SELECTION, EDITION #17
Winners of the seventeenth edition of the Los Angeles Photography Awards.
OPEN THEME
WINNER
Sophisticated Nights, by Spencer Hawkins.
FASHION
WINNER
2060, by Carla Pekander.
Carla Pekander is a director, screenwriter and photographer from Finland. One of her notable achievements is the short screenplay “Grandma’s Recipe,” which has received widespread acclaim and garnered four prestigious awards. The script was honored with the Special Jury Award for Best Scriptwriter and the Award for Best Short Script at the Mokkho International Film Festival in India. It also secured the Award for Best Short Script at the Vesuvius International Film Fest in Italy and Best Short Script at the Rohip International Film Festival in India.
Collection 2060 by designer Sami Eskelinen
Models Jenny Nieminen & Ksenia Malkova /Paparazzi Model Management
MUAH Tiina Willman
Photographer Carla Pekander
BLACK & WHITE
WINNER
Black & White Captures of Animale within Tanzania by Nicholas Variava.
WILDLIFE, NATURE, LANDSCAPE
WINNER
Portraits of sentient beings by Anton Bondarev.
Series of portraits of some beautiful sentient beings that i took. Some of those portraits feel very personal, like having a contact with different species, eye to eye contact. I am in awe of the diversity of all the creatures that inhabit our planet, and we all have so much in common, i hope we will overcome all the issues and will realize that we all share this beautiful place together. We should appreciate this life, this chance, this planet.
At 15, my father gifted me a camera from overseas and i became obsessed with photography ever since.
It’s like you have an extra vision and a point of view, invisible to others.
Worked in USA in 2011, than came back to finish my specialist degree in psychology.
17 years of photography experience and my subtle perception of life gave me unique vision of things. I can see beauty in everyday’s life, and i want to share my vision with the world. I want to be recognized.
Artist Statement
I want people of Earth to unite. How many more centuries we have left? Centuries of “Divide and Conquer”? Sometimes i am grateful that i was born in this era, when humankind are almost ready to become a spacefaring civilisation, but in the same time we are a complete mess, we act like monkeys with nuclear weapons. Other times i think – naaa, i would rather born later, when we will have a knowledge that Universe is teeming with life, we should respect and love each other. We should help each other. We should dream, and dream big. No more wars. There’s so much more to it, to life. I hope we can get through this turbulent times.
PORTRAIT
WINNER
The Homelessness in LA by Yulin Wang.
I hold a camera to capture the moment, they look at the sky to see the world. I recorded life in the light and shadow, and they walked the streets to feel the scenery. My lens records the passing of time, while their wandering footsteps leave the mark of life…
ANALOG / FILM PHOTOGRAPHY
WINNER
Home, by Arshum Rouhanian.
On a trip to Iran in the summer of 2022, I came across this stand selling authentic Persian rugs in a busy flea market in Tehran. As someone with a father who sells rugs for a living back in the US, I was drawn to this stand immediately. I saw myself in the curiosity of the little girl with her mother, my father in the man holding up a rug, my grandfather standing by with a soft smile and gaze, and even my sister in the women watching the man dust off the rug. In a sense, this photo of strangers feels like a family portrait to me.
Arshum Rouhanian was born and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland after my parents fled Iran in light of the revolution. Arshum grew up in a small one bedroom apartment with 10 of his relatives. He was too young to understand the financial issues his parents were facing, so he decided his life was a big family sleepover. Arshum would sneak around the house at night and see what he could do without waking anyone up. Living in a space like that made him want to pretend – bringing out the creative side of Arshum.
Los Angeles Photography Awards 