The winners of the 2017 EyeEm Photography Awards were announced. With more than 590,000 submissions from over 150 countries, the contest is the world’s largest photography competition.
The esteemed panel of judges, which included experts from National Geographic Traveler and the BBC, awarded a winner for photographer of the year and also in six categories: The Great Outdoors, The Street Photographer, The Architect, The Portraitist, The Photojournalist, and The Community Vote.
Here is a look at the winners and some of their photos below:
Photographer of the year-Sasha Dudkina
Nineteen-year-old Sasha Dudkina from Moscow took home the top honors this year for her overall body of work. The photographer draws inspiration from the literature, music, diversity of nature and the people of her home country of Russia.
The Great Outdoors-Guiga Pira
30-year-old Guiga Pira from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil took home the award for his series of aerial photographs taken while living on a ship in Mexico. As part of a marine conservation direct action campaign, Pira was asked to join the crew of an anti-poaching ship as the drone pilot.
The Street Photographer-Julie Hrudova
29-year-old Julie Hrudova’s says her ongoing series ‘LEISURE’ is “core to what my work is about.” Hrudova says her subjects are focused on their leisure activities and often isolated. The series of photos were taken in Tokyo, Moscow and Amsterdam.
The Photojournalist-Ramin Mazur
30 year old Ramin Mazur from Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, won the award for his series documenting a production of Hamlet put on in a Moldovan prison.
The Architect-Denis Kwong
37-year-old Denise Kwong from Sydney won for her series taken in a popular Hong Kong spot. ‘With its lighting scheme, it was giving off a cinematic vibe and I also love how each lit balcony made the building facade look like a sheet of negatives-each telling its own story.”
The Portraitist-Adeolu Osibodu
20 year old Adeolu Osibodu from Ogun State, Nigeria won for his series ‘Losing Amos’. The series of self-portraits featuring the photographer wearing different clothes his grandfather owned at various times of his life was inspired by the passing of his grandfathers in 2014. “My Grandfather Amos died in 2014. It was then that I realized how casual my idea of him was. I constantly asked myself why I couldn’t see beyond his heavy grins, why I couldn’t define him as more than the man who was never unhappy… these were unsettling thoughts that meddled with my conscience.”
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