It's that time of the year again when Sony announces the shortlist of the best photos competing in the biggest photography contest in the world. As always, these include best shots not only by professionals but by amateur photographers as well.
It's the tenth Sony World Photography Awards and this year it managed to outpace the record-breaking last year's event and gathered photographers from 49 countries; with the shortlist being drawn from 227,596 images, entered from 183 countries, including – for the first time – Armenia, Cuba, Iceland, and Saudi Arabia.
The winning photographers will be announced on 20 April, with the overall Photographer of the Year scooping a $25,000 cash prize plus some goodies from Sony.
More info: Sony World Photography Awards
#61 Julien Chatelin, France (Professional, Architecture)

China West. In western China, the pace of economic development has ushered in a new and unprecedented period of transformation, one that has radically redefined the topography of the country whilst displacing significant parts of its population from rural areas to vast, newly-built mega cities. Semi-deserted landscapes carry a profound ambivalence, suggesting at the same time fecundity and sterility, a promise and nothingness. China West is a visual exploration of the impact economic development has had on western China’s landscape, focusing on the dwindling interstice left between nature and urbanisation, a space, which, perhaps more than any other, reveals the true process of change.
Report
78points
#63 Dino Kuznik, Slovenia (Professional, Slovenia)

Arizona Pastels. We - human beings have put this system in place, where stress is present everywhere in our lives. At the workplace, in our social life, ... it's basically omnipresent. Especially in a big and fast city as New York it can be very hard if you don't have a counter balance to battle it and clear your mind of the negativity and anxiety that it brings. My answer to this has always been photography. When it's just me and the wast american unknown. This gives me a meditative feeling of freedom - I like to think it somewhat unshackles me of the system we put in place. No distractions, no stress, no expectations - It is my psychiatrist. It makes me more aware of my surroundings and clears my vision - I see things that are normally overlooked or seen as mundane and I enjoy each and every moment on the road usually not really having a plan on where to go but rather stumbling upon things on the way. The photographs I produce in these circumstances are a reflection of how I feel or a reflection of my state of mind, which is calm, organized, colorful, ... This series is my love letter to that feeling and the the desolate landscape - the desert
Report
78points
#65 Karl Mancini, Italy (Professional, Current Affairs & News)

NI UNA MENOS. In Argentina femicide,the killing of women,it's a new category of crime recorded in the Criminal Code in 2012 and it's punished by life imprisonment.Despite the tightening of legislation,murders of women are increasing in the country.Currently, according to statistics,a woman is killed every thirty hours.In the spring of 2015, there had been a succession of atrocious crimes: women burned alive, hacked to pieces with machetes, even a pregnant woman killed by her boyfriend and buried in the garden of grandparents.In those days it was created by the feminist collective Ni una menos,a protest movement against violence towards women. Since 2015 this collective, with unprecedented success, is mobilizing the masses against gender violence.The problem is common in all the country, more in the northern provinces that are the more traditional.Particularly serious is the in the many Villas of the cities,slums located sometimes very close to the city centers where people live in poor condition,criminality is very high and the youngster are in danger.Here gender violence is also due to the patriarchal composition of the society(the majority of people are immigrants from Paraguay,Peru, Bolivia who are very traditional).Often young girls leave the family Home in which they suffer domestic violence for a love affair with people belonging to gangs who introduce them to the world of the drug or they become victims of the human traffic,kidnapped and forced to prostitution.Only In Buenos Aires there are 1500 brothels ,40000 in the country.Frequently girls between 13 and 16 get pregnant.Often police doesn't take the reports, corruption is very common and women suffer domestic and psychological violence for years.
Report
75points
#66 Zsolt Hlinka, Hungary (Professional, Architecture)

Urban Symmetry. Urban Symmetry presents buildings on the banks of the River Danube, which are emphasized out of their surroundings and put into soundproof, homogeneous space cleaned off the whole exterior information. However, the series cannot be considered as a dry study, because it does not depict the raw reality: if you get a closer view of the photographs, you may discover that none of the pictures show the building in its full form, but only its reflected part. After all, these fictitious buildings coming into existence perfectly grab and condense their original character into themselves, as if you could see human faces and different personalities on the building portraits.
Report
74points
#67 Jayanta Roy, India (Professional, Landscape)

Himalayan Odyssey. A look inside my long,ongoing and probably never ending love story with planet's largest and most diverse mountain range, The Himalayas.
Report
72points
#68 Joe Raedle, United States (Professional, Current Affairs & News)

Louisiana Flooding. A historic flood, caused by a massive rainstorm, hit parts of Louisiana and overwhelmed local communities, causing thirteen deaths and damaging thousands of homes with flood waters.
Report
72points
#70 Mariusz Prusaczyk, Poland (Professional, Natural World)

Surrealistic industrial lake in Poland. Industrial activity in Poland. View from above.
Report
71points
#71 Javier Arcenillas, Spain (Professional, Current Affairs & News)

Latidoamerica. The war is over, but in the Central American country's murder rate keeps growing like its neighbor, Honduras. In one of the most violent places in the world, youth gangs terrorize a population that does not expect much of anything. Failed hardline strategies and political negotiation, gangs have retaken the streets and manage chaos.
Report
70points
#73 Nader Saadallah, Egypt (Professional, Daily Life)

Quarries's men is a portfolio about white limestone quarries craft in Minya, Egypt and how are the workers can make and shape these Stone from the white mountain. There are four phases. The first is the equalization of mountain with a big winches and spikes. The second phase is the shaping, there's a machine which called "El fasalah" which cut and partition the mountain to stone blocks " 13*26 cm" . The third phase is the extracting, there's a machine which called "El hashasha " which extract the final result of the stones as a free blocks that ready to use, The fourth and final one is the filling, after that the workers are filling it into the vehicles to be ready for trading in the market.
Report
69points
#75 Luo Pin Xi, China, (Professional, Sport)

Shaolin Kungfu, also known as Shaolin Wushu, is one of the famous Wushu schools in China. It has a long history and profound influence, is an important part of the traditional martial arts Chinese. The most prominent feature of Shaolin Kung Fu is "Zen Wu one", namely the Zen in Wuhan, practicing meditation, so there are "Zen martial arts".
Report
64points
#77 Gao Peng, China (Professional, Conceptual)

Illusion. I shot common people and natural views, combined together in one scene, forging “funny” or “meaningful” pictures. An artist creates a piece of his or her reflection of the world, which could also be the illusion you hold in your heart.
Report
62points
#78 Tom Jacobi, Germany (Professional, Landscape)

GREY MATTER(S). God's son was wearing grey, the colour of undyed wool, worn by peasants and the poor. Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) never had the intention to paint only with grey, but he gave in: In the course of my work I have eliminated one colour after another and what has remained is grey, grey, grey! In 2014 the English newspaper The Guardian declared grey as the Colour of the Decade The world from dusk to dawn has been fascinating the human being from the very beginning. Since the figure of the biped appeared in prehistoric darkness, it was drawn to the purity and spirituality of that colourless world. Colours simply are reflected light, individually put together in our brain, a place also called Grey Matter. No light, no colours. By photographing our colourful world at times & places, where there is no colour, the illusion of a colourful reality is being unmasked. For two years Tom Jacobi travelled to six continents, searching for archaic landscapes - mystical places that had been shaped over thousands of years by nature, yet they seem timeless, even modern. The landscapes unfold their strength and spirituality in front of the beholder. Through the absence of the Juggler Colour the planet seems to find peace, just like it might have done long time before our existence.GREY MATTER(S) God's son was wearing grey, the colour of undyed wool, worn by peasants and the poor. Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) never had the intention to paint only with grey, but he gave in: In the course of my work I have eliminated one colour after another and what has remained is grey, grey, grey! In 2014 the English newspaper The Guardian declared grey as the Colour of the Decade The world from dusk to dawn has been fascinating the human being from the very beginning. Since the figure of the biped appeared in prehistoric darkness, it was drawn to the purity and spirituality of that colourless world. Colours simply are reflected light, individually put together in our brain, a place also called Grey Matter. No light, no colours. By photographing our colourful world at times & places, where there is no colour, the illusion of a colourful reality is being unmasked. For two years Tom Jacobi travelled to six continents, searching for archaic landscapes - mystical places that had been shaped over thousands of years by nature, yet they seem timeless, even modern. The landscapes unfold their strength and spirituality in front of the beholder. Through the absence of the Juggler Colour the planet seems to find peace, just like it might have done long time before our existence.
Report
62points
#79 Asger Ladefoged, Denmark (Professional, Daily Life)

Alternative teaching. What happens, when 28 schoolchildren meet the controversial Danish therapist Carl-Mar Møller and are encouraged to play freely without rules? A sixth grade class from Øster Farimagsgade, a School in Copenhagen has done it twice. They went from the posh part of central Copenhagen to muddy wildness in Kokkedal, Denmark.
Report
61points








