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Two years ago, it was a haunting picture of an Afghan teenager who had had her ears and nose cut off. Last year it was a portrait of a Yemeni mother clutching her son in the style of La Pieta. This year, it's a dramatic burial march of two Palestinian toddlers. These are the 2013 World Press Photo Winners.


The World Press Photo Contest is an annual international competition that attracts photographers from different fields and backgrounds. The contest aims to encourage the highest standards of journalism, and provide a platform for the public to view the best documentary photographs for each year. This year the jury received 103,481 entries from 5,666 photographers of 124 different nationalities in order to find the best of the best.

The 2013 competition featured a few different categories from the previous years, with two winners per category, one for Story Entries (photo essays) and Single Entries. These categories are Contemporary Issues, Observed Portraits, Staged Portraits, Daily Life, Sports Action, General News, Sports Feature, Nature, and Spot News. A World Press Photo of the Year is also awarded to the best image from any category.


The award for 2013 World Press Photo of the Year went to Paul Hansen for his Gaza Image photograph (header image above) showing two young children who died from Israeli air strikes in the Palestinian Territories being prepared for their graves. Hansen also won the 1st prize in the singles section of the Spot News Category.

For Contemporary Issues, Maika Elan won 1st Prize Stories for "The Pink Choice" featuring gay and lesbian couples in the conservative society of Vietnam. Micah Albert won 1st prize singles for 1st Prize Singles for "At The Dandora Dump" showing a trash picker taking a break by reading a discarded book. In the Observed Portraits section, Ebrahim Noroozi took 1st Prize in Stories for "Victims of Forced Love", a story of an Iranian mother and son physically and emotionally scarred by an acid attack. Nemanja Pancic got the 1st Prize in Singles for "Little Survivor", a portrait of a newly orphaned young toddler.

In Staged Portraits, Stephan Vanfleteren earned the 1st Prize Stories for "People of Mercy", a series on Guinean people with different illnesses. Daniel Kaluuya won 1st Prize Singles for his portrait of actor Nadav Kander. In Daily Life, 1st Prize Stories went to Fausto Podavini for "Mirella", a 71-year old devoted wife to a husband stricken with Alzheimer's Disease. 1st Prize Singles was awarded to Daniel Rodrigues for "Football in Guinea-Bissau", a game being played on bare, dusty earth.


Sports Action 1st Prize Stories went to Roman Vondrous for "Cross Country Steeplechase", one of the most demanding races in the Czech Republic. 1st Prize Singles was earned by Wei Seng Chen for "Joy at the End of the Run", showing the final moment of a dangerous bull race. In General News, Alessio Romenzi got 1st Prize Stories for "Syria Under Siege", a photo story on how ordinary citizens are being affected by the current conflict in the country. Rodrigo Abd won 1st Prize Singles for "Aida", another victim in the syrian War.

For Sports Feature, 1st Prize went to Jan Grarup for "I Just Want to Dunk", documenting a group of young Somali women and their passion for basketball despite the dangers of civil unrest. For Nature, Paul Nicklen got the 1st Prize Stories for "Emperor Penguins", the curious group of birds living in the Antarctic. Christian Ziegler earned 1st Place Singles for "Southern Cassowary", a different kind of rare bird feeding of a fruit tree. In Spot News, 1st Prize Stories went to Bernat Armangue for "Gaza", a series looking back at the growing tensions between Israel and Palestine.


The full gallery of images from the 2013 World Press Photo Winners can be found on the World Press Photo website. For previous winners, have a look at the World Press Photo 2012 Winners, as well as Jodi Bieber and the Other Afghan Girl.

This generation of photographers are the most competitive in any category. Whether it's in portraiture or landscape or photojournalism, photographers have to be more creative with the kinds of images they make. Most photographers are lucky to have one of their pictures published in a leading magazine or newspaper, but a few others seem to have the natural talent to get a different shot over and over again. Damon Winter shows he does it with his cinematic photojournalism.


Damon Winter is a commercial photographer specializing in portraits. He has shot for different publications, including the Los Angeles Times,  but is now more well known for his photographs for the New York Times. His celebrity portraits have a more dramatic and captivating style to them, a quality that is also found in his photojournalism.

In 2005, Winter was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his series on sexual abuse victims in remote Eskimo villages. He was also recognized for his work with the National Journalism Award for Photojournalism (PDF link).

Over the last decade, Winter has earned numerous accolades for his work. The photographer won two World Press Photo Awards, one in 2006 for his dramatic black-and-white portrait of Clint Eastwood, the other in 2007 for his landscape photograph of the Brooks Mountain Range in Alaska. In 2009, Winter finally won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature photography for his exceptional coverage of then Senator Barack Obama's first presidential campaign. His photographs on politics showed off an almost cinematic side to the campaign for the White House.

One of the more controversial awards Winter has received was the third place in the 2011 Photographer of the Year Awards for his entry, "A Grunt's Life" covering a platoon of soldiers embedded in Afghanistan. Winter only used an iPhone for his photographs, but the controversy came from his use of the Hipstamatic app which drastically altered the look of the images. Because of this "photo editing", some people won't consider his pictures as photojournalism, only simple photography. This intensified the debate for the definition of photojournalism, but there's no doubt that his pictures were a refreshing view of the ongoing American war in Afghanistan.


Winter's reportage photographs make viewers look twice as they have a movie-like quality to them, as if they were staged just so they were dramatic. Of course, as any good photojournalist will know, it's really a combination of great lighting, timing and positioning, along with conscious preparation beforehand. For Winter, it seems as if all of his documentary photographs happen to luck out on the best lighting, timing and position every time.

His portraits also have a very engaged quality to them, which makes it clear that Winter prepares his set to ensure that his subjects are comfortable before his camera. This is a philosophy he takes wherever he goes in order to get a different angle on things in order to "...look beyond the obvious, in a more subtle way."


This is Damon Winter's website. More cinematic photojournalism over on his New York Times blog. For another take on cinematic photography, have a look at Alex Prager.

Photography and video share almost the same early history, yet the two disciplines rarely go together in one package. Professional photographers stick to their camp, while filmmakers do the same. Even with the advent of video-capable DSLRs, it's hard to find artists who utilize both mediums and produce good results. Alex Prager is an exception with her images which can be accurately described as "Cinematic Photography".

Alex Prager is a photographer and filmmaker who only began her career in the field when she stumbled upon a special photograph when she was a teenager. A nearby museum at that time was staging an exhibit for the works of the great color photographer William Eggleston. The photograph in question was Eggleston's 1972 photograph, "Shoes Under Bed", an inconspicuous image of a couple of worn out dress shoes and sneakers in an older gentleman's room.

For Prager however, that photograph lit a light bulb in her mind, and it was at that moment that she decided to be a photographer. Eggleston's works in general became a source of inspiration for Prager, who uses saturated colors in most of her photographs as a way to heighten the stories in her images. Her other inspiration comes from old silent films and film noir.


Prager then began shooting for magazines in Los Angeles in order to support herself as a serious artist in the field of photography. Each of her photography projects are part of a larger series that all share similar themes. In her 2007 series, "Polyester", all the models play archetypal roles found in mid-20th century films. In the 2008 "Big Valley", the women play younger roles of 1960s and 1970s movies. These roles take on a darker tone in her 2010 "Weekend" and 2012 "Compulsion" which pay homage to last century's suspense films, especially those of Alfred Hitchcock.

The photographer also has an ongoing series called "Film Stills", which, as its name implies, heavily emulates still images from the color movies of the 1950s. This cinematic style along with her use of strong colors are what makes Prager's images unique in the world of photographic arts.


In using rich colors for her photographs, Prager fights for the same recognition William Eggleston did when he started using color photography when every other serious photographer was using black-and-white film. For Prager, the colors aren't just circumstantial, rather they tell a story unto themselves. Her photo shoots are also meticulously done, down to the costumes and wigs that she uses which the photographer feels are essential to telling her stories.

For Prager, her movie-like photographs pay homage to the "perfect costumes and sets" of old films which help sell the movies even though they told violent or imperfect stories. In the same way, Prager's photographs hint at a larger story before and after the moment presented in her images. For her cinematic stills, Prager was awarded the Foam Paul Huf award for 2012, a unanimous decision by this year's jury.


This is Alex Prager's website. Her cinematic photography, specifically her "Film Stills", can be found here. Her past works have been published in different collections, among them Polyester, The Big Valley / Week-end and Compulsion.

With only a few more days before the year ends, and coming off from the first five in the series, here then are the rest of the entries for the top photography posts of 2012.


5) Ansel Adams - A Different Kind Of Landscape
Ansel Adams has become a byword for great landscape photography and black-and-white photography in general. His images have become icons for the natural landscape of North America, while his technique proved to be the cornerstone for beginner photographers looking to get a grasp of the rule of thirds and the zone system. While new photographers have produced refreshing landscape pictures, Adams' name still remains at the top of the list of best landscape photographers of all time.


4) Anne Geddes - Babies, Babies Everywhere!


Anne Geddes has remained popular name on this blog ever since her photography was featured over a year ago, and for the simplest reason: babies. Geddes' photography portrays newborns both in their natural state as innocent and fragile beings, and in a more creative setting as flowers, animals and other cute creatures. It's amazing how such a simple concept can remain so popular, but Geddes manages to remain relevant with new images year after year.


3) Henri Cartier-Bresson - Looking Back


Henri Cartier-Bresson's entry in this blog was nothing more than a short description followed by a few examples of his street photography, but it has garnered a surprising number of views. Cartier-Bresson's works have stood the test of time, displaying a timeless sense of timing, emotion and geometry that can only be captured with patience and passion. Cartier-Bresson's photography prove that he truly is the father of modern photojournalism and the master of street photography.


2) Shirin Aliabadi and the Iranian Girls


Shirin Aliabadi's curious portraits of modern, teenage Iranian women has attracted attention for their surreal quality. Aliabadi wanted to document how today's generation of females raised in Iran have different perceptions of the West, and how they flaunt these beliefs through their outrageous clothing and make-up. Aliabadi's images prove just how powerful photography can be when used to document a world that's rarely seen by others.


1) A Royal Portrait: Queen Elizabeth II by Annie Leibovitz


Annie Leibovitz's magnificent portraits of Queen Elizabeth II have garnered the most number of views by a wide margin. The photographs were taken in 2008, just before Her Majesty's state visit to the United States, but they became even more timely during the Queen's 60th anniversary celebrations of her monarchy earlier this year. The subdued tone of the portraits set against the lavish setting of Buckingham Palace served to create some of the best portraits of any monarch in modern history.


These five top off the most popular photography posts for the year. Three out of the five were portrait series focusing on totally different subjects, with one entry in the landscape category, and another in the street photography category. This just goes to show that photography can be as diverse as they photographer wants it to be. Be sure to also check out the previous entries in The Top Photography Post of 2012 (Part 1).

The year 2012 is about to draw to a close, so it's fitting to look back through the past 12 months and see what viewers have been looking for in photography and the visual arts. While this blog features different photographic styles and mediums, most of the popular posts seem to share a common theme. Here then are the top photography posts of 2012.


10) Howard Schatz and Beverly Ornstein - The Different Body Types of Olympic Athletes

Howard Schatz and Beverly Ornstein collaboration on athletes from different Olympic events is an eye opening presentation on the beauty and marvel that is the human body. One portrait on one athlete from one event can already make for a great image, but the variety presented by the photographers just goes to show amazing human are when it comes to physical adaptations. Truly, photography series was a fitting entry in time for the 2012 London Olympics.


9) Chuck Close - Not So Typical Daguerreotypes


Chuck Close's use of the century-old photography technique called the daguerreotype process proved to be a refreshing introduction into the medium. Following the same pattern as his gigantic paintings, Close's daguerreotypes are close-ups of his artists friends. He also made portraits of a few celebrity faces, but the daguerreotype process he used presented these familiar faces in a new light.


8) Sally Mann - The Beauty of Family


Sally Mann's beautiful black-and-white portraits of her immediate family have been a topic of conversation for photographers and artists ever since she published these photographs. No doubt the controversial nature of photographing her nude children helped bring her to the spotlight, but after all the hubbub and racket, her intimate portraits are worthy of the highest praise.


7) Martin Schoeller - Up Close and Personal


Martin Schoeller's dramatic close-ups have been featured on magazine covers and posters around the world. The photographer has used his unique style to capture everyone from female bodybuilders to tiny twins, but it's his celebrity portraits that have made him famous. Schoeller's use of hard light and shallow depth-of-field highlights every nook and cranny of his celebrity sitters, making them instantly captivating.


6) Platon - The Power of the Portrait


Platon's portraits are also quite dramatic, but in a different way. As with Chuck Close and Martin Schoeller, Platon uses extreme close-ups to present familiar faces in a new way, but his style is more subdued than Schoeller, and more modern than Close. Platon uses the same philosophy as Henri Cartier-Bresson in that he waits for that perfect moment before clicking the shutter. Based on his portraits, he's found that perfect moment every single time.


These five entries make up the tail-end of the top photography posts of 2012. Interestingly enough, most of them feature photographers who specialize in studio portraits, and three out of the five use extreme close-ups for their work, a technique that has proven popular in the last decade, especially for magazine covers and the like. Check back in a few days for the top five entries of the year.

A good portrait should reveal answers about the person, yet leave enough room for more questions. In some cases, the old ways become exciting methods for producing refreshing images and themes. A good example of this is Chuck Close's daguerreotype portrait of Kara Walker.

Chuck Close is one of the most prominent portrait artists of this generation. He is famed for his extremely large canvas paintings of people's faces, using varying grid and pixel methods to create smaller artworks in the larger portrait. Despite having prospagnosia (face blindness) and having suffered a seizure which left his arms and legs weakened, he continues to produce artworks on the same scale. Over the last decade, he has experimented with different forms of photography, with most of his famous photographs done with the daguerreotype process.

This particular portrait is a collaboration between Close and his artist friend Kara Walker, known for her work dealing with race, sexuality and identity. Walker poses in profile and is captured in silhouette, a more common form of portraiture in the 19th century. Close used daguerreotype photography, of the earliest photographic processes over a century old which involves long preparation, exposure and developing times.

The end result of these artists experimenting with old processes is a beautifully haunting profile portrait in the shadows, the outline of Walker's shoulders and head clearly visible, with the bare minimum amount of light showing enough detail on her face. For this 2007 portrait, Close was awarded the 2nd prize in the Portraits category of the World Press Photo.

For more on Chuck Close, check out this previous entry on him and his not so typical daguerreotypes. Time magazine has a good profile on Kara Walker. To find out more about the daguerreotype process, have a look at Louis Daguerre, the father of photography.

The advent of camera phones and affordable DSLRs have made portrait sessions a commonplace occurrence. Hiring a professional photographer is now reserved for more formal occasions such as weddings, and even then it's not unusual to ask a friend to just take pictures with his entry-level DSLR. The quality of the 21st century portrait is rapidly deteriorating. However, a new project in Tokyo is doing away with the traditional paper portrait in favor of miniature sculptures. These are the 3D printing results of Omote 3D.


Omote 3D Shashin Kan is a limited-edition exhibition in the Jingumae, Shibuya district of Tokyo run by the creativity group Party. For two months starting this November and through the use of a 3D scanner and 3D printer, the project will provide subjects the chance to have one of the most unique portraits ever: a 3D figurine of themselves.

Unlike a traditional photo portrait where a sitting may only take a few seconds, Omote 3D requires the subject to stay still for at least 15 minutes. This is because the subject's entire body must be scanned from different angles in order to get an accurate 3-dimensional representation. Different factors must then be taken into account, such as the color of the subject's skin and the texture of his clothes. The color printer will then try to create a copy of the subject as accurately as possible.


There are three sizes to choose from: Small at 10 cm (3.9 in) and 20 g (0.71 oz); Medium at 15 cm (5.9 in) and 50 g (1.76 oz); and Large at 20 cm (7.9 in) and 200 g (7.05 oz). These mini-models aren't cheap though. The smallest sculpture costs ¥ 21,000 (US$ 260) while the largest model comes at ¥ 42,000 (US$ 520). Orders for three or more sculptures are eligible for discounted prices.


Interested parties in Tokyo may avail of this unique portrait sitting up to January 14, 2013. However, the studio only accepts commissions on appointment. A lot of the dates have already been fully booked, so make sure to make a reservation through the Omote 3D website to have a chance at owning a piece of this 21st century portrait.

There's no doubt that photography grounds itself in being able to take factual scenes with objectivity. Most people might argue that editorial photography really began with the advent of Photoshop and its related programs, but almost 100 years ago, one pioneering artist was blurring the lines between photography and art, even advocating for photography as art. This is the ground breaking work of Man Ray. (WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS NUDITY).


Man Ray was born Emmanuel Radnitzky in 1890, but due to the growing anti-semitesm in the Philadelphia neighborhood he grew up in, his parents changed their surname to Ray. His friends called him Manny, which he shortened to Man, which eventually led to his now famous name, Man Ray.

Ray displayed great enthusiasm for the visual arts as a child, learning how to draft in primary school and supplementing his education with frequent visits to local museums. After graduating, he decided to pursue a career as an artist, despite being offered a scholarship in architecture. Ray studied at a couple of art schools before dropping out and teaching himself the rest of the way. Slowly, he worked towards become a professional painter, and he soon started receiving commissions as an artist and illustrator.


As an artist, Ray leaned towards the popular cubist movement of that time, looking for inspiration in prominent painters such as Marcel Duchamp who would later become one of his closest friends and frequent sitters. Ray continued to develop in his paintings, but it was only in 1918 that he started to work on photography seriously. Shortly after, he began associating himself with the Dada movement, producing even more avant-garde paintings and scultptures.

The experimental works he did with his paintings also translated into his photography, with many of his images reflecting classical techniques combined with unorthodox photographic processes. Ray invented the Rayograph, more popularly known as the Photogram, which involved placing objects on light-sensitive paper and exposing it directly to light, creating shadows and silhouettes. Ray also developed the Solarisation Technique which creates light areas in a photograph to appear dark or vice versa (some of the photographs in this post use this technique).


Ray became a highly successful portrait photographer, with many of his artist friends agreeing to sit for hum. Not content with the still medium, Ray later went on into film, involving himself with a series of avante-garde movies in the 1920s. In his later life, the artist continued to work with traditional paint, photography and film, but always seeking to find new ideas, both in terms of subject and execution.

Photography for Ray wasn't so much as medium to simply document what was in front of him. Rather, it was a way for him to to explore his dreams and ideas in a novel manner. Indeed, his most famous photographs aren't those that came straight from the wet plate, but those that were heavily edited or "photoshopped" using the earliest instruments of photographic editing. For Ray, the ultimate goal of photography in his own words, was to "... produce a photograph that would not look like a photograph".


The Man Ray Trust is the official trust site for the late artist. The Man Ray Photo website has extensive collections showing how the photographer made photography as art. Some of the many books on the artist include Man Ray, Photographs by Man Ray: 105 Works, 1920-1934, and Man Ray Photographs.