APPLE has announced the winners of the 2021 iPhone Photography Awards (IPPAWARDS).
The 14th Annual Awards recognise photographs taken over a remarkable year of grief and loneliness, but despite a global pandemic, the winning images all glimpse moments of beauty, hope and the endurance of the human spirit.
Out of submissions from thousands of photographers from all over the world, the Grand Prize Winner and Photographer of the Year Award goes to photojournalist Istvan Kerekes of Hungary for his image, Transylvanian Shepherds. In it, two rugged shepherds traverse an equally rugged industrial landscape, bearing a pair of lambs in their arms. The grit of the men and the bleakness of their environment are a moving contrast to the hope and innocence of the lambs in their care.
Meanwhile, first place Photographer of the Year Award goes to Sharan Shetty of India for his image, Bonding, where a man and his horse commune in an empty landscape, offering each other comfort and soft words.
The second place prize goes to Dan Liu of China and his untitled image of an astronaut traversing a desolate Martian-esque landscape, sparking questions about our relationship to worlds beyond our own.
And the third glace Photographer of the Year Award goes to Jeff Rayner of the US for his photo, Side-Walking on Air, a portrait of a young girl aloft and weightless in a pool of light on her Los Angeles sidewalk.
Top-three winners in an additional 17 categories were awarded to photographers from almost every corner of the world, including Australia, Germany, Bangladesh, China, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Israel, the Netherlands, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US.