Winners and finalists of AAP Magazine's #19 SHAPES competition For their 19th competition, All About Photo (AAP) Magazine asked entrants to submit images that reveal the elements that abstract light, texture, shape and shadow.
25 winners from 13 countries were selected. The 3 winners split a cash prize of $1,000. All winning images, with links to their respective series, can be viewed on AAP's site. They'll also be published in the magazine's print edition.
Overall Winner: 'Sand Dunes (Series)' by Hsin Ya Lin (Taiwan)
About the Series: This group of photograph is about the silhouette of human body that mislead people's eyes to see landscape photographs. The curvy lines and shadows of human body made the view of sand dunes in the time that sun just raised.
Second Place Winner: 'Car Park' by Klaus Lenzen (Germany)
About the Series: The picture was taken on a parking lot in Moenchengladbach in the western part of Germany.
Third Place Winner: 'A Close Distant' by Martine Lemarchand (France)
About the Series: The images were made in my kitchen with utensils (stoneware plate, bowl, glass dish. . . ) and food ingredients (coffee, soy sauce, eggs, soda water, blue matcha, oil. . . ). I sometimes use brushes to create movements. The result is a world that is both near and far as I aspire to create abstract worlds, connoting a vision of 'elsewhere'.
Merit Award: 'A Study of Fragility' by Camilla Gorini (Italy)
About the Series: A study of fragility is a photographic project that documents and conceptualizes the aspect of fragility as a human condition. Composition is the key point of these photographs and conceptually focuses on sending a very specific message to the viewer.
The project is a hymn to fragility and wants to bring the viewer to understand how important it is to never exclude this aspect from our human life, indeed, to enhance it and look at it as an added value that is given to those who have the sensitivity to delicately open themselves to the world. The egg becomes a symbol of resilience that she portrays in her photographs so that the viewer learns that from fragility an even greater form of inner perfection and strength can be born.
Merit Award: 'Shaping Blocks' by Marlou Pulles (Netherlands)
About the Series: The abstract composition Marlou created consists of handmade wooden blocks which normally are used as craft pieces for printing on textiles. Hit by the beauty of these so called 'blockprints', which were designed bij Nathalie Cassee, Marlou searched for a unique and balanced composition.
She created a still life, by playing with shapes, lines, depth, light and shadow. The loose elements are positioned in a delicate way and form a cohesive whole in which the movement will guide you. The geometric shapes seem to float and thus reinforce the pure composition.
Merit Award: 'Somewhere Between Here and There' by Jacqueline Walters (United States)
About the Series: During my first few visits to China, as I absorbed the world around me, I was struck by the underlying compositional elements of my visual imagery. While I could see a landscape shaped by my eye, I could also see how the structure of my work was influenced by the lines and curves of Chinese characters. It was as if the written language had informed my visual language.
Merit Award: 'Poetry of Silence XVI' by Roland Blum (Liechtenstein)
About the Series: Poetry of silence is an ongoing work of abstract aerial desert photography realized in the namib desert and its surroundings. Poetry of silence XVI was created in the remote area of the northern namib. the pictures were taken with a high resolution camera from about 1500 meters over the ground flying with a helicopter.
The Namib Desert is often referred to as the world's oldest desert. It has been in existence for some 43 million years, remaining unchanged in its present form for the last 2 million years. Its name is derived from the Nama language, implying 'an area where there is nothing. '
Merit Award: 'On the Edge of Perception' by Lauren Murphy (United Kingdom)
About the Series: Lockdown has felt very isolating. Being confined to our homes, normally places we know well, has felt increasingly surreal through over-familiarity. I have explored this concept by taking everyday, mundane objects from around the house and using them to construct something more abstract.
I have specifically focussed on colour and shape to alter our perception of how they would normally be viewed. This body of work is made up of multiple mini-projects. Each one has used household materials to explore themes such as shape, geology, texture and abstraction.
Merit Award: 'Landscapes of Modernity' by Attila Ataner (Canada)
About the Series: This series of phots is, in part, an attempt to translate some of my academic work on environmental philosophy into visual/photographic format, an effort to express my ideas through art rather than scholarship alone. My overall project aims to reflect on the contemporary experience of dwelling in extensively built-up, "artificial" spaces.
Our ancestors lived in spaces pervaded by natural landscapes, by mountains, valleys, by open skies, and the like. They were surrounded by spontaneous, self-generating, self-sustaining (i. e. , so-called natural) entities. Conversely, consequent to modernity, our visual landscapes are now largely colonized by massive, cuboid, monolithic structures; and by constricted, disrupted or otherwise occluded skies.
Above all, we have surrounded ourselves with a seemingly endless array of almost exclusively human-made constructs. This is the central contrast between modernity and the modes of dwelling of our ancestors. . . . And here, in this modern moment, we find astounding beauty mixed with a certain apprehension, oppressiveness and brutality - for instance, as is exemplified by the staggering scale of the seemingly omnipresent and ever-expanding character of the structures that now envelop and enframe our lives. I hope my photos manage to capture this duality in the contemporary urban landscape.
Merit Award: 'Point of view' by Sharon Tribelsky (Israel)
About the Series: The “Point of view” series made of images I took from an unusual point of view mainly with drone, trying to look at all kinds of places and things in a surprising way that is impossible to see in everyday life. pools and waterparks are great places for this kind of images for all the colors and shapes combining together.
Merit Award: 'Phonography' by Matt Gold (United States)
About the Series: The balloon is often seen as a childlike image, one of happiness and life, that can instantly put a smile on anyones face. Yet once again, I was drawn to the form and what would happen if I changed it's natural shape. By cutting this object and layering them on top of each other, I realized how these rubber pieces pleasantly complimented one another.
Each color adding a depth and perspective that hadn't been present before, edges colliding yet working together, cohesively creating a beautiful portrait. My goal was to challenge the viewer, to see outside of the balloon itself, and discover what else it could represent.
Merit Award: 'Murmurations' by Suzanne Engelberg (United States)
About the Series: This series captures the incredible murmuration of thousands of starlings in synchronized flight. The birds form amazing shapes in their collaborative movement, constantly in flux and continually shifting, to create increasingly complex and beautiful configurations. I had the opportunity to observe this breathtaking aerial performance on January 1, 2021, ushering in the New Year with hope and inspiration.
Merit Award: 'Zen Cairns' by Dale Odell (United States)
About the Series: A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: c
They vary in size from small stone markers to entire artificial hills, and in complexity from loose conical rock piles to delicately balanced sculptures and elaborate feats of megalithic engineering. Cairns may be painted or otherwise decorated, whether for increased visibility or for religious reasons.
. dpreview.com2021-8-25 22:40
