2013 World Photo Awards: STUNNERS from the pros

The London-based World Photography Organisation on February 5 announced the final shortlists for the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards in Professional, Open and Youth categories. The prestigious annual awards contest, judged in six different categories, saw more than 122,000 entries from 170 countries this year -- the highest number of entries to date. The winners are scheduled to be announced in March and April, 2013.

Bringing together the very best international contemporary photography, the professional shortlist in particular, offers a unique insight into 2012 through the eyes of some of the world's best emerging and established photography talents.

In the first part of a series, we present some of the final shortlists in the Professional category. The photographs are published with permission from the organisers.

This photograph has been shot for project: Honkey Kong -- a 2d platform game tribute.

Shot on location in Hong Kong, the images were shot from skyscrapers toward the ground, using a telephoto lens to make the image as flat as possible to make it look like a platform game. It was shot to advertise for a sneaker brand.

Photographer's Name: Christian Aslund, Sweden, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards.

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A man is arrested by the Rochester police after having assaulted his father with a samurai sword. The area of Rochester, New York, where these pictures have been taken is part of the so called 'Crescent', a moon shaped area that runs across several Rochester neighbourhoods and where crime rates are significantly higher than the rest of the city.

The Crescent is home to 27 percent of the residents and 80 percent of the homicides in Rochester.

Photographer's Name: Paolo Pellegrin, Italy, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards.

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Cinema goers watch a Pashto film at Pamir Cinema in Kabul May 4, 2012.

Once a treasured luxury for the elite, Afghan cinemas are dilapidated and reflect an industry on the brink of collapse from conflict and financial neglect. Kabul's cinemas show Pakistani films in Pashto, American action films and Bollywood to rowdy, largely unemployed crowds in pursuit of any distraction from their drab surroundings.

Photographer's Name: Danish Siddiqui, India, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards.

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Usain Bolt of Jamaica races ahead of Ryan Bailey of the United States, Yohan Blake of Jamaica, Justin Gatlin of the United States and Tyson Gay of the United States to win the Men's 100m final on Day 9 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 5, 2012 in London, England.

Photographer's name: Adam Pretty, Australia, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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The image describes a journey through the winter in Norway. A group of 20-30 men and women with 12 horses and sleighs travel during three days, crossing snowed roads and iced lakes, to reach to reach the opening day of Roros winter fair in Norway.

A Royal decree of 1853 states that from 1854 onwards a yearly market shall be held in Roros, commencing the second last Tuesday in the month of February, lasting until the following Friday. Every year more than 200 people will travel to Roross as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago.

Photographer's name: Agurtxane Concellon, Norway, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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On the edge of Oklahoma's Ozarks, where prairies ascend to rolling hills, an outgrowth of American tradition thunders in the air. Under a summer sun, gun enthusiasts peer down the sights of devastating weapons at the annual Oklahoma Full Auto Shoot and Trade Show (OFASTS), one of America's largest fully automatic machine gun expos.

In this photograph, a young boy is supported as he fires a fully automatic machine gun. Safety regulations at OFASTS are extremely tight with all shooters carefully monitored by exhibitors.

"Husbands and wives, often with children in tow, make a weekend of firing a vast array of fully automatic weapons, riding in tanks, and flying in military helicopters. My journey to the OFASTS was born of a growing fascination with the similarities between global gun cultures," the photographer says.

Photographer's name: Pete Muller, United States, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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Ornamental chicken breeding clubs have emerged in Indonesia, Thailand, North America and even European countries such as the UK and France. Malaysia is however the epicenter of this cultural phenomenon. These chickens are prized for their build, size, behaviour and showmanship by their owners and competitions, or beauty contests as they are often described, are held almost every week in at least one village in Malaysia.

The walk or strut by an ornamental chicken in a beauty contest, much like a runway model, constitutes a large part of the scoring system.

Photographer's name: Ernest Goh, Singapore, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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(Seen from the inside of a taxi) A little girl walks home after school in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Photographer's name: Daniel Duart, Spain, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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Seventy one-years-old Mirella spent 43 years of her life with the only person she loved -- 43 years of sharing difficulties, laughs and beautiful moments. Since few years her days are monotonous cause her husband's illness, anyway she tries to looks forward with devotion, strength and love.

For people affected with dementia, their families and friends are equally affected on personal, emotional, financial and social levels. The lack of awareness is a global problem.

"Mirella is the love story of a woman for her husband, a woman suddenly forced to face on her own the biggest difficulty experienced, made by hopes and unbelief, pain and resignation, sorrow and powerlessness," the photographer says.

Photographer's name: Fausto Podavini, Italy, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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The twins Laura and BelAn on the day of their fifteenth birthday celebration. In Latin America, the celebration of the fifteenth birthday of a teenager is very important because it marks the transition from childhood to maturity.

This photograph is part of a series named Limousine.

The photographer says, "A luxury emblem used to transport politicians and rock stars in the '80s, nowadays the limousine turned into an icon of the Argentinean popular culture. Brides in their white dresses, starlets television, fifteen years old celebrating their birthdays, and future husbands: they all share the same sensation of sitting one night on an electric blue Ford Fairlane from 1972".

Photographer's name: Myriam Meloni, Italy, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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This photograph, shot in Thailand, is part of a series named 'I'm gay'.

"People living under the gray shade of social norms are still struggling to demonstrate their voices, and gays are indubitably one of them. My close friend enjoys the same sex, but that's his secret. Some more gay friends are open, some still hide, some don't want to speak out, but all know their true selves," the photographer says.

Photographer's name: Satirat Damampai, Thailand, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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On November 20, 2012, an armed group called M23 took over the town of Goma in the North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo. This event is just one more step into the chaos cycle DRC has been embedded in since almost twenty years.

Foula Amani, a refugee daughter, is seen at a displaced persons camp in the ruins of Kanyaruchinya, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Photographer's name: Colin Delfosse, Belgium, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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This photograph, shot as part of a series named 'Four More Years: The 2012 Barack Obama Campaign', was taken throughout the last four months of United States President Barack Obama's presidential campaign and were used by the campaign in television advertising, the web, social media, and print literature.

Images include moments backstage with the president and the First Lady, a visit with an irrepressible pizza shop owner, among others.

Photographer's name: Scout Tufankjian, United States, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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Ghoramara island is located on a delta region in West Bengal. Due to the dramatic increase in sea level, resulting from the global warming effects since the 1960s, the shores of this island are being perpetually washed away.

Since the 1980s more than 50 per cent of the territory has vanished due to erosion by the sea. Many of the people still living on the island are farmers and fishermen who depend on the island's resources for their livelihoods.

Commenting on the photograph, the photographer says, "I did not want to follow the general style of photojournalism, because the eroding shore tells the situation where villagers live in".

Photographer's name: Daesung Lee, South Korea, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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On 14 November, 2012, Israeli Defence Forces launched a seven day operation in the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip, dubbed 'Operation Pillar of Defence'.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said that 158 Palestinians were killed during the operation, of which 102 were civilians.

Photographer's name: Oliver Weiken, Germany, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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Taking its point of departure in the idea that every person on Earth is connected in the sixth degree, this series of photos depicts human connections through the city of Copenhagen, Denmark.

The set up is that the photographer portrays random people that he engages with in the streets, and that these chance meetings end up with him taking highly personal photos of these people, who then each send the photographer to another person in their network, who he can portray, who then gives him the name of another person.

Photographer's name: Jens Juul, Denmark, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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The Australian Mens Olympic Waterpolo Team are photographed in an empty Bondi Icebergs pool at Bondi Beach on May 31, 2012, in Sydney, Australia.

The 'Aussie Sharks', as they are known, were finalsing their preperations for the 2012 London Olympic Games when the photographer asked them to pose in a famous ocean pool -- with the twist of it being empty.

Photographer's name: Ryan Pierse, Australia, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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'Lie Down' is a surrealist collection of pictures that create the feeling of being upright on a vertical surface.

"The objects on each image talk to the viewer and tell them about a distort reality from a subjective point of view by playing with installations under natural light and reflections," the photographer says.

Photographer's name: Edurne Aguinaga, Spain, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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This photograph shows a woman veteran of the Second World War in Belarus. They are almost 90 of them. The war started for them in 1941 when they were 16-18. They were born in all parts of the Soviet Union.

"As a result of the fall of Soviet Union they are all Belarussians now. Belarussian propaganda uses them as an example of good patriots and citizens," the photographer says.

Photographer's name: Agnieszka Rayss, Poland, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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Families visit the shrine of Hazrat Ali, or the Blue Mosque, in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan on May 11, 2012. The historical mosque attracts thousands of pilgrims each year.

Photographer's name: Kuni Takahashi, Japan, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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A child waits to unload drums of diesel at a jetty in the Niger Delta where illicitly refined fuel is sold on the black market to local filling stations.

In many riverine communities throughout the delta, the entire local economy revolves around the illicit diesel trade, and young children often work at the unloading docks rather than going to school.

Photographer's name: Samuel James, USA, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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This photograph shot as part of a series named 'Territory' is focused on various aspects and boundaries in the urban landscape. There are boundaries in landscapes which exist between the public and the private space, there are specifics of vision and perception, and an urban landscape serves as evidence of the way in which people populate and move around in territories.

Photos are captured in twilight conditions, when the lighting is visible. "Contemporary architecture is unthinkable without the light. Light plays an important role in highlighting and hiding," the photographer comments.

Photographer's name: Reinis Hofmanis, Latvia, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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The photographer says, "It's about daily life in various places, it was important fort the client and campaign to show a mix of people, different genders, ages, cultures and ethnics".

Photographer's name: Michael Schnabel, Germany, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

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