IAN PETTIGREW | 1st PLACE

ianpettigrew.com

I’m an Art Director who happens to take photos. Over 25 years in advertising as an AD makes the difference in my work. Anyone can learn the technical aspects as a photographer, but having a great eye is what really matters. I was lucky to work with many great photographers, and was mentored by some great creative minds in the Canadian advertising industry – it taught me how to work with people, how to connect  with my subjects, and most importantly how to see things with a designer’s eye.

ELINA IMMONEN | 2nd PLACE

elinaimmonenphotography.com

A native of Finland now based in Sweden, Elina Immonen is a photographer and a biologist. In her photographic work she explores the mystique and complexities of nature connectedness, drawing inspiration from places and quiet encounters with wild life close to home. Roots and presence in selfgenerated closed environments is another recurrent theme in her work. She has been exhibiting her work nationally and internationally since 2019. Elina holds a PhD from the University of St Andrews, UK.

SVETLIN YOSIFOV | 3rd PLACE

1x.com/picsvet

Svetlin Yosifov  travel photographer from Bulgaria. I was born in Bulgaria, and I had the privilege of living in this beautiful country all my life. My employment is in a private sports club, focused on extreme sports, which involves a lot of travelling and keeps my life dynamic and interesting. Apart from this, I love travelling abroad and do this once a year for a period of two months. I always associate these trips with diving in the unknown, meeting new people and experiencing something new. My adventurous spirit is my main drive, the inner flame, that keeps me going!

Not a professional freelance photographer.I define myself as a travel-documentary-art photographer. Almost 20 years now photography has been part of my life. My passion is catching street portraits and trying to figure out my object’s character.Portrait photography is the most compelling genre for me. The impact of a single photo, comes from the emotion it reflects.My Point of interest – traditions in primal and natural places like India, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba and more. I  consider good photography to be much more that a snapshot or a memory, it is something that tells a story, strong enough to influence the world we live in and raise more awareness. Throughout the years my interviews and photographs have been published in many magazines and websites.

ALAIN SCHROEDER | HONORABLE MENTION

alainschroeder.myportfolio.com

Belgian photojournalist  Alain Schroeder (b. 1955) has been working in the industry for over four decades. First as a sports photographer in the 80s, then shooting book assignments and editorial pieces in art, culture and human stories.

In 2013, he uprooted his life, trading-in his shares in Reporters, to pursue life on the road with a camera. Schroeder now travels the world shooting stories focusing on social issues, people and their environment. «I am not a single shot photographer. I think in series,» he says adding, «I strive to tell a story in 10-15 pictures, capturing the essence of an instant with a sense of light and framing.»

He has won many international awards including Nikon Japan, Nikon Belgium, TPOTY, Istanbul Photo, Days Japan, Trieste Photo, PX3, IPA, MIFA, BIFA, PDN, the Fence, Dodho, LensCulture, Siena, POYI and World Press Photo.

LIDIA VIVES | HONORABLE MENTION

lidiavives.com

Lídia Vives (Spain, 1991), established in Barcelona, is a photographer and visual artist who has seen her work published in magazines such as Esquire and Vogue Italy and has exhibited in numerous galleries, fairs and museums such as the Louvre in Paris. She has also collaborated with various musical groups, highlighting the Spanish band Love of Lesbian.

She has traveled around the world presenting her work since her first exhibition in 2013 and has received various international awards that have allowed her to expand her work worldwide, such as the gold medals in the Trierenberg Super Circuit, in 2018; the Fine Art Photographer of the Year of the Monochrome Awards, in 2021, and the Professional Photographer of the Year 2021 of the MUSE Photography Awards.

She currently works as an advertising and fashion photographer, as well as an artist, represented by ARTOUI Munich (Germany), selling her works of art to collectors, decorators and architects (among others), also as a retouching teacher at the IDEP school in Barcelona.
Strongly influenced by Italian Renaissance and Baroque artists, in addition to some of her contemporaries, Lídia’s work is characterized by the use of color and the pictorial environment that she uses when dealing with current issues, using, only in her most personal projects, the self-portrait. She is also known for hiding Easter eggs in her photographs, inciting the viewer to see further into her work, thus making her images like a game in which the mission is to discover all the hidden secrets.