Sony World Photography Awards 2021: Winners in the Open Competition (Part Two of Two)

Motion 

Storm Ciara at Newhaven, East Sussex. © Daniel Portch, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Open, Motion, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Aerial view of the Oosterscheldekering storm surge barrier in Zeeland, The Netherlands. © Ruud Peters, Netherlands, Shortlist, Open, Motion, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Balance Me. I shot this image of my cousin trying to balance a pineapple on his head. It was difficult and I had to react quickly as the pineapple kept falling, but in this image, his expression and body movement were perfectly in sync with the roof’s shadow. The image is titled ‘Balance Me’ and colloquially, where I come from, this means ‘explain to me’ or ‘make me understand.’ © Tadiwanashe Murowe, Zimbabwe, Shortlist, Open, Motion, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Parachute. My daughter, playing in a tent we had made out of a parachute. © Serkan Çolak, Turkey, Shortlist, Open, Motion, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Girl Power. A young girl shows off her skills, diving from a cliff on the island of Lokrum in Croatia. © Marijo Maduna, Croatia, Category Winner, Open, Motion, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

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Travel 

View Towards Hallstatt on a Rainy Day. View over Lake Hallstatt towards the city of Hallstatt on a moody, rainy day in summer. Copyright: © Franz Sußbauer, Germany, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Voyage. This is Mount Fuji in winter, as seen from Hakone. I wanted to make an image that appeared almost to be a watercolour painting, which is why I chose to visit on a cloudy day. © Hiroki Nose, Japan, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Autumn Leaves. Mount Fuji in autumn leaves. © Yukihito Ono, Japan, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Braies at First Light. I had always dreamed of photographing Lake Braies in the early-morning light. © Martina Lo Casto, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Drying Fish. A woman dries trays of fish at Long Hai fish market in the Vung Tau province of Vietnam. Thousands of trays of scad are dried on rooftops and in yards by hundreds of workers. I came to Long Hai on a photo trip and was overwhelmed by the scale of the fishing village. © Khanh Phan, Vietnam, Category Winner, Open, Travel, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Hamer Family, Turmi, Omo Valley, Ethiopia. Although by far the most populous ethnic group in the Omo Valley, the Hamer are spread over a very large area, mostly in very small villages, still living pretty much as their ancestors did decades ago. While there are modern influences, for the most part, in their daily lives, they still dress very traditionally and live in cohesion with their environment. © Marios Forsos, Greece, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

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Landscape

Moonrise Over Trinity. On a solo backpacking trip to the Weminuche Wilderness, I had just finished a morning alpenglow photo session and was beginning the 10-mile trek back to my car, when I noticed the moon perfectly lined up over Trinity Peak. I snapped a quick handheld photo. © Parker Yost, United States of America, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Life in the Mangroves. As the tide recedes over the vast mudflats of the iconic Kimberley coast, a single mangrove sits in the glistening water between the red sand and the grey mud. The result is a colour palette that resembles a painter’s canvas, and the dramatic contrast is synonymous with the region of North West Australia. Each day reveals a new vista, which an aerial perspective showcases perfectly. © Scott Portelli, Australia, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Alone. I know I'm not alone. On the way to seek the best view at Mount Gongga. © Jinjing Lyu, China, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Wental. This photograph was taken in the Wental rock valley in southern Germany, after a heavy thunderstorm. © Markus Wiedmann, Germany, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Comet NEOWISE over Stonehenge. Comet NEOWISE passes over Stonehenge in the United Kingdom. It's fascinating to think that this historic site did not even exist when NEOWISE last passed the Earth. The comet is due to return in approximately 6,800 years. I wonder if the stones will still be standing then. This is a single-exposure photograph taken early on the morning of July 20. The orange glow is light pollution from the nearby villages of Durrington and Larkhill, and a passing lorry very kindly painted the rocks with light. © James Rushforth, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Desert and Lonely Tree. In Iran’s Bafgh Desert, a shrub manages to survive in the most extreme conditions. © Mehdi Parsaeian, Iran, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Morild. A magical night. © Hans Kristian Strand, Norway, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Sunrise Flow. In Iceland’s Highlands, there is an uninhabitable volcanic desert of black ash; it is a mostly lifeless but extraordinary landscape. My image shows a river flowing across the plain at sunrise. As Herman Hesse wrote in Siddhartha: ‘Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.' © Lorenzo Poli, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Electric Storm on Lavender. Electric storm above a solitary tree in the lavender fields of Brihuega, Guadalajara, Spain. © Juan López Ruiz, Spain, Category Winner, Open, Landscape, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

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Wildlife

Hello World. I photographed this ant looking through an autumn leaf in a forest near my home. © Alex Pansier, Netherlands, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Young Long-eared Owl. A young long-eared owl cries out to his mother. © Mati Puum, Estonia, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Leopard Foals. I photographed these leopard fillies when I visited a leopard horse breeder who lives outside Copenhagen. She has 24 of these horses and I was in heaven. It’s a very old breed that can even be seen in cave paintings in France. © Inger Rønnenfelt, Denmark, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

A Bird in the Woods. This work was shot in the woods by the roadside in Tai Po, Hong Kong. In the dark forest, white egrets shine like hope. © Au Hin Man, Hong Kong, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Swan Horse. Image of an Andalusian horse. © Tatyana Nemova, Russian Federation, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Ezo Red Fox. Taken in Biei, Hokkaido, Japan, I focused on the point at which the fox was likely to appear in the dusk. © Yuta Doto, Japan, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Blue in Black. A blue shark in black and white, photographed on Spain’s Cantabrian Coast. © Arturo de Frias, Spain, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Ecstatic Display. A male king penguin making his mating call, with his head turned to the sky. Known as braying or ecstatic display, the call is either to seek a mate, or to catch the attention of the penguin’s established mate. At the edge of a king penguin colony in the Falkland Islands, this male had not yet found a mate by the end of the breeding season. He performed his display frequently, and the orange on his chest and the black on his head looked very beautiful in the cloudy sky. © Koki Shinoda, Japan, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Vibrant Swimmer. I wanted my image to portray the vibrant swimming movement of the moon jellyfish. © Andrew Suryono, Indonesia, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Drooling Over Me. With everything from big cats and live action to migratory herds, the Mara is full of moments to be captured. However, it can be easy to forget the tranquillity of the savannah plains and the calmer species. While spending time with a tower of giraffes, I noticed one staring in my direction with something dangling from her mouth. Upon closer inspection in post-production, I realised she was drooling – possibly over me. © Amish Chhagan, Zambia, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Canard Mandarin sur les Bords du Léman. I discovered this mandarin duck in the calm water of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Day after day, I would wait on a small bridge for the moment when this colourful bird would be right under me. After a few days, this magnificent spectacle happened. © Alexandre Pietra, Switzerland, Shortlist, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards

Little kiss? © Cristo Pihlamäe, Estonia, Category Winner, Open, Natural World & Wildlife, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards DM/ ML

Watch Part One of the series below:

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-04-20-sony-world-photography-awards-2021-winners-in-the-open-competition-part-one-of-two/