life. The pictures, taken through the windows of trams, reflect images of the cities architecture projected onto the faces of the inhabitants. Juxtaposed and fractured in this way the effect of these different layers produce a disorientating and surreal series of images with an almost vintage atmosphere, that seems to reflect the decaying grandeur of Eastern Europe. |
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CommendedDREAMS It's the series of photographs taken in the orphanage near St. Petersburg. Project depicts children-orphans are real outsiders living in their own seemingly natural but actually absolutely surreal world which you realize the moment you get there. Their dreams are fairy tales about princess & princesses , marmaids, about the glory & the future. Photographer is catching them as their own imaginative heroes & at the same moment comparing their spiritual state with the cold & unfriendly surrounding nature with the trees' bunches spread as the giant crab's claws with the black spring running nowhere. The world of child fantasies & child nightmares. Trying to feel the edge. |
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CommendedDROPS OF WHITE - The children play with the last bits of snow in spring as nature is reborn with its flower beds. Handcoated plates on Printing-Out-Paper. |
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CommendedThe first human eye donation and successful corneal transplant took place on 7 December 1905 in Morovia, it was the first solid tissue human to human transplant of any kind. Now in 2010 all of the people before you have undergone that same surgery principal, resulting in much improved lifetime vision through someone else's eyes. |
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CommendedSix portraits of alternative models and performers |
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FinalistStreet children of Rwanda. These children were all photographed at a centre for street children. Most of them lost a parent in the genocide and ended on the streets where the girls became involved with sex work and the boys invariably with drugs. |
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FinalistFrom the series TRUST ME I'M A PHOTOGRAPHER |
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FinalistThe Last Free Place: For three years I live part-time in Slab City, a squatters’ community located on a desolate swath of southern California desert wedged between the Salton Sea and an active bombing range. Since shortly after World War II, the slabs have been a refuge for drifters, dropouts, and other cultural dissidents who live in vehicles and makeshift camps on the crumbling concrete foundations of an abandoned military base. Slab City is a collection of fiercely independent, utterly original, individuals. They come seeking freedom from rules, rent, and the assaults of a society often unsympathetic to the underclass. |
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FinalistTonga is 'the place where time begins’ for others like me, perhaps observing the pace of local life, call it the place where time stands still. I was watching the life of these children from the outside, without interrupting. Their faces were so calm, quiet and happy even though the environment around seemed to me poor and a bit trashy. This didn’t bother them at all. No matter where children are, they transform sadness into joy. This is home, it’s their paradise, and it doesn’t matter what it looks like. There is no place like home. |
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Finalist |
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FinalistPORTRAITS OF INMIGRATION. Mothers, grandmothers and women suffer with pain and silence the progress of young Senegalese to Europe, aboard the old wooden canoes. Many migrants die at sea, after days of hiking. Some of these women wait years for confirmation of the death of her son, husband or grandson. For years financed the trip economically youth. Now, they battle with illegal immigration information. |
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FinalistAn ongoing project. Portraits taken during the Saturday night of a private weekend festival. This annual event has been ongoing for over 15 years. The original party was begun by an extended network of friends and brought together people from a variety of societal backgrounds. The festive atmosphere allows the relaxation and subversion of societal norms. |
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FinalistThe series 'The Last hundred yards' was photographed in conjunction with a documentary embracing the wealth of knowledge of the elders in our community. All images were taken of individuals living in council estates in Sydney |