Four Indian photographers in 2017 Sony World Photography Awards shortlist

Jayanta Roy from Kolkata was shortlisted in the Landscape category of the Professional competition. His shortlisted series, ‘Himalayan Odyssey’ is a black-and-white series, revealing the beauty and magnificence of Himalayas.

“It’s really a great moment of my life," said Roy, "I feel extremely honored.  Thanks a lot to the respected members of the jury and the Sony World Photography Awards for the selection.”

Mahesh Shantaram from Bangalore was shortlisted in the Portraiture category of the Professional competition, both judged upon strong bodies of work in 5-10 images.  His shortlisted series ‘Racism in India: The African Portraits’ is an intriguing series of portraits investigating the theme of racism.

Swapnil Deshpande from Alibag, Maharashtra, was shortlisted for a single image in the Open competition’s Travel category. His shortlisted image, ‘Autumnal impressions’ catches the beautiful cascades in the Kaldalon Glacier valley in the west fjords of Iceland.

“It is the first time that my work has been recognized at an international level. I have always been impressed by the excellent art and the level of the photographers at the Sony World Photography Awards and I feel very happy about this,” said Deshpande.

Shravya Kag from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh,  was shortlisted for a single image answering the brief ‘Memories’ in the Student Focus competition.

Kag’s shortlisted image ‘Pages of Memories’ is a self-portrait revealing the photographer’s love for reading and exploration. While the background is a small alcove in the Strand bookstore in New York City, the remaining elements were shot separately and composited over the background to create this surreal image.

“I am equally elated, nervous and honored to represent School of Visual Arts at the Sony Student Focus Awards. This recognition is deeply encouraging, as the awarded image is of great personal value and I am thrilled to share it with the international photographic community,”   said Kag who is currently studying at the School of Visual Arts of New York.

Over 227,000 images from 183 countries were submitted to the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards.

The shrotlisted photographers will now compete to win their categories and the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards’ Photographer of the Year title.

The Open category winners will be announced March 28, and the Professional category winners and the Student Focus winner revealed at an awards ceremony in London on April 20. 

Prizes include the latest Sony digital imagery equipment, a trip to the awards ceremony in London and $30,000 US dollars in cash prizes. The Student Focus winner will receive €30,000 (Euros) of Sony equipment for their university.

The work of all the shortlisted photographers will also be shown alongside the awards’ other shortlisted and winning images at the Sony World Photography Awards & Martin Parr – 2017 Exhibition in London from April 21-May 7.

The judges of the Sony World Photography Awards also commended 11 Indian photographers in the awards’ Open competition. The photographers placed among the top 50 in the world are: Avishek Das, commended twice in Culture category; Navin Kumar, Travel category; Nikunj Rathod, Motion category; Prabha Jayesh, Motion category; Raju Ghosh, commended twice in Culture category; Riya Sharma, Wildlife category; Rohit Gandhi, Enhanced category; Sonalini Khetrapal, Wildlife category; Sujit Saha, Culture category; Taniya Sarkar, Travel category; and Vijayasri Chari Srinivasaraghavan, Still Life category.

Produced by the World Photography Organisation, 2017 sees the 10th anniversary of the Sony World Photography Awards and a decade-long partnership with its headline sponsor, Sony.