 |
| The grand prize (left), first place (top right), and second place (bottom right) winners of the 2017 iPhone Photography Awards. Photos courtesy of IPPA, individual credits below. |
When the iPhone Photography Awards were established in 2007, the first iPhone had just been released and its 2MP images were… well, they were nothing to write home about. Fast-forward to 2017, and the winners of this year’s 10th annual IPPAs are stunning, taking full advantage of a decade’s technological advancement.
This year’s winners were selected from ‘thousands’ of entries that poured in from over 140 countries around the world. Let’s take them one by one:
Grand Prize
 |
| This year’s grand prize and title of iPhone Photographer of the year went to Sebastian Tomada for his photograph titled ‘Children of Qayyarah’. Photo © Sebastian Tomada |
The grand prize winner, titled ‘Children of Qayyarah’, was captured by Sebastian Tomada, a photojournalist based in New York City and the Middle East.
As the title suggests, the image was captured in Qayyarah, Iraq. It was shot on November 4th, 2016 after Islamic State militants set fire to oil wells in the city. The image was captured with an iPhone 6s.
1st Place
 |
| First place went to photographer Brendan O Se from Ireland, for her striking photograph titled ‘Dock Worker’. Photo © Brendan O Se |
Photographer Brendan O Se—a university teacher/teacher trainer in Cork, Ireland—was awarded 1st place in the competition for his portrait of hands titled ‘Dock Worker’.
The photograph was taken on an early morning walk around the docks in Jakarta in April of 2016. “These were the hands of a dock worker who was taking a break,” says O Se. “I was struck by the texture created by the accumulated dirt on his hands.”
This photo was also taken with an iPhone 6s.
2nd Place
 |
| Second place was awarded to photographer Yeow-Kwang Yeo of Singapore for his portrait titled ‘The Performer’. Photo © Yeow-Kwang Yeo |
Coming in 2nd behind O Se and Tomada is photographer Yeow-Kwang Yeo, formerly a Mechanical Engineer and Business Administrator who decided to change tracks and devoted himself entirely to photography in 2007.
His photograph, ‘The Performer’, was captured at a performance of traditional Chinese street opera.
“Instead of shooting their performance, I decided to go the back of the stage to capture the performers’ preparation activity,” says Yeo. “I spotted this experience performer who is taking a short rest and was waiting for his turn to perform. I was attracted by the lighting of the old plastic curtain, electric fan, and the overall calm atmosphere.”
The photo was captured with an iPhone 6 Plus.
3rd Place
 |
| Third place in the overall competition was awarded to photographer Kuanglong Zhang of Shenzhen, China for his image ‘The City Palace’. Photo © Kuanglong Zhang |
The 3rd and final award handed out in the IPPA’s main Photographer of the Year category went to Chinese photographer Kuanglong Zhang, a freelance photographer living in Shenzhen city. This photograph was taken in Udaipur, a city Zhang calls ‘one of the most romantic in India.’
“In the City palace, I snapped a moment of one of the staff gazing out of the window,” says Zhang. “[It’s] as if he saw the slowly historic course of the palace’s construction, which was quite an attractive moment.”
The photo was taken with an iPhone 7.
To see more winning images from the other 19 categories the IPPA ran, or if you’d like to learn more about each of the photographers above, visit the IPPA website by clicking here.
All photos used with permission, courtesy of IPPA.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)