The World Photography Organisation has announced the overall winners in the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards 2022. Adam Ferguson (Australia) has won the Photographer of the Year title and accompanying $25,000 (USD) cash prize and a range of Sony digital imaging kit. Also announced are the ten category winners alongside 2nd and 3rd place of the Professional competition as well as overall winners of the Open, Student and Youth competitions.
Winners are revealed in a celebratory announcement video featuring interviews and reactions from winning photographers, available to view via worldphoto.org/ceremony-2022
The Sony World Photography Awards 2022 exhibition opens at Somerset House, London from 13th April – 2nd May 2022, featuring over 300 prints and hundreds of additional images in digital displays from winning and shortlisted photographers. Also presented are works by this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography, the renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky.
This will be the first time since 2019 that people will be able to view the works in person and curator and chair of jury, Mike Trow, recognises how much of an impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the photography.
“I think it’s interesting how good the quality of work has been considering how tough COVID has been on the mental well-being of people and their families. I think they’ve fought through adversity to get their work. How different it would’ve been if we’d not had COVID, there would’ve been different, more interesting, varied work from other parts of the world but it still is true that if you can photograph well whilst outside your front door, you’re halfway there.”
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Migrantes is a series of black and white self-portraits of migrants in Mexico, taken as they waited to cross the border into the United States. Photographed in collaboration with the subjects, Ferguson set-up the scene for each image, mounting a medium format camera on a tripod with a cable release and then stepped back, allowing the individuals to choose the moment of capture and participate in the process of documenting their lives.
Commenting on his win Ferguson says: “Through collaborating with migrants, this series of photographs was an attempt to make images that inspired empathy, rather than sympathy. By surrendering the control of capture and giving each migrant agency in the process of their representation, I hoped to subvert the narrative of marginalization and create a story that felt more human, relatable and honest. I’m grateful to the brave and resilient individuals who agreed to work with me, and receive this award on behalf of them also. Winning the Photographer of the Year award gives this story another life. It allows a new audience to connect with the important stories of the individuals who shared their story with me.”
PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY WINNERS
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
WINNER: Domagoj Burilović (Croatia)
2nd place Javier Arcenillas (Spain)
3rd place Yun Chi Chen (Taiwan)
CREATIVE
WINNER: Alnis Stakle (Latvia)
2nd place Raphaël Neal (United Kingdom)
3rd place Sarah Grethe (Germany)
DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS
WINNER: Jan Grarup (Denmark)
2nd place Fabian Ritter (Germany)
3rd place Win McNamee (United States)
ENVIRONMENT
WINNER: Shunta Kimura (Japan)
2nd place Gideon Mendel (South Africa)
3rd place Giacomo d’Orlando (Italy)
LANDSCAPE
WINNER: Lorenzo Poly (Italy)
2nd place Andrius Repšys (Lithuania)
3rd place Gareth Iwan Jones (United Kingdom)
PORTFOLIO
WINNER: Hugh Fox (United Kingdom)
2nd place Julian Anderson (United Kingdom)
3rd place Anna Neubauer (Austria)
PORTRAITURE
WINNER: Adam Ferguson (United Kingdom)
2nd place George Tatakis (Greece)
3rd place Brent Stirton (South Africa)
SPORT
WINNER: Ricardo Teles (Brazil)
2nd place Adam Pretty (Australia)
3rd place Roman Vondrouš (Czech Republic)
STILL LIFE
WINNER: Haruna Ogata (Japan) & Jean-Etienne Portail (France)
2nd place Cletus Nelson Nwadike (Sweden)
3rd place Alessandro Gandolfi (Italy)
WILDLIFE & NATURE
WINNER: Milan Radisics (Hungary)
2nd place Federico Borella (Italy)
3rd place Oana Baković (Romania)
To find out more about this year’s winning and finalist projects please visit:
ONLINE WINNERS GALLERIES
OPEN PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR :
The Open competition celebrates the power of single images. Winning photographs are selected for their ability to communicate a remarkable visual narrative combined with technical excellence. Chosen from ten Open category winners, Scott Wilson (United Kingdom) is Open Photographer of the Year 2022 and the recipient of the $5,000 (USD) cash prize, Sony’s digital imaging equipment and global exposure. Wilson won for his powerful photograph Anger Management entered in the Natural World & Wildlife category. The black and white image depicts a dirt-caked wild mustang kicking up a dust storm in northwestern Colorado.
STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR :
Ezra Bohm (Netherlands) of the Nederlandse Acedemie voor Beeldcreatie has been awarded Student Photographer of the Year 2022, winning €30,000 worth of Sony photography equipment for his institution. Bohm was chosen for his series The Identity of Holland, created in response to the brief Connections which challenged students to present a story that highlights how they, or someone they have documented, interact with the world. For his winning series Bohm photographed the residents of close-knit communities in the Netherlands who maintain a traditional way of life, highlighting their extraordinarily detailed customary dress and their connection to Dutch cultural history.
YOUTH PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR :
Selected from six category winners, Tri Nguyen (Vietnam, 18 years-old) has won Youth Photographer of the Year 2022 for his image Under The Moonlight. The photograph depicts a young man basking in artificial moonlight standing against a derelict background. The moonlight symbolises a spotlight shining on the young man, and his longing to accept his flaws. The photo is part of a series that investigates self-reflection and a yearning to break the mould and celebrate one’s imperfections.
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY :
This year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography has been awarded to the renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. Widely regarded as one of the world’s most accomplished contemporary photographers, Burtynsky is best known for his sweeping images of industrial landscapes and the wider environmental crisis. In striking depictions of vast human-altered landscapes Burtynsky lays bare the awesome scale of infrastructure and destruction; presenting vistas of scarred mountain ranges, desiccated bodies of water, and sprawling urbanism distilled into painterly abstractions of colour and form.
SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2022 EXHIBITION
The Sony World Photography Awards 2022 exhibition opens at Somerset House, London from 13th April – 2nd May 2022. In addition to the work of this year’s overall and category winners the exhibition features solo presentations by the 2020 Photographer of the Year winner Pablo Albarenga (Uruguay), and 2021 winner Craig Easton (United Kingdom).
Albarenga presents a selection of images from his winning series Seeds of Resistance, a body of work which pairs photographs of landscapes and territories in danger from mining and agribusinesses with portraits of the activists fighting to conserve them. Easton exhibits a dozen black and white portraits from his series Bank Top, depicting residents of the tight knit neighbourhood of Bank Top in Blackburn. The project examines the representation and misrepresentation of communities in northern England, exploring the stories and experiences of local inhabitants through images and accompanying texts by project collaborator, writer and academic, Abdul Aziz Hafiz.
The Sony World Photography Awards 2022 virtual exhibition is available to view via:
www.worldphoto.org/virtualexhibition2022
See also: Winners of Fifth Annual Zeiss Photography Awards Announced
