The CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year competition has just revealed its 2018 winners. The focus of the competition is urban environments, with this year's theme asking photographers to examine cities from a perspective of connectivity. The resulting winners highlight some amazing snaps that often illustrate the growing disconnect between people and their lived environments.
The overall winner of the competition this year was an image from Richard Morgan titled "What are you looking at?". The photograph, taken in Poznan, Poland shows a group of people focused on a tourist attraction, all experiencing the scene through their smartphones except for one bemused old man.
The other main winner, taking out best photograph in the Mobile category was Mel Chennell's image, "Truly Connected?". Capturing a moment at a London train station, this image, much like Morgan's, highlights a group of people immersed in their devices.
One of the more unique features of this photography competition is its 24 hour category, which allows photographers to submit up to 24 individual images across 24 categories, each representing one hour of the day. While the photographs don't necessarily need to be explicitly taken during a specific hour, they are judged on how well they represent each given timeframe.
The winner of the midnight hour, for example, is a gorgeous snap of a bartender in Seoul, her face illumined by a smartphone, while she waits for customers. By contrast, the midday winner shows a man in Morocco quickly checking a phone message.
This was the 11th year of the competition, and it garnered over 80,000 entries spanning 180 different countries. "The body of work we reviewed was exemplary and a wonderful testament to the passion of the human spirit," says Paul Suchman, from CBRE.
Take a look through the gallery to see all the winning photographs from this fascinating and unique photographic competition.
Source: CBRE