The winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2023 have been announced, and the images are as stunning as ever. An unexpected plasma arc, galactic neighbors, and a unique view of Venus are all among the winning photographs.

This year’s competition had over 4,000 entries from 64 countries, but Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner, and Yann Sainty took home the top prize for their photograph “Andromeda, Unexpected”.

The image features something quite unexpected next to the Andromeda galaxy – a massive plasma arc. This surprising discovery has since led to a transnational collaboration investigating the arc structure.

“This astrophoto is as spectacular as [it is] valuable. It not only presents Andromeda in a new way, but also raises the quality of astrophotography to a higher level,” said judge László Francsics in a statement sent to IFLScience.

The competition also runs an award for Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year, which was won by 14-year-olds Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang.

In what judge and professional astronomer Yuri Beletsky described as a “strikingly beautiful picture”, the two teens captured the colorful Running Chicken Nebula, located over 6,000 light-years away from Earth in the Centaurus constellation.

Other categories for the competition include images of aurorae, distant stars and planets, and of course, our Sun and Moon. Check out some of the winning photographs below.

Dr Ed Bloomer, astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich said, “Once again, entrants to the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition have conspired to make things difficult for the judges, with a flood of high-quality images covering an amazing range of targets.”  

“The highlight of this year is perhaps a number of genuine discoveries being imaged, but we’ve had wonderful efforts in every category and I’m particularly pleased to see the continued strength of our young entrants and those eligible for The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer. It has led to some intense debate amongst the judges as we try to choose the very best of the best, but we don’t mind!”

The winning images will be on display at the National Maritime Museum, London, from September 16.

Check out our video if you want to learn how to take amazing space photos of your own!

MADISON (WKOW) — Madison police are encouraging people who own expensive electronics to take stock of them after a burglar tried to sell some of his haul.

Madison Police Department spokesperson Stephanie Fryer said a man told police in late July someone broke into his hotel room and stole his high-end photography equipment and an iPad.

The man gave officers his equipment’s serial numbers. The man also called local camera shops and gave them the serial numbers.

A few days after the theft, the suspect, identified as Daryl Patterson, 44, tried to sell the equipment to the Camera Company in Madison.

Staff recognized the serial numbers and called the police, but Patterson left before they arrived. The interaction was caught on video.

A few days after that, Patterson sold the equipment to a Milwaukee pawn shop. Again, the interaction was caught on video.

Fryer said Madison detectives tracked Patterson down to a home in Madison, where they found more property belonging to the victim. The victim was reunited with his belongings.

Patterson was arrested for burglary, resisting and possessing methamphetamine.

Fryer said people who own expensive electronics should write down their equipment’s serial numbers, as it’s the best way to make sure they’re returned.

Do you have insurance? Do you need insurance? Is this something that you’ve thought about and then just not gone ahead and purchased? Photography is a hobby, so I’ll be covered with my home insurance should anything go wrong. Is there something in the small print that won’t cover your equipment at home or overseas?

If you are a professional photographer, you will have insurance that covers your equipment, public liability, and anything else written into the insurance for your particular business operations. But should you have it if it’s simply your hobby?

Setting the Scene

On a recent outing with the Nikon Z 7II to do some long exposures, I also took my Fuji X-T5, which, to be honest, was a last-minute decision. I simply took it to capture the surrounding landscapes. The X-T5 is normally attached to my camera bag strap at my chest for easy access while out hiking. 

Along the way, I photographed a couple of spots on my way to the waterfall using the X-T5, mainly for reference and to look back on for future compositions. While heading down toward my final location, I spotted a burn which was in full flow and thought to myself, “While I’m here I’ll grab a couple of long exposures on the X-T5.” I set up the camera on the unextended tripod a couple of feet away from the burn and fired off a few shots as I watched the light move across the small hills above, contemplating blending them together for the final image.

After about five minutes I was done, so I turned to get my camera bag which was to the side of me. In my peripheral vision, I caught sight of my tripod and camera taking a headfirst dive into the burn. In under a second, I was in the burn fishing them both out, which is probably the fastest I’ve ever dived into water. I was drenched, but more importantly, so were the camera and my Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 lens. Sure, it’s not the fire depicted in the header image, but water is just as damaging.

I had been shooting on my knees for the last five minutes or so with no movement and a very light wind at times, so how could this have happened? But that is really not the question in this case. The fact of the matter is that it did happen. The only equipment survivors of this were the Smallrig L-Bracket, a Neweer variable ND, the tripod, and my SD card, which I grabbed straight away and left to dry for a few days.

Yes, as you can guess, I was upset, but I would have been even more upset if I didn’t have insurance, as the camera and lens were the only two photographic purchases I had made in the past year. That I suppose doesn’t even matter either, it’s the fact that I had insurance that made the whole episode bearable.

Insurance

Minor drama aside, this kind of thing could happen to anybody and probably has happened to you in some form with your equipment, so we’ve all been there. But have we all been insured? My own insurance company was excellent in their handling of the whole episode, and I had my new camera in just over a week.

My insurance covers me for this type of incident, and I’m glad I took the time to invest in it. Each piece of equipment is listed, and any new piece is added when I purchase it. Does this affect the premium? Well, yes in some cases, but each time I call and work out the finer points of what and where.

Teaching photography at college is my main income, so my policy states that my equipment is not covered when in my main place of work, the college, but is covered outside of this and in foreign countries. This may seem odd to those who have insurance presently, but as policies for your equipment are mainly written for you, this was fair, as it also kept my premiums down. I also just use the college cameras, which keeps my gear safe.

What Insurance Provides

With so many photographic insurance companies out there, how do you choose? Get quotes from them all and compare the policies. See what you are covered for and where the limits are relative to your specific needs. Budget can also be a big factor in choosing the right provider. If this is a factor, read all your quotes again and give your preferred provider a call, as they may be able to guide you in what would be best for you, and perhaps at a lower rate. Speak to providers who are experienced serving photographers, as they ultimately will give you the best advice.

Things to Consider When Seeking Quotes and What Should Be Covered

There are other considerations to be made besides the list below, but as I’m aiming this article at mainly hobbyists so that your peace of mind is kept should anything go wrong (which I hope never does):

• Theft and Loss: How is this covered?
• Damage: What type of damage?
• Coverage on and off-site: Are there any restrictions?
• Depreciation: Old for new?
• Public Liability: Does your photography involve working even part-time with the public?
• Venue Requirements: Some venues will not permit you to photograph without coverage.
• Insurance Excess: How much will you contribute towards replacement?

Always read the fine print. Yes, it can be tedious, but in the end, it’s worth it, so you know where you stand. Here in the UK, some home insurance companies will cover electronic devices including cameras up to a certain value with your home policy. If you are relying on this as your main insurance, I’d recommend checking the value amount and ensuring your photographic equipment is covered, because you may find that in some cases it is not.

Conclusion

Would I recommend insurance for your equipment even as a hobbyist? The answer is a resounding yes, as you never know what could happen. Sure, looking at the negative side is no way to think, but that assurance that you are covered is definitely worth it. Your equipment costs a lot of money to replace, so why wouldn’t you have it insured?

Tik-Tok Photo Trend with Colehearted Photography! – Good Day Sacramento

“Photography,” wrote Susan Sontag in the introduction to photographer Peter Hujar’s 1976 book Portraits of Life and Death, “converts the whole world into a cemetery. Photographers, connoisseurs of beauty, are also – wittingly or unwittingly – the recording-angels of death.”

Sontag’s seminal essay is reprinted in the catalogue – produced in the form of a newspaper – for Peter Hujar: Echoes, an exhibition at the 125 Newbury gallery in New York’s Tribeca neighbourhood. It could hardly be more fitting for a show that turns an unflinching eye on permanence versus evanescence and brings to mind TS Eliot’s lines: “Webster was much possessed by death / And saw the skull beneath the skin.”

Hujar was a mercurial talent who slipped comfortably into the role of outsider. Born in 1934, he was raised first by Ukrainian immigrant grandparents in rural New Jersey then, from the age of 11, by his mother and her boyfriend in New York. It was an abusive household and he left at 16 to fend for himself.

Hujar eventually found safe harbour in the queer avant-garde of downtown New York in the 1970s and early 1980s. His photo “Come Out!!” was created as a recruiting poster for the first gay pride march in June 1970 to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. His work was underappreciated in his lifetime but is now gathering critical esteem.

“Peter was always around with a camera and always very intense and separate from the group,” says Arne Glimcher, founder and director of 125 Newbury, as he contemplates Hujar’s gleaming black-and-white images. “He took his art very seriously but he was not interested at all in people making him famous. He really shunned that so it hurt his career but it worked for him.

“The body of work is so serious and so unlike anybody else’s. Diane Arbus and people like that were coming up at the same time and they were very flashy and out there but Peter’s work is so different in that the work has compassion. Sometimes I think Arbus’s work victimises the subjects – those photographs were not her world – but this is his world and all of the subjects are treated very lovingly, not cynically, and he’s trying to get the most beautiful aspects out of them.

“He deals with very tough subjects and it was hard then dealing with the subjects. So I wanted to make this show not of the celebrity portraits – Susan Sontag is not in the show – but of these more ordinary people that were friends of his and that he’s photographed in the studio.”

Glimcher, who founded the Pace Gallery in 1960 and represented the artist Paul Thek, who was Hujar’s boyfriend, opened 125 Newbury last year as an experimental space to pursue his own tastes and interests. Visitors who stroll down Broadway and step inside leave the city heat and cacophony of traffic behind to find a cool sanctuary currently populated by Hujar’s ravishingly cinematic prints.

Hujar is best known for portraits of artists, dancers, drag performers, musicians and writers from New York’s bohemian subculture, but Glimcher wanted to do something different. The exhibition contains more than 30 works spanning 1966 to 1985 and combines two strands. First, there are images that Hujar made of friends, lovers and acquaintances who posed for him inside his loft on 12th Street in the East Village.

Second, there are candid pictures that Hujar took while cruising the dilapidated Christopher Street piers on Manhattan’s far West Side (theorist Juan Esteban Munoz described them as a “cruising utopia” for gay men outside the mainstream gaze) and in the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, Italy, in 1963 on a trip with Thek.

Glimcher says: “This is a show that’s never happened before. Play these slick, beautiful, almost Pan-esque figures against the scrofulitic walls of the buildings on the piers and how they work together and how they tell you about the time, about the secrecy of this world – that’s what fascinated me.”

With that Glimcher walks across the gallery to a wall displaying Gary Schneider in Contortion I and II, both depicting its nude subject in extraordinary positions. He says: “These acrobatic images are really spectacular in that they’re so transformative. Is that a Western Pepper or is that a body? I’m very fond of these. The subject was his assistant printer who has subsequently printed posthumous works.”

Further along is Daniel Schook Sucking Toe – a young male nude with long hair, toe in mouth, eyes gazing unselfconsciously at the camera. Glimcher comments: “It’s a kind of astonishing thing to photograph and it’s not only about a boy sucking toe. It’s about personal intimacy and this is not sensational.

“It’s amazing certain subjects like this don’t come off as shocking or sensational but incredibly composed, printed so beautifully. When you look around, the range of colour in the photographs from charcoal to a kind of sepia – he pulls this kind of rainbow of colour out of black and white.”

Set against youth and beauty are images of decay and intimations of mortality. Cow Slaughter I, Germantown, New York depicts a cow carcass hoisted upside down with a shimmering monumentality. “You can think of [French painter Chaïm] Soutine. You can think of Rembrandt’s ‘Slaughtered Ox’. He did a whole series of animals and they are extremely tender. This is a really tough picture because he could sympathise with the cow. It still has such a sweet face.”

Another picture shows a beaten-up chair, its emptiness registering the absence of the body. Then there are the piers, where gay men cruised and made exquisite art, all long lost to the wrecking ball – yet preserved in Hujar’s prints. Glimcher says: “Here’s artworks, installations, graffiti in the interiors of your piers on these scrofulitic walls. It all comes to life as something extraordinary.”

Oliver Shultz, senior curatorial director, has been listening to the conversation and weighs in: “There’s this moment after Stonewall and before the Aids crisis. The piers are a kind of utopian space and, because they’re on the margins of the city, no one cares what happens there. Unlike gay bars, which are being busted by the cops, you can go and be free.

“A lot of artists did installations in the piers. People painted on the dilapidated surfaces of decaying buildings of the piers. Gordon Matta-Clark did some of his most famous cut-outs, ‘Day’s End’, in the piers. It was this space of radical possibility.”

Hujar was not approaching these subjects as an observer or voyeur but as active participant. Shultz continues: “The photographs bear a very direct relationship to the spaces they document. Yes, they document these spaces but they’re not documentation. Hujar was always so deeply and intimately involved with his subjects.

“That was one of the things that always distinguished his portraits, that he was interacting with them and there was this rapport, this intimacy between he and they. This happens on the piers, too. He wasn’t just walking around photographing people there. He was cruising the piers so he was involved in this life.”

Shultz turns to the images of the Italian catacombs. “That body of work, yes, it’s obviously about death but it’s also about this joy in the materiality of the body. In that way it’s elegiac but also looking to the future, like the persistence of the body through photography, because in fact we all die – even those of us who don’t die untimely deaths from a pandemic or a plague or a horrible illness like Aids. But photography lets us live forever.”

The pictures now feel like a foreshadowing. Hujar died of Aids-related pneumonia in 1987 at the age of 53, one of numerous New York artists cut down by an epidemic that Washington was trying to ignore. His boyfriend at the time was David Wojnarowicz, who would become a leading member of the Aids activist organisation Act Up.

Shultz reflects: “I think Peter’s death in ’87 catalysed some of David’s protests and very impactful public actions on behalf of Aids awareness and policy. Eighty-seven was still relatively early in the epidemic and ‘Silence = death’ as the motto of Act Up was so profound because people weren’t talking about it.

“Outside of the queer community, they were just afraid and were shying away from it until the early 90s and the work of people like David Wojnarowicz. In a funny way, even though Peter wasn’t involved in these overt protests, he really did play a role in galvanising a younger generation of folks in that community to stand up and demand that this be addressed.”

And the pictures persist, entirely of their time and yet entirely timeless. In her introduction to Portraits in Life and Death, Sontag wrote: “Fleshed and moist-eyed friends and acquaintances stand, sit, slouch, mostly lie – and are made to appear to meditate on their own mortality … Peter Hujar knows that portraits in life are always, also, portraits in death.”

• Peter Hujar: Echoes is on display at 125 Newbury in New York until 28 October

Top: Johan Orellana, Emma and Melissa. Image courtesy Johan Orellana, copyright 2022. Bottom: Johan Orellana, Meylin and Dayana. Image courtesy Johan Orellana, copyright 2021.

In Johan Orellana’s photograph Emma and Melissa, two arms meet in the middle of the frame, hands embracing tightly. Each is sheathed in a long velvet glove that stretches up past the elbow. The gloves—shared between the couple, one apiece— fit snugly. Beneath their iridescent surface, one can almost make out the contours of muscle and bone. The figure on the left (Emma, presumably) wears a shimmery silver dress; Melissa has opted for jeans and a tank top. They dance, swinging in a circle. A large pile of bags stuffed into a corner fills the background of the image. This party is elegant and messy, casual and kitsch.

 This photograph is one in a series of Orellana’s images centering intimacy in FUSION, running August 1 to Sept. 29 at the downtown co-working space KNOWN. The show is curated by Omola Studio for Kim Weston’s Wábi Gallery, which is temporarily exhibiting work at KNOWN while its permanent location is under construction. Other locations have included the Mitchell Branch Library and Ely Center of Contemporary Art.  

Artists in the exhibition include Saint Phifer, Susan Clinard, Orellana, Jeff Ostergren, MO, and Ronald Ferrucci. While the show is relatively small, the selection is wide-ranging, and includes painting, photography, sculpture, and collage. At times, this expansive scope can come at the cost of coherence, but for curator Mosho ‘MO’ Olagunju, such variance is precisely the point.  

“It’s a mix of ideas,” said Olagunju, the founder of Omola Studio, who has several paintings included in the show. “I want the viewer to be able to find something on display that they can resonate with.”

Paintings by Jeff Ostergren. Left: Woman with Parasol (Abilify). Right: Copse in the Head (Blue).

Olagunju noted that while KNOWN is not a typical white-walled gallery—works are installed throughout the hallways and alcoves of the fourth-floor office space—he finds the space conducive to displaying such a variety of art. “One of the tenets of a co-working space is about the crossing of ideas,” he said. In conceiving of FUSION, Olagunju considered “what it would mean to reflect that through an exhibition of a mix of artists across different mediums.”

Four works from New Haven-based painter Jeff Ostergren stand out in particular from this mix. Ostergren’s work, which has been regularly exhibited across Connecticut and featured in several international galleries, examines “the intertwined histories of pharmaceuticals and color.”

In Woman with Parasol (Abilify), a figure in a pink blouse and black skirt stands in the middle of a field. Rain pours down and she appears to shiver—arms wrapped tightly around her torso. Her umbrella, while offering some reprieve from the deluge, is painted with a set of large eyes which glare down at the woman. A yellow path curves off into the distance. Despite the vibrant, saturated colors, the mood is somber.

The composition is based off a scene from a 2012 television commercial for the antipsychotic drug Abilify, which Ostergren has reinscribed in his characteristic “pharma-pointilist” style. A vivid matrix of pill-shaped dots form the scene. Each of these capsules is based on the color, size, and shape of a real medication, and Ostergren physically mixes these medications into his pigments. 

The materials list for the painting, cataloged on Ostergren’s website, includes Aricept, Aspirin, Claritin, Lamotrigine, Lunesta, Luvox, Meclizin Hydrochloride, Oxycontin, Pantaprazole, Xanax, and Zoloft. Drugs have long influenced artistic production—perhaps seen most readily in psychedelic art—but Ostergren takes this a step further, physically imbuing his paintings with actual pharmaceuticals.

Beyond Ostergren’s conceptual rigor, the paintings themselves are technically impressive. “I wanted Jeff’s works to be in their own space because I felt like his work really deserves the time to be sat with,” Olagunju said. Standing in front of the modestly sized canvases—each about two by three feet—viewers are forced to reflect on the visual economy of the pharmaceuticals industry. 

But one just as easily gets lost in the fantastic textures of Ostergren’s pictures. His repeating rows of lozenges are precise without being rote. They almost look like textiles.

Susan Clinard, Journey Together. 

A small, subdued sculpture from Susan Clinard, one of several multimedia works of hers in the show, balances out Ostergren’s colorful scenes. In the piece, entitled Journey Together, two unpainted ceramic busts are held gently by a rough-hewn wooden box. The figures appear exhausted, eyes closed. One leans its head on the other’s shoulder. 

Details are sparse—just enough to define the fatigue in their faces and a few wrinkles in their clothes —but there’s a whole story in this small frame. They have stopped to rest, cradled by the timber frame in which they are mounted, and soon they will continue.

 “I think the exhibition is really just for art-enjoyers, art-seekers, to come and see the work that is being made in the city,” said Oalgunju. “When I was thinking of FUSION, I thought about how, as individuals, we’re not homogenous.” 

Wandering around KNOWN, not every piece will land for everyone. But across all the works, something is sure to stick.

“Ashored” by Martin Annand (United Kingdom). Minimalist Photographer of the Year and Long Exposure Photographer of the Year.

There is something about minimalism, when executed correctly, that is soothing. By stripping away unnecessary details, creators who work with a minimalist aesthetic bring a balance and harmony to their work that makes them pleasurable to view. And this is what the Minimalist Photography Awards celebrates.

Organized by B&W Minimalist Magazine, the awards are a showcase for global photography talent. This year’s contest, which drew photographers from 31 countries, saw over 3,100 entries. Judged by an expert panel, the winners demonstrate how effective minimalism can be in communicating a message or transmitting a feeling.

Photographer Martin Annand from the United Kingdom was named the 2023 Minimalist Photographer of the Year for his exceptional work. His series of images, Ashored, is a fresh take on typical seaside imagery. By combining a love for long-exposure photography with a limited color palette, he brings a soothing, timeless feel to his work.

With 12 categories, the Minimalist Photography Awards honors a wide range of talents. From Francesco Luongo‘s clever play on shadows in the Aerial category to Patricia Van de Camp & Marc Heesterbeek‘s incredible abstract image of a woman from the Portrait category, the skill level is high.

Check out the winners from all of the categories and decide which is your favorite. Then, see more finalists in the full winner’s gallery on the Minimalist Photography Awards website.

Here are the winners of the 2023 Minimalist Photography Awards.

“Bike Shadow” by Francesco Luongo. Aerial Photographer of the Year.
“Aerial view with a biker shadow mixed with urban geometries, taken in Livorno, Italy.”

“Hottest place on Earth” by Folker Michaelsen. Landscape Photographer of the Year.
“In summer months, the Dascht-e Lut desert in Iran is known as the hottest place on earth. Among huge sand dunes, the specialty of this hostile part of our planet are unique sandstone rock formations called Kaluts. For my photography I focused on the graphical elements the desert provides.”

“Blue Window” by Michael Jurek. Architecture Photographer of the Year.
“Interior design and Bauhaus architecture of the House Gropius in Dessau, Germany.”

“Ashored” by Martin Annand (United Kingdom). Minimalist Photographer of the Year and Long Exposure Photographer of the Year.
“This collection of images from the coast of the UK and further afield are born from the love of long exposure photography and the coast. As a child, a trip to the seaside was always an exciting prospect, an event, an adventure. These feelings still stir now when I head to the coast with my camera. The anticipation of what’s to come. Trying to find interesting subjects before time and tide swallow them up forever. Not always having the time I’d like to devote to my photography, I have tried to create a more timeless feel to my images. Stripping back to basics often leaves only a main subject discarding any clues or leaving only hints on time and location. I’ve never wanted to document what I’ve seen, only to create my version of it. I use color as opposed to monochrome as I find color more of a challenge, but I try to keep colors subtle and limit the color palette.
I see myself as far from a finished article as a photographer. I hope that what I have learned so far goes to producing some aesthetically pleasing images that others enjoy as much as I enjoy creating.”

“Art of Everyday Live” by Klaus Lenzen. Open Photographer of the Year
“Claddings of windowless gable walls can be very diverse. Whether made of metal, plastic, slate, or roofing felt, they reflect the highly individual taste of the homeowner and create for me special works of art of everyday life.”

“Cloudy day” by Guido Klumpe. Fine-art Photographer of the Year.
“In this series clouds are the stars. Sometimes shy, sometimes cheeky-without clouds, the pictures would tells different stories. German photographer Guido Klumpe’s work includes abstract, minimalist, and street photography. Born with a severe congenital visual impairment, he perceives the world differently. Guido sees cities as urban landscapes, landscapes consisting of shapes, colors, light and reflections. He uses perspective, a particular point of view, and the poetry of chance in the old tradition of street photography, to create his compositions. This way, he creates a “stage” in which passers-by act as protagonists. His work highlights the mystery and absurdity of urban spaces while simultaneously revealing its hidden beauty. In his work, he investigates how we perceive dimensionality and is particularly interested in the moment of transition, when by reducing the optical reference points, three-dimensional architecture dissolves into a two-dimensional plane, lending many of his images an almost painterly quality. Considerations that arise during this process include the importance of information that helps establish a distinction between the foreground and background, and the type and number of objects involved.
Guido’s work has won numerous international awards, has been widely published, and is included in many solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe.”

“X ing” by Glenn Homann. Street Photographer of the Year.
“Removing elements from the urban environment allows us to see between the details and appreciate shapes, colors, and spaces.”

“Presence” by Luke David. Conceptual Photographer of the Year.
“Growing up in the closet, I only ever let certain parts of myself show through. I felt like I was made up of 3 parts. The one I revealed, the one I let myself feel, and the one that was secret & unknown. I would reflect only certain parts of myself back to others. I tried to merge seamlessly into my surroundings. Like a mirror, keeping everything hidden behind the surface. As an adult, I find myself adopting the same patterns. Segmenting myself and only revealing those parts that fit. Alone and making images in the landscape, I feel free of it all. There is nothing there but me and it.”

“2050-293” by Patricia Van de Camp & Marc Heesterbeek. Portrait Photographer of the Year.
“The works of Van de Camp & Heesterbeek start with portrait photography and end with abstraction. Portrait photos are carefully deconstructed and assembled back together again. The intent of the photo or the identity of the person portrayed is no longer relevant; there is only the image. As reversed painters, they take out the irrelevant details of photography to get to the essence of the image. Every once in a while, a fictitious object is added. The identity and form of the person portrayed are remixed. The result is images where the black and the white live their own lives. The original portrayed persons are still recognizable but are now part of a larger whole, albeit stripped to the existential minimum in a balanced composition.”

“Masonic Centre” by Graeme Gordon. Photo Manipulation Photographer of the Year.
“Walking through Sydney this building screamed out to be shot with its brutalist look standing tall amongst the other buildings.”

“Phantom Waters” by Jonathan Knight. Night Photographer of the Year.
“This dark, minimal collection showcases a series of waterfalls photographed at night. Rather than present a complete image, I present the outline of a view and invite the viewers to compose the image on their own: to interact with the work psychologically and physically to fill in the voids left behind. The resulting vision is partly real and partly based on the viewer’s own making.”

“Geometric Compositions” by András Gáll. Abstract Photographer of the Year.
“Basic shapes in a spatial context. Interaction between light, shadow, tone, and shape.”

Minimalist Photography Awards: Website | Facebook | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by the Minimalist Photography Awards.

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Discover the results of the Travel Photography awards, hosted by The Independent Photographer, that took place in July & August 2023:

This summer, we wanted to see images that communicate the life of a place in all its splendor and trigger our memories. Whatever the subject may have been: Street, Portrait, Landscape, Documentary: We wanted to share your journey, visually and intellectually!

Judge: Steve McCurry has been one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for over three decades and has created a unique collection of work featuring some of the most famous images of our time. McCurry’s work spans conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions, and contemporary culture alike – yet always retains the human element that made his celebrated image of the Afghan Girl so powerful.

With countless exhibitions around the world to his name, he has been recognized with some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award, and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo.

Congratulations to all Winners & Finalists!

More info: independent-photo.com | Instagram | twitter.com | Facebook

Stefano Lotumolo – 1st Prize – $1000

“Goli Dance” – Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast
Goli is a traditional African dance and masquerade of the Baoulé people of the Ivory Coast. Over 24 hours all Baoulé villages play music and the dancers wear four different types of masks, all of which refer to the social and generational structure of the society.

Emilio Fuliotti – 2nd Prize – $600

“Football pier” – Mabul island, Sabah, Malaysia
Boys of the Bajau Laut tribe, or ‘Sea Nomads’, are playing football on their village pier, on the island of Mabul, in Malaysia. Needless to say, the ball was more often in the water than on the pier…

Shyjith Onden Cheriyath – 3rd Prize – $400

“Tradition” – Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates
Every winter at Ras Al Khaimah, camel handlers take their camels into the sea for a wash and bathe. The saltwater helps rid the animals of parasites. Bathing camels in this way is an old Arab tradition, but it is becoming less common in the region due to the construction of new hotels and resorts along the coastline.

Didier Vanderperre – Finalist

“Sunrise at Cox’s Bazar” – Bangladesh
On a clear day the sun rises at Cox’s Bazar fish market.

Eduardo Ortiz – Finalist

“Ghats and souls” – Varanasi, India
Early morning scene capturing the reflection of pilgrims, seemingly walking on the horizon in Varanasi, India.

Henryk Welle – Finalist

“Everflow” – Southern Thailand
Aerial view of an exceptional sunrise in south Thailand

Ivo Danchev – Finalist

“Kukeri tradition” – Rila, Bulgaria
Every winter, masked dancers, dressed up in goat skins perform pagan rituals. The masks allow the dancer to become a supernatural being and to enter the spirit world where he chases away the evil spirits of the old year and brings blessings and health to the new year. it is an ages-old tradition which is still well preserved around Bulgaria. There are more than 10,000 Kukeri organized in small groups around Bulgaria.

Lonav Bharali – Finalist

“Well Rested” – Guwahati, India
A fisherman is taking a power nap in the quiet of the afternoon.

Lorenzo Perotti – Finalist

“Pray above the clouds” – Ladakh, India
Two little monks follow the puja, or morning prayer, in the monastery of Hemis, in Ladakh, India.

Parna Baharali – Finalist

“Existence”
Within the frame of existence, I find myself positioned at a juncture where the very essence of choice unfolds. The road diverges, each path a symphony of promises and tales, inviting me to step into their narratives of uncharted realms and boundless wonders. Here, in this crossroads of destiny, the interplay of paths and decisions weaves the tapestry of our voyage, a testament to the profound intermingling of direction and daring within the tapestry of life’s odyssey.

Travel photography has a rich history. For generations, photographers have embarked on journeys around the world, capturing their unique experiences, interactions, landscapes, and the people they met, through their lenses. This competition theme celebrates the longstanding tradition of using photography as a means to share the beauty and essence of places. The phrase “communicating the life of a place in all its splendor” encapsulates the competition, emphasizing the power of photography to capture the lifeblood of a place and evoke a sense of wanderlust.

It was an honor to have Steve McCurry overseeing the competition. He is not only one of the most iconic travel and documentary photographers globally, but also one of the most influential figures in the world of photography. His body of work perfectly encapsulates our competition theme, making him the ideal choice. When choosing judges, we prioritize individuals who have made substantial contributions to the field, and whose work resonates with the competition’s theme. In this case, Steve McCurry’s exceptional expertise and extensive experience in travel photography made him a natural fit.

There were no notable trends or recurring themes among the submissions we observed during the judging process. As ever, the competition attracted a diverse array of submissions, including images captured across the globe, as well as those captured during journeys closer to home.

We encourage participants to keep an eye on our competition calendar, which can be found on our homepage. Currently, our Street Photo Award is open for submissions and is overseen by the renowned Magnum photographer, Martin Parr. Next month, we will be hosting our Open Call competition, which welcomes submissions from all photography styles and genres. We believe the themes we have chosen offer the opportunity for photographers working across the photographic spectrum to showcase their talent. We invite all photography enthusiasts to stay updated on our upcoming competitions and look forward to seeing their submissions in the future.

By Laura Sharman

Published: 08:07 EDT, 14 September 2023 | Updated: 08:09 EDT, 14 September 2023