Australian Adam Ferguson is the Photographer of the Year. He won with the series of black and white self-portraits “Migrantes” dedicated to migrants waiting to cross the border between Mexico and the United States. With the collaboration of the subjects, Ferguson set up the scene for each image: after mounting a medium format camera on a tripod, he allowed each subject to take the picture in complete autonomy with a remote drive cable, so that he could personally choose the moment of the shot and document his life with a more active participation.
Empathy, not pity
Ferguson commented on his victory as follows: “This series of shots, made in collaboration with migrants, was intended to be a way to arouse empathy, not pity. By giving up control and giving each migrant decision-making power in the process that aimed to represent him, I tried to overturn the narrative of marginalization to tell a story that was more human, honest and capable of making the observer identify with it. I feel gratitude for those people who are so strong and courageous who have agreed to work with me and this award is also in their name. Winning the title of Photographer of the Year is like giving this story another life, because it allows a new audience to know the important stories that these people wanted to share with me ”.
It goes to him, as well as a US $ 25,000 cash prize and a set of Sony digital photographic equipment.
The names of the first, second and third classified in the ten Professional categories and the winners of the Open, Student and Youth competitions were also announced. At Somerset House in London, from 13 April to 2 May 2022, an exhibition of over 300 prints and hundreds of other digital images by all the winning and finalist photographers will be held. The works of Edward Burtynsky, the celebrated Canadian photographer who was awarded this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography award, will also be exhibited.
Award-winning category
Domagoj Burilović (Croatia) triumphed in the Architecture category; 2nd place Javier Arcenillas (Spain); 3rd place Yun Chi Chen (Taiwan). For Creative Photography Alnis Stakle (Latvia); 2nd place Raphael Neal (United Kingdom); 3rd place Sarah Grethe (Germany). For Documentaries, Jan Grarup (Denmark) won; 2nd place Fabian Ritter (Germany); 3rd place Win McNamee (United States). In the Environment section, Shunta Kimura (Japan) won; 2nd place Gideon Mendel (South Africa); 3rd place Giacomo d’Orlando (Italy). For the best Landscape won the Italian Lorenzo Poli (Italy); 2nd place Andrius Repšys (Lithuania); 3rd place Gareth Iwan Jones (United Kingdom). In the Portfolio section, Hugh Fox (UK) triumphed; 2nd place Julian Anderson (UK) 3rd place Anna Neubauer (Austria). The portrait section was won by Adam Ferguson (Australia); 2nd place George Tatakis (Greece) 3rd place Brent Stirton (South Africa). For the Sport section on the podium Ricardo Teles (Brazil); 2nd place Adam Petty (Australia); 3rd place Roman Vondrouš (Czech Republic). In the Still Life section early Haruna Ogata (Japan) and Jean-Etienne Portail (France); 2nd place Cletus Nelson Nwadike (Sweden) 3rd place Alessandro Gandolfi (Italy). Milan Radisics (Hungary) wins in the Wild life and nature competition; 2nd place Federico Borella (Italy); 3rd place Oana Baković (Romania). Ezra Bohm (Netherlands) is Student Photographer of the Year 2022. Bohm was awarded for The Identity of Holland, the series of images inspired by the Connections theme, in which students were asked to submit a story that told how which they, or some other subject, interact with the world. Bohm then photographed the inhabitants of a tightly knit Dutch community, which still preserves traditional customs and habits, highlighting their highly elaborate traditional costumes and strong ties to Dutch cultural heritage. This year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography award went to well-known Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. Universally considered one of the most authoritative contemporary professionals in the world, Burtynsky is best known for his sensational images dedicated to industrial landscapes and, more generally, to the global environmental crisis. Impressive depictions of the endless man-made landscapes lay bare the frightening extent of infrastructure and destruction. Views of scarred mountain ranges, drained water basins, and urban sprawl are distilled into pictorial abstractions of shapes and colors.