Black & White Award November 2019
– Theme: Black & White / Competition Judge: Jacob Aue Sobol
Regardless of genres 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.
Join us over on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter where we’ll be sharing all our favorite images from the competition. Congratulations to all the talented photographers who made it to the final!
Finalists
Jury's Feedback
1ST PRIZE: Dimpy Bhalotia / 2ND PRIZE: Javier Arcenillas
“It is a very intuitive process for me to choose my favorite images. It’s the same as when I take pictures. I follow my gut feeling. What touches me? ; What images ask questions more than trying to give answers? – I want to be like a newborn seeing the world for the first time. Open. Honest – When you focus on what you share with the subject, also the viewer will feel invited inside; “yes I remember how it is to feel free and jump after flying birds, I remember how it is to love unconditionally. I remember how it is to feel the soft water caressing my back and the warm sun on my skin. I remember how it is to feel as a part of nature. At the moment I look at these two photographs, I AM the little boy jumping in joy after a 1000 birds, I AM the young woman being caressed by the stream. I am free.” – Jacob Aue Sobol
3RD PRIZE: Mushfiqur Rahman
“Black and white photography as a way of revealing things that can’t be find in color and it ‘is truly quite a departure from reality’; as master photographer Ansel Adams once said. Representing the world through the use of a monochrome palette provides the artist with a level of abstraction that can emphasize on the photographer’s connection with the subject and the message conveyed through the lens. Here, a well-composed, quiet and seemingly peaceful scene at first glance, soon disappear to reveal all the hardship and living conditions of the working class; Clearly, a photograph portraying two miners laying on a pile of charcoal at night was not meant for color.” – The Independent Photographer Editors
- © Jacob Aue Sobol
Judge: Jacob Aue Sobol
Jacob Aue Sobol was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1976. A photographer and member of Magnum Photos, he has published several monographs of his unique, expressive style of black-and-white photography and exhibited his work widely. His images focus on the universality of human emotion and the search for love within oftentimes harsh surroundings.
In the summer of 2005, Jacob traveled to Guatemala to make a documentary about a young Mayan girl’s first journey to the ocean. The series won first prize in the Daily Life category of World Press Photo in 2006.
In 2006 he moved to Tokyo and during the next two years, he created the images for the book “I, Tokyo,” which was awarded the Leica European Publishers Award in 2008.
