The winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2017
The motifs of the winning photos of the Sony World Photography Awards 2017 show sad destinies, but also scenes full of beauty and grace. Here are the winning pictures of the world's biggest photography contest.
The winner in the category 'Sport'
Yuan Peng from China shot this picture of the twin sisters Liu Bingqing and Liu Yujie exercising at parallel bars. They have been training in gymnastics every day since their early childhood.
The winner in the category 'Nature'
Will Burrard-Lucas from Britain portrays nocturnal animals in their natural surroundings, like this hyena in the African savanna.
The winner in the category 'Daily Life'
German photographer Sandra Hoyn's series "The Longings of the Others" features the oldest and one of the biggest brothels of Bangladesh. More than 700 prostitutes live and work in the closed-off compound of Kandapara. Many children are growing up there.
The winner in the category 'Still Life'
The Colombian photographer Henry Agudelo tackles a dark chapter of his country's history, as more than 130,000 people have disappeared over the last 50 years. So far, many corpses could not be identified. Distinguishing marks, such as a tattoo, can be helpful in the procedure.
The winner in the category 'Current Affairs and News'
A Libyan fighter of a special unit takes a break right in the middle of a battle with ISIS. Italian photographer Alessio Romenzi shot this almost surrealist picture in the city of Sirte, in November 2016.
The winner in the category 'Landscape'
Nothing but quietness and vastness: Frederik Buyckx took this picture somewhere in Albania. The Belgian photographer's objective was to show how the scenery changes at the beginning of winter. His picture series "Whiteout" not only won him the first prize in the category "Landscape," he was also selected as the Sony World Photo Awards 2017 Photographer of the Year.
The winner in the category 'Current Topics'
Saudi Arabian photographer Tasneem Alsultan explores private scenes of her home country's Islamic society. This picture features a single mother and her son. Divorce is extremely rare in the country, and divorced women tend to be marginalized.
The winner in the category 'Architecture'
Chinese photographer Dongni's main objective is to portray cities in their purely visual form. In this way, he has succeeded in constructing cities anew.
The winner in the category 'Portrait'
Is there something like a perfect woman? Photographer George Mayer has tried to depict her in his portrait series "Light. Shadows. Perfect woman." The Russian astist loves to play with strong contrasts, light and shadow, which makes his models almost unreal.
The winner in the category 'Conceptional Art'
Sabine Cattaneo has approached a touchy topic - assisted suicide: "As I wanted to avoid false empathy, I tried to visualize the topic without depicting people," the Swiss photographer stated. "My picture shows the car in which two Germans ended their lives in Switzerland in 2007 with the help of an assisted suicide organisation."