The Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition
This photograph shows a salt desert in the south of Bolivia.
The desert was flooded due to a heavy rain storm which happened a few days earlier
- storms like this occur only every few years so it was a rare spectacle.
In his twenties, Iranian photographer Hadi Asgari specialises in portraits,
particularly of strangers, like this little boy, he encounters around Iran.
The judges were impressed by Piotr Stasiuk's picture of an eldery Polish couple
pictured beside a decades-old portrait taken near the start of their courtship.
It won the Open Competition's Smile category,
which invited submissions from anyone with an interest in photography.
Jochen Resch's starting images was shortlisted in the awards' Enhanced category.
Overall, this year's competition received 112,000 entries from 171 countries.
American Johnny Joo's shot 'Explosion'
A folk painter seems to blend with her artwork on display in the background
as she paints at a handicraft fair in Kolkata.
Another entry in the Split Second category,
Cemhan Biricik's well-timed snap manages to turn a girl falling onto her bed into a young superhero caught mid-flight.
Mitch Dobrowner was announced as L’Iris D’Or – the overall winner or
‘Sony World Photographer of the Year’. His series of images is called Storms.
WM Hunt, Chairman of the 2012 Honorary Judging Committee and MC of the 2012 Awards ceremony, said,
‘There is enormous pleasure in the jury's selection of Mitch Dobrowner
because he is the best of what is classic and what is contemporary in photography.
He brings a sense of its history and enormous skill in his craft while pushing his imagination and, even, physical strength.
The work offers a visceral rush while being wonderfully well made. I think he is an exceptional choice.’
Some of the most beautiful women in the world come from Siberia,
and international model scouts scour the lengths of the trans-Siberian railway every year
searching for the next new face and multi-million dollar brand.
Taylor-Lind photographed the girls as they sought success,
each knowing that the Russian look - oversized Bambi eyes,
small rose-bud lips and chinadoll-like high cheek bones - is in fashion right now.
Strict international parameters are adhered to for age, weight, height and bust,
waist and hip measurements; the pressure to conform is intense
This picture is one of a series of images capturing sea farming activities in and around Xiapu
- the mudflats sea farming villages located at the North East of Fujian province, China.
It has a long coastline of 404km, with a large portion of the seashore protected by mountain and rock,
making it perfect for the fishermen who make their livelihood there.
This picture is one of a number taken by Michael Blann as part of an advertising campaign for PwC.
The images depict the movement of people through large urban spaces and
considers their relationship with the surrounding environment,
but the unusual perspective means no figure is more or less significant than any other.
Chaoliang Shen photographed members of Taiwan's mobile performing troupes as part of the STAGE series.
Endemic to the country, these artists, dancers, singers and cabaret performers travel
from place to place to provide entertainment at weddings, funerals and other festivities.
This photo was taken during the Yee Peng festival in Thailand,
most commonly associated with Chiang Mai.
During the festival, which is a celebration of light,
thousands of floating lanterns are released into the air, setting the skies ablaze.
The competition's Travel category was one of the most popular with aspiring photographers.
This shot by Carlos Macedonio shows a beach in Aracaju in southeastern Brazil.
Tobias Brauning is the overall Open Photographer of the Year, his image is from the Split Second category.
He said “This is a collision of multiple coloured waterdrops.
The first drop falls into the water, then the green splash comes up, colliding with a yellow drop.
Some milliseconds later, the red drop arrives and also collides.
Finally, a blue drop is arriving, captured short before touching the splash”.
Sergey Kolyaskin's photo Last Hero won the overall prize in the Youth Competition category.
New for the 2012 Awards, the Youth Competition was open to anyone aged 20 and under.
Sergey is 20 years old and from the city of Zlatoust, in the Ural Mountains.
He started taking photographs at the age of 13, and now works as a military photographer.
Frescura captured this scene near his home in Italy,
where a bird had built her nest within an old wooden barrel.
Photographer Rona Chang photographed her home borough of Queens in New York
as part of a series called Movign Forward, Stand Still.
Incorporating images captured in the neighbourhoods of Astoria, Corona, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Flushing,
the photographs capture the cultural diversity crammed into this small pocket of America.
A boy pushes his jubilant younger brother
on a traditional swing in Northern Xingjiang in China.
The photograph is entitled Happy Moment.
