Best Street Photography
Shoot through
Photographer: Vicky DePiore
Date Taken: August 20, 2021
Country of Origin: United States
Description: Her suggestion to take a shot of this young international model with Down Syndrome through the motorcycle wheel.
Best Portrait
The Black Forest King
Photographer: Alice Teeple
Genres: Portrait, avant-garde, photography
Date Taken: November 6, 2021
Country of Origin: United States
Camera: Canon 5D
Artist Statement: “You’re not human. You’re a being who is incapable of social intercourse. You’re nothing but a creature, non-human and somehow strangely pathetic.” ― Yukio Mishima, Confessions of a Mask
Best Monochrome
Portraits in Monochrome
Photographer: Andrea Anderson Gluckman
Genres: Portraits, Portrait, Monochrome, Black and white, People, Art
Date Taken: October 1, 2021
Country of Origin: United States
Camera: Nikon D5300
Lens: Nikor 18-55 mm
Focal Length: 18 mm
Shutter Speed: 1/400
Aperture: f/11
ISO / Film: ISO-400
Artist Statement: Acting as an emotional witness is at the core of my photography. Through a combination of creative composition and post-production work, I create visual accompaniments to oral narratives offered by communities devastated by trauma. With the goal of creating an artistic entry point into facing difficult histories, I curate emotional responses to histories traditionally buried by violence and power. My goal is to distill the emotional layers and textures of my images into a succinct and stark experience that arrests the viewer into engaging with the image on a deeper level, a haunting that demands an empathic response.
Best Fashion
Indian Grace
Photographer: Navin Dhyani
Artist Biography: Navin Dhyani is a celebrity fashion and portrait photographer based out of glamour capital Mumbai, India. He has been creating images for 6years with top names in India’s fashion and Bollywood landscape. His love for photography started when he was working as a flight attendant for an international airline and travelling across the world and cultures seeing how people lived their passion which inspired him to ultimately take up photography.
Since then he has only evolved and strive to create new concepts and showcase the beauty around in its best form. He also does publicity photoshoots for various TV and OTT shows with top Bollywood celebrities.
Best Travel/Tourism
Si Proches
Photographer: Emeric Gallego
Genres: Portraits, Landscape, Travel
Date Taken: August 31, 2021
Country of Origin: Denmark
Camera: Lumix Gh4 & Canon 6D Mk II
Lens: 25 mm & 24-105 L II
Description: Fanø, island of Denmark, inspirational place of a trip which takes us on board, where inspiration is linked to solitude, to the silence of nature and freedom. Apart from those kites that end up desert at the beginning of summer, only the landscapes of a world which denies us anxiety. It’s been a long time since my eyes have seen anything so sincere, through a place that tells so many stories and wonders. A place where we can finally contemplate freedom, inspired and dream. Everything seems so far, so close…
Best Architecture
Architectural Shapes
Photographer: Valerio Dalla
Date Taken: May 25, 2021
Country of Origin: Italy
Camera: Nikon D3200
Description: Livorno, among the buildings of the former bathhouse “Scoglio della Regina”
Best Documentary
The Lotus Valley
Photographer: Ajitesh Sharma
Country of Origin: India
Description: The flower pickers at the Lotus Valley in Central India.
Coastal Dreams, Only
Photographer: Navin Dhyani
Country of Origin: India
Artist Statement: A photo for me is not just an image of the subject it’s the state of mind of it and the emotions which it’s portraying. It is sometimes a reality check and sometimes an inspiration, it is sometimes moment to relish and remember and sometimes a moment which should never happen again. It is not just an image.
Best Sport
The Destruction Project–Photos
Photographer: Jojin Van Winkle
Artist Statement: Through the making of this moving image and photographic work, I interviewed individual women in the Midwest and in California. These were in-person interviews and then virtual interviews due to Covid-19 circumstances. The connections I’ve made will continue to fuel the trajectory of this project.
“The Destruction Project” is part of my ongoing research, a multi-part, documentary-based, experimental moving and still image project which examines the roles of destruction in the everyday lives of women and families in rural areas. Its main themes are:
• destruction as entertainment (phase 1),
• destruction as rejuvenation (as creative/transformative/resilience processes) (phase 2),
• and destruction as irreversible (as devastation) (phase 3) Contextually I am interested in the way destruction intersects with play, violence, anger, choice, and change, impacting the everyday existence of women. I hope to discover and uncover additional social implications in this work as I continue to document women and their experiences. This research is part of my ongoing practice of “listening more”, collecting stories related to resilience and the human condition.
Best Analog Photography
Hawaii-35MM
Photographer: Kate Ferguson
Genres: 35mm, film, lomography, people, landscape, nature, scenic, film photography, experimental, art
Date Taken: November 24, 2021
Country of Origin: United States
Description: This is part of a series that I shot in Hawaii on 35mm experimental film.
Nymph
Photographer: Ruby Louise Phelan
Model: Sophia Tyndall-Bistrow
Genres: People, Black & white, Analog, beauty, fashion
Date Taken: February 15, 2022
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Camera: 35mm Nikomat
ISO / Film: 400
Description: Nymph is an analog photographic exploration of the aches of womanhood. Traditionally in myths and folklore the ‘nymph’s’ sole purpose in stories was to emerge from the forest and used as a tool to further the male protagonist’s storyline and fate. In this project I wanted to turn the focus onto the nymph. Feminist theories are now being formed around the ideas of Nymphs and fairies being young girls trapped in the forest, preserved in youth and unable to fully transition into womanhood. I wanted to explore this chasm between girlhood & womanhood. I used two reels of film to capture my arresting images of a modern Nymph, one colour and one black and white. Her costume consists of a suit jacket, a home knitted jumper & a ring which boldly stares at the camera. These three elements along with her smudged mascara tears signify the complication of modern femininity. I have directly taken my inspiration from early female art photographers who worked in a narrative form like Julia Margaret Cameron.
