These days, everybody armed with a smartphone and Instagram filters can pull off professional looking photographs. But taking truly eye-popping photos is still an artform that takes a special kind of skill and dedication to pull off.
The Sony World Photography Awards is the biggest photography competition in the world. Now in its 10th year, the 2017 competition saw 227,596 images entered by photographers, both amateur and professional, from 183 different countries. Out of those thousands of photos, a panel of distinguished judges shortlisted the top ten images in ten different categories (putting the shortlisted images in the top .04% of all entries).
The work of two Indonesian photographers made the shortlist cut. The first is Fajar Kristianto, who was shortlisted for the “Open Portraits” category. An HR analyst at a mining company in Jakarta who does freelance photography work on the side, he was shortlisted for his portrait “The Billiard Gangster.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BK4jgndAoTY/?taken-by=fajarkris
According to a release from the competition, Fajar said: “It’s an honor to get into the shortlisted participants in the Sony World Photography Awards. Jakarta is a vibrant mixture of concrete jungle and various people. I hope more photographers will participate to introduce Jakarta through their eyes in the future.”
The second Indonesian to make the shortlist is Hendra Permana, who made the top ten in the “Open Street Photography” category.
Hendra, based in Jakarta, has a background in both graphic design and architecture. He was shortlisted for his image, “Lady in Red”. A strikingly bold street shot, elegantly capturing a woman walking through the new “Antapani” flyover tunnel in Bandung.
On March 28, the winners of each category will be announced and then the overall Open Photographer of the Year title will be revealed at an awards ceremony in London on April 20. The winner will take home lots of high-end Sony digital imaging gear as well as a $5,000 cash prize.
The work of all shortlisted photographers will also be shown alongside the awards’ other shortlisted and winning images at the Sony World Photography Awards & Martin Parr – 2017 Exhibition in London from April 21-May 7.
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