Each month, The Independent Photographer Competition hosts a callout for the best images from around the world under a different category. Recently, the contest hosted a special travel-themed contest, with the final images proving to be eye-opening, engaging and thrilling.
Judged by iconic photographer Steve McCurry, the travel competition saw entrants from over 50 different countries around the world. The 1st prize winner was Claire Tan, for a photograph entitled Fishing nets drying in the sun. Taken in Xiapu, Fujian Province, China, the image shows a fisherman working on the mudflats during the day. The second prize was awarded to Germán Rodriguez Laverde for his piece, Thirst for freedom, which shows a boy jumping off a boat in Colombia. “For me, this image is a close second place, it takes me back to times that I’ve photographed on water. The water seems to help create spontaneous moments to be captured. This whimsical instant within an interesting landscape particularly caught my attention,” Steve McCurry said about the image. The third prize was scooped by Hilda Champion for The Maze, taken in Fujian Province, China, depicting a fisherman entering a labyrinth of fishing cages for his day’s work.
“We wanted to see images that communicate the life of a place in all its splendour and trigger our memories. Whatever the subject may have been; Street, Portrait, Landscape, Documentary, we wanted to share your journey, visually and intellectually,” a representative of the competition told Lonely Planet.
The winner received $1000, with second and third place runners up receiving $600 and $400. Winners are also promoted through international exhibitions, with 36 people recently having work shown in Barcelona, while the next exhibition is due to take place in the centre of Berlin. The competition also publishes an annual photobook that includes all of the winners and finalists in the different categories.
More information on future contests is available at the official Independent Photographer Competition website.
