awards 2020 Nov 2020

Title: The Game of Jumps

"The photo was taken at the Hsinbyume pagoda which is a large pagoda located on the northern side of Mingun in the Sagaing Region in Myanmar, on the western bank of Irrawaddy River. The pagoda was built by King Bagyidaw in 1816, it was constructed in memory of his senior wife, princess Hsinbyume. The whole pagoda was painted with white and it attracts many tourists today.

When I visited the Hsinbyume Pagoda in Sagaing in December 2019, I noticed some novices playing on the wavy curves of this wonderful white pagoda. The scene is so eye-catching as the novices are wearing red robes and the white pagoda contrasts with the blue sky behind. I decided to take some shots and asked the novices to keep playing and jumping for a while. I used a fast shutter speed to freeze them at the right moment. I was happy as I was able to record the powerful moment and joyfulness of the novices, who were just kids and playful."

Title: Our Lady of Kibeho

"This image was shot for Theatre Royal Stratford East’s Olivier Award-nominated production of Katori Hall’s play Our Lady of Kibeho.

The shoot was one of my favourite of 2019, but was a tough ask, with the play’s subject being a foreshadowing of the Rwandan genocide: “In 1981 at Kibeho College in Rwanda, a young girl claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary who warned her of the unimaginable: Rwanda becoming hell on Earth. She was ignored by her friends and scolded by her school but then another student saw the vision, and another, and the impossible appeared to be true.”

Our challenge was to create an appealing, ticket-selling image capturing the elements of hope, faith and community that define the play, while also nodding to its eerie themes of possession and religious fundamentalism. I also wanted to create a lighting state that made darker skin tones look fantastic. The play was awards-nominated, and the campaign got a lot of great feedback, so I think designer Rebecca Pitt and I succeeded."

Title: Six Senses Con Dao, Ocean Villa Living Room

"This shot was taken as part of the initial pre opening shoot for Six Senses resorts, and the Indochina Land company, who built the resort.

It is  an image of one of the gorgeous ocean front  living rooms in one of the villas, which look out across their own private pools to the South China Sea.

Just a short flight over from Ho Chi Minh City, the beautiful tropical island of Con Dao is quite close to the equator - which made for a pretty hot and sticky couple of days shooting at the not quite finished resort.

For this particular shot, I wanted to be there very early in the morning, to capture the sunlight streaming into the space, as I felt the hard shadows would accentuate the simple clean lines of the architecture.

Not a lot of styling was required, as the fairly minimal, uncluttered design is an important part of the relaxed feel of the resort, and I wanted to stay true to that aspect of the design.

I used my trusty Phase One medium format camera for the shoot, which involved me dragging the large, heavy Pelican case up and down the long beach in the heat between shots as none of the paths were finished!

Needless to say, shooting resorts is rarely as glamorous as actually staying in them!"

Title: You'd better smile

"One day my son wanted to know why the girls I photographed were angry. I thought, being young women, with such beautiful smiles, why not do something happy, global and relaxed. So we shot this series of photos where we wanted to show luxury glasses for happy people."

Title: The Grand Hall

"We got the assignment from Volvo Cars to create a studio environment resembling a grand architectural setting, all made in a controlled environment. The idea was to capture something new in the automotive industry, still keeping the car as the hero to tell the story, but in a more reduced setting. This image is one in a series of images shot over a couple of days and everything is created in camera with minimum set extension and post work. 

We try to push the boundaries in all of our work, combining creativity with quality and skilled execution. Achieving this is made possible with the trust of the client, and Volvo Cars is great when it comes to experimenting with visual languish. The series was our first in a row of studio settings created for the brand."

Title: The Bear 

BOOM CGI wanted to bring this bear to life by pushing the boundaries between realism and CGI! Their talented artists explored facial expressions and anatomy of this furry beast.

The focus here was achieving a realistic look, especially with its fur. Set in a warm, natural forest environment, they were able to use natural lighting to add atmosphere and create a well-polished, photorealistic bear.

Title: Blue Star

"Welding is one of the most important tasks at Innovative Growers Equipment's work stations. The peculiar combination of light, sounds and sparkles makes it a truly enchanting activity to watch and experience live, even though it is not suitable for the naked eye.

Through my lens, I was able to appreciate this fascinating and sophisticated job. As in many other professions, technology is stepping in and automating the overall process; however, these true artists of the torch will prevail due to their magnificent touch, skills and extraordinary creativity."

Title: Olivia is wearing a dress of Kat van Duinen

"The chosen image is part of a fashion editorial called 'Rainbow Rocks' with Olivia Sang from Boss Models Cape Town for Elegance Magazine NL."

Title: "Flying Spaghetti" from the series 'Spaghetti'

"The personal work series “Spaghetti” was a quick fun project I shot in late September 2019. The entire series started out with the flying spaghetti. When I planned out the concept for the 13-part series this was actually the image I always had in mind first.

Back then I had no idea that the photo of the flying spaghetti and the whole spaghetti theme would be such a foresight on the COVID-19 year 2020: spaghetti would become so important all of a sudden and were often times sold out in the supermarkets because of coronavirus panic-buying; and photo productions would become so different during lockdown, with a tiny crew and a remote shoot. For this project it was a real one-woman-show and all the roles of the crew members were played by me: concept development, creative direction, styling, foodstyling and photography. Post production was not necessary.

The image of the flying spaghetti was photographed completely in one shot. There is no photoshopping or image composing involved. The spaghetti dish is actually flying in mid-air on the plate. In the completely darkened studio, I had the perfectly styled spaghetti dish in the right hand ready to throw on the plate and the camera release in the left hand. The movement of the flying spaghetti was frozen by using highspeed strobe light."

Title: Grumpy Girl

"This was part of a series of documentary photographs on the Outer Hebrides. 

Inspired by Paul Strand who visited the islands back in the 1950’s I wanted to make a study of the people who lived and worked there. 

I travelled up to the far north of Scotland to document the modern day weavers and how they live their lives, just as he did then. Still using traditional skills I was interested in the way the incredible craftsmanship had been passed down to the younger generations but in relatively unchanged surroundings.

The home of Harris Tweed is now a vibrant community proud of its traditions, where weaving of the iconic cloth is both a flexible source of family income and a link to the past and landscape.

Having photographed the grandfather and his son, I remembered that he'd told me that the grandchildren were inside the house but asleep. They were woken up and bought into the chilly air of my canvas studio set up inside the shed where the father was alternating weaving with delivering new born lambs. She was a little bit grumpy and really didn't want to have her picture taken. Somehow I persevered and got this picture of her."

Title: Shanali

"This image was shot for Sophie Deloudi SS20 campaign, in Mykonos. Sophie is the most elegant Athenian beachwear designer.

The model stands in front of a complex of five churches, Paraportiani, an iconic architectural structure, dating back to 1400. 

It’s considered to be a perfect example of Cycladic architecture, that comes in complete harmony with the campaign aesthetic."

Title: Enfant Terrible 

"I used to believe that a picture could change the world, it was my job to show it as brutally and realistically as possible. The closer to the action - the better. 

I was with those in power and with the oppressed," says 1985 Robert Capa Award winner Alberto Venzago. 

LIFE, STERN and Sunday Times Magazine printed the stories about the Japanese mafia, child prostitution and voodoo in West Africa of the Magnum Nominee.

After 40 years of photojournalism it was time to write a new chapter. The loner has become an artist duo. With Julia Fokina two like-minded people have found each other, they work under the common name "ONE".

 "We combine photojournalism and fine arts, interpret events in a new, emotional and often provocative way."

"There must be much more that life can offer." says Julia. The search began in the late 80s in the Soviet Union in the Moscow underground scene of theatre and music. 

As the first punk model she shocked the fashion world. It is a long journey, inside and outside. The driving force is desire and adventure. "I am now where I always wanted to be. I am not only in front of the camera, but together we create these worlds of images. The ideas are often based on my life stories, or appear from the subconscious."

The artist couple Fokina-Venzago become symbiotic lovers connected to the darkness by fascination, they know no boundaries.

After seven years of working together around the world, a 45 kilo sumo art book has been created in a limited edition of 10. "ONE-seduced by the darkness“. 

The winner picture "Enfant Terrible" was taken for this book.

Title: Adonis at Home

"This is Adonis Duvergel, posing in the bedroom of his family home in Old Town Havana, Cuba.

I had an extra day in Havana after finishing with a shoot for Kathmandu and talked to New Zealand stylist Elois Morin, also in Havana at the time, about doing a small project together.

She had spotted Adonis from across her balcony one day and asked if he was keen to be part of the shoot. He happily invited us into his home, introduced us to his family, and kindly offered up his wardrobe for Eloise to style him with.

This picture is a moment between changing outfits, a confident gaze framed by the surroundings of the bedroom he had lived in his whole life."

Title: Shot in the studio in central London

"This image is about many things (love, for example -  может обьяснить почему?), but mainly about plastic pollution. The main idea was to rethink this topic with an antique statue, and a modern plastic bag, with a usage of colours. This statue suffocates and stays silent. We need to think about our planet and make an impact by starting with ourselves."

Title: Girl of flames 

"I captured this image during the Berlin Marathon. It was captured for an upcoming running shoe campaign for Under Armour Europe. It was crucial to feature real moments with real people.

We had five athletes who were running the marathon, and our job was to document their journey from beginning to end, this way, we could capture real reactions, from struggle to satisfaction. This image was part of the selection that ended up printed on billboards around the city."