Professional shortlist and finalists

Today the World Photography Organisation reveals the finalists and shortlisted series for the 2023 Professional competition. Photographers are challenged to submit a photo project of five to 10 images interpreting one of the ten categories.

The photo series can be the start of an exhibition, book, or editorial feature. It’s the ideal format to explore an idea, a narrative approach or a technique’s creative potential. Rooted in a photographer’s development, the photo series is at the heart of the Sony World Photography Awards. Whether it’s a long-term project, an assignment piece or a personal body of work, all types of series are celebrated in the Professional competition. 

With more than 80 series making it to this stage of the competition, we select some of our favourite projects that stood out for narrative excellence, technical skill and creative exploration. Andres Gallardo Albajar’s graphic presentation of the Spanish apartment complex Muralla Roja is one of our top picks in the Architecture & Design category. Shot at different times of the day and year, the images reinforce the graphic and abstract excellence of the building. From a postmodern masterpiece to abandoned livestock shelters, Servaas Van Belle’s Stal – Vernacular Animal Sheds was also a standout series for its muted colour palette and quiet beauty.      

 

The Creative category is particularly strong this year, with Edoardo Delille & Giulia Piermartiri's imaginative depiction of climate change in Mozambique acting as a sobering reminder of countries most impacted by the environmental crisis and Noemi Comi’s fresh interpretation of traditional Italian folklore in Lupus Hominarius. An Andean religious pilgrimage, the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021 and the activities of a Somalian fish market are just three topics explored in the Documentary Projects category; while stories connected to marble quarries in India, The Colorado River and the negative impact the rise in avocado trade is having on the local landscape and community are explore in the Environment category.   

Environmental stories also appear in the Landscape category, with Francesco Merlini’s series Cloth documenting the attempts made to save the Presena glacier on the Tonale Pass by covering the glacial mass with geotextile sheets. The devastating effects of mass flooding in South Sudan are shown in Fabio Bucciarelli’s series Loss and Damage, while Foodscapes by George Steinmetz highlights how the world is using technology to meet the rapidly expanding challenge of the global food supply. 

The series successful in the Portraiture category are hugely varied this year. Take Jerome Delay’s upbeat pictures of colourful hair salon storefronts in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, in contrast to Edgar Martins’ tribute to friend and photojournalist, Anton Hammerl. Poetic forest scenes shot on an analogue camera, creative portraits championing the LGBTQ+ community and beautifully composed street scenes can be found in the Portfolio category, while images of circuit boards, prison meals and B-29 debris turned into eye-catching sculpture are found in the Still Life category. In Sport Josef Hlavka tells us the story of a young fighter from a Muay Thai camp in Thailand through a series of striking black & white photographs and Nicola Zolin shares her photo essay depicting Brazil mourning of the death of professional footballer Edson Arantes do Nascimento (otherwise known as Pelé).

Spectacular series in the Wildlife & Nature category encapsulate the beauty of our natural world, as clearly shown in Martin Broen’s Mobula Ray Fever. Shooting from above and below the sea’s surface, he captures the energy of the annual mobula ray migration in Baja California. Another series we want to look at again and again is Corey Arnold’s Cities Gone Wild, which shows us how three species of wild animals – black bears, coyotes and raccoons – are adapting to increased urbanisation in America. 

The 10 category winners, chosen from the finalist series, will be announced on 13 April at a black-tie ceremony in London. The category winners are then in the running for the Photographer of the Year title, a coveted prize awarding the recipient $25,000, a range of impressive camera kit plus a solo show at the following year’s Sony World Photography Awards exhibition in London.  

VIEW GALLERIES

© Andres Gallardo Albajar, Spain, Finalist, Professional competition, Architecture & Design, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Lee-Ann Olwage, South Africa, Finalist, Professional competition, Creative, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Noemi Comi, Italy, Finalist, Professional competition, Creative, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Marisol Mendez & Federico Kaplan, Bolivia, Argentina, Finalist, Professional competition, Environment, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Hugh Kinsella Cunningham, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional competition, Documentary Projects, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Dillon Marsh, South Africa, Shortlist, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© James Deavin, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional competition, Portfolio, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Johanna Marcela Garavito Morales, Colombia, Shortlist, Professional competition, Architecture & Design, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Jerome Delay, France, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle, Belgium, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portfolio, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Edgar Martins, Portugal, Finalist, Professional competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Taiye Omokore, Nigeria, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portfolio, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Colin Delfosse, Belgium, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Ebrahim Noroozi, Iran, Islamic Republic Of, Finalist, Professional competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2023
© Angela Ponce, Peru, Shortlist, Professional competition, Environment, Sony World Photography Awards 2023