Black & White Award June 2023
Regardless of genre, we wanted to celebrate the beauty and wealth of black & white photography. Be it in street, fashion, portrait, landscape, documentary, or any other form of photography: we want to be moved and inspired.
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Finalists
Jury's Feedback
1ST PRIZE: Aníbal Bueno Amorós
“I prefer not to read the description. The image talks for itself. It is open for interpretation. In photography, there is no manual as to what is good or not. There is only our subjective connection to an image and the world. In that moment, I am the man with the reindeer. I am stuck. Around me everything is blurry. I need to find a way. I recognise that feeling. I can identify with this. In that moment we are all the man with the reindeer. That is the strength of this image. It is real. It is not pretentious like many other images in this competition. It is honest. Show us something honest and we feel it right away. It is not about photography – it is about identifying with this man. Seeing and feeling what we have in common instead of pointing at exotic features. That’s why – in that moment – we are there with him. Thank you for letting me feel so close to this man” — Jacob Aue Sobol
2ND PRIZE: Ana Alexandrescu
“The old man and the window. His eyes are closed, the window is broken. Visually it is strong. It is almost too good a picture. Too much about photography, because it feels so perfect. But letting go of myself and the surface of the image, I also feel a strong sensitivity. The picture allows me to travel inside the mind of this man. It feels like a fragile moment and a respectful way of depicting a life that has been lived.” — Jacob Aue Sobol
3RD PRIZE: Zoë Chiara
“Even though the image, especially the posture around the mouth, feels somewhat pretentious, I still feel the person. In other words, I am having mixed feelings about the picture. I feel the skin and the bones. I feel a need to be someone I am not. Or maybe more precisely; I feel a need to belong and a search for identity. And isn’t that how it is to be young? ” – Jacob Aue Sobol
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© Jacob Aue Sobol
Judge: Jacob Aue Sobol
Jacob Aue Sobol is a world-renowned, Danish-born photographer, whose images focus on the universality of human emotion and the search for love within often harsh surroundings. A Magnum Photos member since 2012, over the course of his career he has published several monographs of his unique, expressive style of black-and-white photography, exhibited his work extensively, and won a host of prestigious awards such as the World Press Photo in 2006 and the Leica European Publishers Award in 2008.
