SELECTION, EDITION #10
Winners, finalists and mentions of the thenth edition of the Los Angeles Photography Awards are listed below.
PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
WINNER
“Akycha”, series by Julia Maixer.
“Akycha” which signifies the goddess of the sun in Alaska, is a great symbolism for this creative photo shoot. I was inspired to continue my previous photo shoot “Sirena” which is a series of beauty and creative portrait photography pictures, keeping up with the same creative imaginary extracted from my own vision and based on a concept. This time I managed to create another fantasy world inspired by the alaskan sun goddess.
ACTION & SPORTS
WINNER
“The Destruction Project” by Jojin Van Winkle.
Jojin Van Winkle is a visual artist, filmmaker, and writer. Her film, video, photography, and audio research centers around the practice of listening. This listening focuses on resilience, environmental stewardship, and the human condition. She participates in national and international artist residencies and exhibits large-scale installations. As an assistant professor, she directs Carthage College’s Photography and Film and New Media Program (USA).
Van Winkle’s recent video and photographic work was the subject of a solo exhibition, “The Destruction Project” at MMoCA (Madison Museum of Contemporary Art) in Madison, Wisconsin from October 2020-April 2021. In August 2019 Van Winkle participated in a month-long, unplugged residency at the Arteles Creative Center in Haukijärvi, Finland. In 2016-17 Van Winkle was an artist-in-resident at the Madison Children’s Museum, collaborating with Museum staff and over 500 local children on a multi-media permanent installation, Stair Trek: Core to Cosmos, located in one of the seven-story stairwells of the Museum. The installation includes motion-activated animations, soundscapes, and large-scale painting from the children’s drawings. In 2016 she worked with youth in Skopelos, Greece to create a short film for the Skopelos International Film Festival for Youth (SIFFY), part of a filmmakers residency program sponsored by the Skopelos Foundation for the Arts.
“The Destruction Project” is part of my ongoing research, a multi-part, documentary-based, experimental moving and still image project which examines the roles of destruction in the everyday lives of women and families in rural areas. Its main themes are:
• destruction as entertainment (phase 1),
• destruction as rejuvenation (as creative/transformative/resilience processes) (phase 2),
• and destruction as irreversible (as devastation) (phase 3)
Contextually I am interested in the way destruction intersects with play, violence, anger, choice, and change, impacting the everyday existence of women. I hope to discover and uncover additional social implications in this work as I continue to document women and their experiences. This research is part of my ongoing practice of “listening more”, collecting stories related to resilience and the human condition.
FINALIST
“Martine Hughes”, by Frode Ueland.
WHERE WE LIVE
WINNER
“Shipwrecked” series by Steve Haining.
PANDEMIC
WINNER
“Until Seeing Whale’s Eyes” series by Kang Le.
Kang Le, born in Taiwan, with majors in law and philosophy, is a self-taught visual creator. Taking the society in which he lives as the subject, he captures symbolized time and space as well as individuals that serve as microcosms of historical and cultural lineages. His themes touch on the movements and confluence of groups of people, yet without assuming or inferring their situations or tastes. Instead, he translates the consciousness developed by the groups and impressions of their personal lives into photographs.Artist Statement
Will heaven fall upon us? Will the Earth open under us? ? We don’t know. We don’t know, … But… but no need to fear. It’s not over. – “Werckmeister Harmonies”
BLACK AND WHITE ART PHOTOGRAPHY
WINNER
“The Custodian” by Ira Childs.
Ira Childs was born and raised on the west side of Chicago. Ira’s love for film started at the age of 8. Soon after his love for film turned to the pursuit of a dream career. Ira attended Columbia College Chicago were he gained a Bachelor Degree in the fine arts. Ira hopes his story telling through the film medium/photography can inspire others to do the same or make some kind of difference.Artist Statement
Life is about creating moments or being in the moment. My goal is to inspire those that view my photography and to show the beauty in everything and everyone. My subject matter ranges from the CEO all the way down to the intern. Everyone is just as important making the machine work. So why not promote and highlight everyone. I want my work to say it’s okay to be a custodian or stay at home mom or dad. There’s beauty in that and it is not showcased enough. Placing these pictures in black and white just adds an extra element of realness to the moment I am creating.
FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY
WINNER
“Past. Present. Future. NOW.”, series by Carla Pekander.
Carla Pekander is a director and screenwriter who has lived in China for quite long and also traveled in different countries. As her camera has taken her to many far away places, she is passionate about the sea, earth, wind and how there are many roads that can lead to the same place, or take one back in time, it is very interesting to see how some themes are eternal. You never know who might inspire you and it is quite interesting.
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
WINNER
“Fire” series by Frode Ueland.
Frode Ueland (7/11/1976) was born in Stavanger, Norway. Mr. Ueland and his wife Sara have three children. Mr. Ueland grew up in Vigrestad, which is a small town in south-western Norway. He now lives in Bryne.
Mr. Ueland was first trained as a car mechanic and worked as a mechanic until 1998. He then pursued certification as a crane operator working both onshore and offshore for a few years. It was during these years of traveling to job sites across Scandinavia that he initially developed a passion and skill for photography.
Mr. Ueland started working for the Norwegian government’s aviation services company (AVINOR) in 2006. He currently works as a firefighter and crew-chief at Stavanger-Sola airport.
Working rotation shifts allowed him the opportunity to start his own company as a photographer which also make it possible for traveling around the world to do photography
Mr. Ueland joined the local photo club and was inspired and encouraged to enter photo competitions as well as exhibits where he received constructive feedback on his work. In 2014 he began entering photos in international competitions. His success further fueled his passion for photography.
By all time as a photographer Mr. Ueland have been using cameras from Sony and is now using the Sony-a7-iii with Sigma lenses
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY
WINNER
“RIO by unique sights”, series by Rafael Duarte.
Award-winning documentary director, journalist and photographer, Rafael Duarte holds a Masters in “Cinema and Audio Visual” by the Université Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. He directed the documentaries “RIO by unique sights” (2021), “Beyond Dreams” (2019), “The Sea Mountain” (2018), “SOS UERJ” (2018), “Sons of Sound” (2018), “Transcarioca Trail” (2017) and “Whiteout” (2015). He directed and produced a series of short docs for Piauí Magazine under the supervision of prestigious directors João Moreira Salles and Renato Terra and also the first O Globo’s webseries. He is the founder of the expedition team “Miramundos” and collaborator of international media outlets such as National Geographic Magazine, Mongabay, O Globo, VICE Extremos and Go Outside Magazine. As a photographer, he is the author of four books and had his work exhibited in galleries in Brazil, France, Spain and England – where he was selected by the Sony World Photo Awards to take part in World Photo London 2012 at Somerset House. In 2009 he was elected one of the best photographers of the Way of Saint James in Spain.
WILDLIFE, NATURE & LANDSCAPE
WINNER
“Sight Seaing”, by Prach Nirattisai.
ABSTRACT
WINNER
“Cities In Dust” by Jaeik Kim.
I’m working on a variety of visual arts projects based on a specific site/place/environments. That is, it’s based on something that can provide people with special experiences and share short moments of memories together.
History and private memories that originate from certain environments are mixed together in everyday life and would illuminate our lives. In particular, I’m working on various public art projects based on this concept, and the local villagers are working together on the project base, breathing with them, and sometimes we’re all working on installations that can represent individuals. As an extension of this, I’m working together media works (media art installation and video art). This is my major and I’v been doing a lot of video art works until now.
Los Angeles Photography Awards 