Black & White Award Editors' Picks of November 2020

“Endless Seaweed Farms” - Xiapu region, China 2019
Bamboo poles are rammed into the sandy estuary bed and allow for all manner of fishing including seaweed farming. © Alex Berger

“Ring mine”
Portrait work shot with Linhof Technika 4X5.
© Burak Isseven

"Fishermen of Kerala"- India
A fishermen team pulling the fishing nets toward the beach of Kovalam in Kerala, India.
© Lorenz Berna

“Construction Art”
Construction site cranes can grip powerfully, but also transport their load sensitively. In doing so, they can unfold a special aesthetic. © Klaus Lenzen

“Leith and Pups” - Australia 2020
Leith and her kangaroo dog Pups share a special bond. They have travelled everywhere together since they found each other near the Nullarbor Plains, Australia. © Mellen Burns

“Purification By Water” - India
Ritual purification by water is one of the great themes running through the history of Indian religious life. Although it is now the world’s second most poluted river, Hindus have affirmed for centuries that there is nothing quite as cleansing as the living waters of the River of Heaven. The belief says, even a droplet of Ganges water carried one’s way by the breeze will erase the sins of many lifetimes in an instant. The Ganges is revered as goddess and mother. © Cristina Dimitrova

“Enlighted” - Ethiopia
Settled 2,600m high in the Lasta Mountains of Northern Ethiopia and home to eleven rock-hewn monolithic churches, Lalibela is revered as one of the world’s greatest and most magnificent architectural achievements. These churches were all carved down into the earth out of a single block of red volcanic rock. It is said in local history that after seeing Jerusalem taken by the Muslims in 1187, King Lalibela commissioned these churches to be built with the intention of having Lalibela serve as a new Jerusalem. © Mauro De Bettio

“Mundari herder” - Khartoum Cattle Camp, South Sudan.
Standing behind the Ankole Watusi bull whilst he is massaging it with ash to mitigate against insect bites. © Trevor Cole

From “Established View series“ - Saguaro National Park Arizona, USA
“Industrial tourism is a threat to the national parks. But the chief victims of the system are the motorized tourists. They are being robbed and robbing themselves. So long as they are unwilling to crawl out of their cars, they will not discover the treasures of the national parks and will never escape the stress and turmoil of the urban-suburban complexes which they had hoped, presumably, to leave behind for a while.” -Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Following Edward Abby’s words, I became interested in the way we engage with National Parks today. I became fascinated with these selected points of interaction by experiencing the way these landmarks were being utilized every day. I started watching these fellow tourists, seeing how differently each person engaged with these same spaces, whether through a quick selfie or hours of taking in these marvels. Viewing this human phenomenon of experiencing views, I asked myself what makes a moment? - In creating “Established View”, I look to answer my own intrinsic philosophical questions while seeking ways to bring to light Abby’s concerns with the contemporary perspective of the moment. Observing our fast-passed society, I utilized the multi-picture panorama to capture this communication of movement to give perspective of time as people navigate through multiple frames of film. Through these telling actions, I look to discover how culture influences the parks, and what this holds for the future of their preservation. © William Mark Sommer

“The God of Whistling” - Atlanta, 2016
Studio work from the series "In Borrowed Light"
© Michael James O’Brien