Head On Photo Festival 2017 photo award winners revealed
8 May 2017
Winners across five photo award categories of the 2017 Head On Photo Festival were recently revealed at an event in Sydney, marking the official opening of the festival. This year, the competition attracted over 5,000 entrants, all vying for a share of $50,000 worth of prizes across Portrait, Landscape, Landscape NSW, Mobile, and Student.
Portrait Prize - First Place – Cesar Dezfuli – Passenger. “Mediterranean Sea, 1 August 2016. Amadou Sumaila (16), from Mali, poses for a portrait after being rescued on the Mediterranean Sea, 20 nautical miles off the Libyan coast by a rescue vessel provided by the NGO Jugend Rettet. The rubber boat in which he travelled carried 118 people on board, who were transferred by the Italian Coast Guard to Lampedusa.”
The most popular category, the Head On Portrait Prize was won by the Spanish photojournalist, Cesar Dezfuli for his portrait of a young West African refugee rescued 20 nautical miles off the Libyan coast. First prize in the Landscape category went to Todd Kennedy for an image of a rock formation at Lake Mungo, a colour image captured with a drone, and it with LED lighting.
Landscape Prize - First Place – Todd Kennedy - Lit from above. “This image of a rock formation at Lake Mungo is actually a colour image and not a B&W conversion. This is the natural colour of the rocks when lit by pure white LEDs from a drone. Some green can be made out on the small bushes to the right.”
Winner in the Mobile division was Demetris Koilalous for his shot of the sea passage between Greece and Turkey that is referred to by migrants and refugees as the ‘death passage’. The image was shot during a tempest that caused a temporary halt in the arrival of dinghies from the Turkish coast. The Student prize was awarded to Sophie Smith whose use of a slow shutter produced an image filled with energy and liveliness.
Portrait Prize - Second Place - Demetris Koilalous - Between Heaven and Hell. “Blind girl playing in a dumpsite near an impromptu refugee campsite in Eidomeni, Greece.”
From mental illness and motherhood, ISIS and nudists, to the nightlife of Kings Cross in the 1970’s and rare and unseen images of David Bowie, Head On Photo Festival returns to Sydney with an array of exhibitions from around the world.
Running from 5 – 28 May 2017, Head On Photo Festival is one of the world’s largest photo festivals. Since it began in 2010, the Festival has evolved from 70 events to 180 throughout its program. This year, over 60 featured exhibitions have been nominated as highlights of the Festival.
The 40 finalistsfor the portrait prize are on display at the Museum of Sydney until 9 July.
Landscape Prize - Second Place - Oded Balilty - Glass Mountains. “Broken glass from bottles are piled up for recycling at the Phoenicia Glass Works Ltd. factory in the southern Israeli town of Yeruham.”Portrait Prize - Third Place - Jouk Oosterhof - Lara Verheijden on The Table. “Prolific Instagrammer Lara Verheijden holds her presence with conviction; she is herself and is neither shaped by society nor exhibits for the sake of showing off. She is so comfortable in her skin it is almost as if she grew up in a cave without the media and opinions to shape her identity. Yet, at the same time, she is empathic and aware, an unusual combination in someone so young. I didn’t choose to photograph Lara because of her harelip, but because of her spirit and rawness as well as her confidence and infectious humour.”Landscape NSW Prize - Speaker Award - Chris Round - Boat Hire, Jindabyne, NSW. “This image was taken at Lake Jindabyne after heavy rains in the spring of 2016. It is part of an ongoing series documenting the landscapes, architecture, recreation and infrastructure of the Snowy Hydro Scheme in New South Wales.”
