Belgian photographer Nick Hannes has won the 2018 ZEISS Photography Award for his remarkable series entitled Garden of Delight, which examines the intersection of leisure and consumerism in Dubai. The award, in its third year, is an ambitious competition that challenges photographers to deliver a series of images that tell a story surrounding a given theme.
The theme of this year's competition was "Seeing Beyond – Untold Stories." It tasked artists to come up with between five and 10 images that encompass the idea of an untold story in a broad sense.
Hannes' winning series investigated the life of locals in Dubai, creating a set of images that present this massive and unconventional city from a perspective that is rarely seen. Chris Hudson, one of the members of the jury, suggested the series was notable because, "amongst the shortlist of hard-hitting and gritty reportage, it was great to see a more light-hearted, somewhat tongue-in-cheek take on an untold story."
![Nick Hannes winning series, Garden of Delight, was captured over five trips to Dubai across 2016 and 2017. The project tells the story of how the unique world of Dubai is creating a society that jarringly blends an exorbitant Western lifestyle with traditional Islamic values](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/1f010f2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1620x1080+0+0/resize/1440x960!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2Fzeiss-awards-1.jpg)
Nine series, selected from almost 90,000 entries spanning 140 countries, were shortlisted by the judges. Other compelling stories highlighted by the shortlisted winners include Stefano Morelli's striking look at an isolated nuclear power plant in Armenia, Snezhana von Buedingen's surreal portraits of ice swimmers in Russia, and Stephanie Gengotti's strangely sublime study of French circus performers.
![Stefano Morelli’s shortlisted series called Suspension documents life in the small Armenian town of Metsamor, home to 10,000 people, many of whom work every day in an antiquated nuclear power plant once referred to by National Geographic as the world’s most dangerous nuclear plant](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/852217a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1619x1080+0+0/resize/1439x960!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2Fzeiss-awards-18.jpg)
![Nick Hannes winning series, Garden of Delight, was captured over five trips to Dubai across 2016 and 2017. The project tells the story of how the unique world of Dubai is creating a society that jarringly blends an exorbitant Western lifestyle with traditional Islamic values](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/861fc02/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1618x1080+0+0/resize/1438x960!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2Fzeiss-awards-5.jpg)
Take a trip through the gallery to see the winning photo series and the shortlisted works.
Source: ZEISS Photography Award