The professional finalists and shortlisted shots in the 2022 Sony World Photography Awards offer an incredible glimpse at the current state of contemporary photography. This year’s top picks focus on surreal pandemic images, compelling drone shots, and one curious urban fox.
The photography competition, one of the biggest in the world, encompasses four separate contests: Professional, Youth, Student and Open. The Professional contest spans 10 categories and demands photographers enter a portfolio or body of work.
This year the Professional contest attracted a record-breaking 156,000 entries. Jury Chair Mike Trow says he was surprised at the depth and variety of images submitted considering the ongoing pandemic certainly would have made it difficult for photographers to journey out into the world and explore novel subjects.
“At points we all may have felt that the ongoing Covid crisis meant that the world had shut down but when reviewing these projects it is clear nothing could be further from the truth,” says Trow. “To have the chance to see so much work from across the world is both humbling and energising.”
Weird and surreal perspectives seemed to dominate this year’s Professional shortlist, from Australian photographer Serena Dzenis’ series turning architecture in Iceland into a sci-fi portrait of a future space colony, to Giacomo d'Orlando’s alien-like take on an experimental underwater greenhouse.
Environmental themes also dominated many top picks this year. A particular highlight is Majid Hojjati’s series "The Earth’s Belongings" placing older lush landscape images amidst current desolate frames highlighting the acute impact of global warming.
Take a look through our gallery at more highlights from this year’s impressive Professional shortlist.
Source: World Photo Organization