This year’s World Photography Day Contest brought out some of the very finest photos from photographers all across Flickr with almost 15,000 submissions across all five categories. This year Flickr members had the opportunity to submit a photo to 5 different categories: Animals, People, Nature, Objects & Structures and Virtual Photography.
The prizes up for grabs were:
- A camera strap (valued at 64.95 USD) and capture clip (valued at 74.95) from our partners at Peak Design
- A free 1-Year Flickr Pro subscription (valued at 71.99 USD, plus tax)
- And an 11”x14” Flickr Metal Print (valued at 56.00 USD, plus tax) of your prize-winning photo
Today, we’d like to present the winners of this year’s contest!
Animal Category: Kickin’ up some dust by Graham Gibson
Meet the photographer: Graham Gibson is from California and currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. Graham started his journey with photography in high school on an old Pentax Spotmatic, but now shoots primarily in digital, with some projects still using film.
About the winning photo: Graham says, “I took this photo at a ranch while I was on vacation in Montana. During the “Morning Jingle” as they call it. The horses are rounded up from the pasture and led into the corrals to prepare for the day. Here, a ranch hand is directing the horses through the gate.”
People Category: Dehjiah by Bureau 623
Meet the photographer: LA based, Bureau 623 enjoys using their favorite movies as inspiration for their photo shoots. Much of that inspiration comes from the influences of David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Wong Kar-Wai, Robby Müller, Roger Deakins, Blade Runner, John Carpenter, Gregory Crewdson and Edward Hopper, to name a few.
About the photo: When asked about the story behind this photo, Bureau 623 says, “The model featured here, Dehjiah, contacted me out of the blue and asked if I’d like to take pictures with her. Even though I think all the models I’ve worked with are great, she was the first one I’d worked with that had representation by a model agency. I’m not a professional photographer, so I was a bit surprised to be approached by a professional model wanting me to take their pic.
I had the film, The Driver (Walter Hill), in mind when I was taking this pic. I don’t simply try to replicate the way a movie looks, but just give a hint at its mood and feel. I’m not interested in traditional fashion or editorial stuff, and Dehjiah was up for taking a tour of Little Tokyo’s car parks in Downtown Los Angeles. We actually got kicked out of this one by the security guard after about 10 minutes.
Nature Category: icy e m b e r s by l z e e
Meet the photographer: Izee is a friendly, introvert that loves nature & taking pictures as it allows her abstract mind’s eye to capture what it sees. Izee says, “Flickr has opened up my small realm & changed the way I look at & think about the world!”
About the photo: When asked about the photo, Izee said, “On top of a small hill on a cold, early morning, I spotted a lone Queen Anne’s Lace plant that had gathered ice crystals overnight. I quickly got out my camera and manage to snap a few quick pictures of the sunlit crystals before they all melted away. I knew as soon as I took the photos that it was a special moment captured, I just wasn’t sure if I got a good shot until I got home. I was so happy to see that one of them turned out, the timing of when I left the house to go for a walk, and the path I chose to be on that day, is one of the reasons this photo is so special to me, it was just meant to be!”
Objects & Structure Category: P-opular and I-gnored by Yevhen Kostiuk
Meet the photographer: Yevhen Kostiuk is a Ukrainian photographer from Kharkiv. A significant part of his work is devoted to aerial photography as a way to see the world from different perspectives. Yevhen says, “Each drone takeoff is like a step into a parallel world where familiar objects look completely different.”
About the winning photo: According to Yevhan, “P-opular & I-gnored was taken when the Norwegian Epic cruise liner was docked in the port of Split, Croatia. Initially, I noticed a very interesting location on the upper deck, and shortly after, I observed that the vacationers were choosing only one of the two pools at the location for their relaxation (even though both pools were filled with water :)). Recognizing that the pools were shaped like the letters ‘P’ and ‘I,’ I came up with the idea to play with this fact in my work.”
Virtual Category: wata-yuki by Henri ODABAS
Meet the photographer: Henri ODABAS is a French fine art photographer based in a small burgundy village. At the age of 12 that he received his first camera and one of his neighbors, a professional photographer, introduced him to photographic techniques. In 1996, he trained with Patrick BETAUDIER (1928-2008) at Neo Medici painting workshop in Monflanquin (FR) where he discovered a special technique of painting : creating a radiating light which magnetizes the sight. The images captured through his analog and digital cameras become multi-faceted paintings, combining unexpected and surprising objects, decors, lights, colors, to build representations that open the Spirit to another dimensions of Vision.
About the winning photo: The photo is titled, “Wata-Yuki” which is a Japanese term meaning “Cotton snow on the way to winter”. Through his photograph, Henri explains,“ I wanted to express the essence of the femininity: elegance, lightness, intuition, flexibility, purity… because, women, by their nature, embody these qualities. The staging is very snowy; the first flakes express the emotion that I wanted to create.”
If you enjoyed all of these great shots, we recently curated an Explore takeover highlighting more of our favorite World Photography Day contest submissions. You can check out that Explore takeover here to see some of the other great contest submissions!
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