Every year, theWorld Photography Organisationcelebrates the very best images and photographers on the planet with theSony World Photography Awards. Last year we showed off some ofthe amazing images from the overall awardswhere hundreds of thousands of submitted photos had been whittled down to just a few winners.
This year the organisation has celebrated incredible photographers at a national level withthe National Awards. This awards program selects just one photographer as a national winner for a single, standalone image. With 63 countries taking part and 190,000 submissions, it’s certainly was a challenge for the judges.
We’ve put together this gallery of the best images before the 2021 National & Regional Awards begin.
Lakshitha Karunarathna (Sri Lanka)
Sometimes a good image is all about timing and patience. Especially with awesome nature photographs like this one. Lakshitha Karunarathna certainly deserves to be Sri Lanka’s national winner.
“As I spent a whole night photographing a heron in a small pond, close to Bourne in Lincolnshire, this handsome hunter popped up all of sudden, right in front of me and started swimming and diving for fish, at an unbelievable pace. I could not get a proper shot for some time, due to the speed and the unpredictability of this skillful night hunter. After good half an hour of hunting, it took a break and shook the water off and I did not miss that moment where the Eurasian Otter is stand-still and the tiny water drops could be seen all-over the mammal.”
Jose Luis Ruiz Jimenez (Spain)
This wonderfully angelic image of gannets was snapped in Ireland by Spanish photographer Jose Luis Ruiz Jimenez. A brilliant view of nature at its finest and obviously a logical contender for winning the national award.
“Gannets on the steep cliffs of the Saltee Islands in Ireland. In June, These birds are in this place during the breeding season. This behavior is very common during this time.”
Ales Krivec (Slovenia)
Another national winner showing off the wonder of our world with a natural phenomenon caught on camera in the wild.
“Fog and snow particles created an interesting glow around the tree. Halo is the name for a family of optical phenomena produced by light (typically from the Sun or Moon) interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Halos can have many forms, ranging from colored or white rings to arcs and spots in the sky.”
Jana Fašungová (Slovakia)
“This photograph represents the vast loneliness and despair we can sometimes feel despite the fact that we are surrounded by people. Love has many forms and at some point in life, each of us experienced the end of some kind of love.
The changes in our world are huge, however, there are also huge changes inside all us as individual persons, in the way we communicate and perceive things, in the way our friendships and relationships look like. There is a difference between the real emotions we feel every day and the images of ourselves we post on social networks. The world changes, but in the background, it is always the individual person that undergoes its own changes as well. And there are the good times and the bad times for all of us. Our private despairs replaced by our private new hopes.”
Jelena Jankovic (Serbia)
The national winner for Serbia went to another photo showing the traditional dress of the region. It’s great to see awards being given to photos that capture the nationality of the area.
“This is Maja. She is a dancer and a singer of Ensemble KOLO.
Maja is dressed in one of the many traditional costumes that she wears while she performs on stage. The paint on her face is one of the colors associated with Serbian tradition.
All the performers of Ensemble KOLO are people whose job is to preserve Serbian tradition through music, song, and dance. In fact, the main mission of Ensemble KOLO is to collect, adapt and perform Serbian folk dances and songs. With this diverse repertoire, Ensemble travels around the world and represents the rich culture of its country.”
Antonio Bernardino Coelho (Portugal)
Antonio Bernardino Coelho won the national award winners prize for snapping this photo of the skyline of Dubai. An intriguing image that looks more like a painting than a photograph.
“Based on an image of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper and surrounding skyline in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, this still life was made out of staples of various sizes. The staples were positioned on black glass with a black background, and lit via three independent sources.”
F. Dilek Uyar (Turkey)
A Turkish masterpiece shows a man carrying out the humblest of trades, herding sheep through the hills.
“From the hard and dusty journey of sheep herd in Bitlis Turkey. I went to Bitlis to take photos in that city and take this in that period. Sheep has a great impartance in Bitlis. It was really hard to take these photos. Sheep has a great impartance in Bitlis. This photo is like a pastoral symphony.”
Mihaela Coman (Romania)
One of the moodiest looking photos in our list and the national winner for Romania is simply named “Transcendence”.
“Some days she is in the mood for love, or maybe she just wants to feel the wind on her skin.
Some days her words are being silenced by other men who can’t handle her feelings.
Sometimes her thoughts transmute, she feels both pleasure and sadness when tasting the
forbidden fruit.
She transforms from a soft Eve to a dark one, being always both.
She is now strong but also fragile, soft and intense, passionate but also anxious, like the woman
portrayed in the poem by Warsan Shire ‘For women who are difficult to love’.”
Kushal Shahi (Nepal)
Another breath-taking view of nature captured from the mountains of Nepal.
“Mardi Himal, Kaski: A Parade of mountaineers heading towards the destination in search of destiny by following the natural street into the Himalaya. Fighting with the cold and dry blows, we march towards the summit. The attachment with these majestic Himalayas in the reason that has kept us going and the reward is something different; Peace and Serenity.”
Abdulla AL-Mushaifri (Qatar)
We’re starting to get the impression that the World Photography Awards judges have a thing for photos showing national dress or traditional wear. This is yet another winner showing just that. Though it’s easy to see why.
“A Portrait photo for a young girl from Oman, wearing her traditional cloths.”
