GABRIELLA Cigliano, a teacher from Italy, was on her way back to Italy after spending a month in Waza, Tanzania. While stopping at Zanzibar, she spotted two sisters and took their photo, and submitted it for the iPhone Photography Awards (IPPAWARDS).
Her photo was chosen as the grand prize winner for the Photographer of the Year category in the 12th IPPAWARDS.
"I still wonder how could I capture that exact moment in all its beauty. I was just observing, a few meters from them, but they were probably more curious about me than I was about them, and that’s probably why the girl was looking at me," said Cigliano, who spent a month teaching a class of young Tanzanians.
"We couldn’t talk much, except for a few words in Swahili I had learned in the previous weeks, but those kids could definitely talk with their eyes. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in my life, and I’ll keep it in my memories forever," she said.
Cigliano, who shot the photo using her iPhone X, said the best part was showing them and their mums the photos.
"For some it was the first time they were seeing their faces, and their excitement was unexplainable," she said.
Besides, Cigliano, Diogo Lage of Portugal with his image called Sea Stripes, won the first place. He took the photo of striped beach tents and set a nice tone to this well organised and summery little village. A bather in the distance embodies the spirit in a striped shirt. He took the photo with his iPhone SE.
Meanwhile, for Yuliya Ibraeva from Russia, her entry of an empty open air cinema during a rainy day, in Rome, won her the second place of the competition.
"We decided to escape from the city center to see the ancient trees of the Borghese Gardens and watch an Italian movie, but when we arrived the pouring rain began. We didn’t see the film, but I took wonderful pictures. It was great travel moment I’ll never want to forget," said Ibraeva, who shot the photo using her iPhone 7 Plus.
Come Across was the photo title by Pend Hao of China, who won the third place. He took a photo at the Burning Man festival in Nevada, US during a stand storm.
"I stood on a bridge and saw two people lost in a sand storm, but after a while, something very special came along, a huge silver ball," he said.
This year’s IPPAWARDS winners were selected from thousands of entries submitted by iPhone photographers from over 140 countries around the world.
Cary Hazelgrove, one of this year’s jury members, says, “The 2019 entries were off the charts great. Astounding work that pulls the planet together through photographs.”
The IPPAWARDS is the first and longest running iPhone photography competition. Founded in 2007, it has been celebrating the creativity of iPhone photographers since the iPhone first began to inspire, excite and engage users worldwide.