Five Indian photographers recognized at Sony World Photography Awards

Five photographers from India have been shortlisted for the world’s biggest photography competition-Sony World Photography Awards. The Sony World Photography Awards rewards and recognizes the world’s best contemporary photography from the last year.  The 11th edition saw a record 320,000 submissions by photographers from more than 200 countries.

There are 4 categories: Professional, Open, Youth and Student Focus. In the Professional competition, one Indian photographer has been recognized.  The Open competition, which rewards the best single image across ten categories, features 3 Indian photographers on the shortlist. Also, 14 from across India have been placed top 50 in the world across the ten categories of the Open competition. Lastly, the shortlist of Student Focus competition, for those studying photography features one student from an Indian university.

• Varun Thota, Landscapes, (Hong Kong, China)

Thota is a Product Designer by trade with a passion for photography and exploration. He displayed the beautiful symmetry of the urban landscapes of Guangzhou, London, Macau and Hong Kong as seen from above with his drone.

• Kanishka Mukherji, Enhanced, (Kolkata)

Kanishka displayed a dreamlike quality to his work with a shot of a white horse and a tall building under the moonlight

• Manish Mamtani, Travel, (born in Nagpur, lives in Peabody, USA)

Manish grew up in Nagpur and moved to the U.S. to work as an IT/finance consultant. He presents a stunning aerial shot of Glacial river in Iceland, on his image he says “I always look for a unique point of view and composition in photography. With the help of a drone, I get exactly that. Aerial photography gives me a completely new perspective”.

• Swapnil Deshpande, Wildlife, (Alibag)

Engineer and travel enthusiast Swapnil Deshpande perfectly captured a Blackbuck running from a predator in the jungle of Kanha.

• Anshul Mehrotra from the University of Lucknow

Mehrotra is passionate about documentary and street photography, and on being in the shortlist he says “this achievement is important to me as this will give me an international platform and exposure to present my photography skills, further I also believe that following my success, I may also inspire others who are passionate about the art of photography and willing to push it further”.

The judges of the Sony World Photography Awards also commended the images of 14 photographers in the Awards’ Open competition, honoring them as the top 50 entries in their categories.

• Zeenath Shakir, Architecture, (Chennai)
• Mintu Deka, Architecture, and Wildlife, (Hyderabad)
• Swapnil Deshpande, Architecture, (Alibag)
• Anujit Sarkar, Culture, (Indian nationality, lives in Helsingborg, Sweden)
• Paul Manjooran, Enhanced, (Indian nationality, lives in Muscat, Oman)
• Shreenivasan Manievannan, Enhanced, (Indian nationality, lives in Foster City, USA)
• Riyas Muhammed, Motion, (Indian nationality, lives in Dubai, UAE)
• Arvind Sharma, Portraiture, (Dehradun)
• Zulfikhar Ahmed, Portraiture, (Chennai)
• Ranajit Chatterjee, Street Photography, (India)
• Rajendra Mohan Pandey, Street Photography, (Kolkata)
• Jaydip Bhattacharya, Street Photography, (Kolkata)
• Chandrabhal Singh, Wildlife, (Pune)
• Sarang Naik, Wildlife, (Mumbai)