The winners of the annual Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year have recently been announced with Indian photographer Debdatta Chakraborty taking out top honours for his image, Kebabiyana, captured in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, of a street food vendor firing up the charcoal to prepare wazwan kebabs.
Launched in 2011, the competition is open to professional and non-professionals and celebrates the very best in food photography and film from around the world. Head to this link to check out all the shortlisted entries.
Overall winner (and Street Food), Debdatta Chakraborty, India. Khayyam Chowk is an alleyway in Srinagar, which is no different from other streets during daytime. But, in the evening, numerous charcoal ovens are lit up by vendors and the aroma and smoke of wazwan kebabs turn this street into a food-lovers' paradise.
"There is so much to reassure us here - the beautifully captured billowing embrace of the smoke, the golden light, the subject’s expression as he prepares the food for sharing. Sparks fly from the skewers, whose roasting we can almost smell, we imagine the warm, delicious aroma. This image, gentle but powerful, nourishes our soul,” says Caroline Kenyon, Director/Founder of the Awards.
Australians were also recognized in this year's competition with Duy Dash winning Second place in the Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year - Produce category with an image of wine fermenting in an open fermenter at Henschke and Sammy Jones and Kristyn Taylor were both Highly Commended in The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action.
Duy Dash, Bubbles.
"Never has the importance of photography and food been so great," says Phil Turnbull, CEO of APAL, owner of Pink Lady, and headline sponsor of the Awards since 2011.
"Huge global events - war, famine, the end of lockdowns, the revival of the hospitality industry, the chance to celebrate with friends and family again - all these are recorded in the Awards, which show so vividly how food touches every aspect of our lives," he said.
Bring Home the Harvest category, Chang Jiangbin, China. Noodles are a favourite food of people in Southern Fujian, China. The noodles are cooled and made with a unique process. Taken in Fuzhi County, Fujian Province, China.
This year’s global judging panel was chaired by food photographer David Loftus, and included Fiona Shields, Head of Photography, Guardian News & Media, Krishna Madhavan Pillai, Chief Editor, Better Photography, Christina Force, Photo Consultant, Speaker & Folio Editor, NA Risong, Art director and curator of Inter Art Center Gallery, Beijing, Nik Sharma, Cookbook author, Photographer, Columnist, Tasneem Alsultan, Investigative and National Geographic Photographer, and Rein Skullerud, Head of Photo Unit, World Food Programme.
Category winners
Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration category, Chen Ying, China. Taken in a small farmhouse in Qianlian Village, Xiangyou County, Putian City, Fujian Province. A family gathers around to make rice or mung bean filled dumplings. They use a wooden seal to stamp the word "fortune" or "happiness" into the red dough, and steam the dumplings in a large steamer. This tradition means that the New Year will be welcomed with reunion and the coming year will be prosperous.Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer category. Isabelle Hattink, Netherlands. The cake was cut and the lady didn't like this shot. She told me, when I asked her if I could publish the picture, that somebody had stepped on her toes.Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year - Overall Winner. Jon Wyand, UK. Winter prunings gathered in the vineyards of Corton Hill in Burgundy.Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year - Places. Marina Spironetti, Italy. Man, architecture and vineyards – a perfect combination. Taken at the Antinori nel Chianti Classico winery, Italy.Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year - Produce. Suzanne Becker Bronk, USA. Dry ice is used to inhibit the start of fermentation at Caldwell Vineyard.Food at the Table category. John Carey, UK. The 'Arts de la Table' table-side theatre is a big part of The Ritz Restaurant experience.Food for the Family category. Weining Lin, China. During the Spring Festival, the Tujia people in western Hunan will make tuansa, a special local delicacy which is made of glutinous rice and tastes light and sweet. Most local people take tuansa as a gift or an offering.Food in the Field category. Paolo Crocetta, Italy. After a heavy snowfall I raised the drone to take some photos of my country covered by the whiteness of the white coat, after a few minutes of flight I noticed the particular shapes that the apple plots created in contrast with the snow on the ground.Food Stylist Award, Carolin Strothe, Italy. Soft pumpkin brioche buns, shaped like small pumpkins. To make the optical illusion perfect, they were photographed between real pumpkins.Food Stylist Award, Carolin Strothe. Spelt semolina pudding topped with blackberry and apple sauce, Japanese wineberries, black currants, caramelized hazelnuts and purple basil.Fujifilm Award for Innovation. Yuliy Vasilev, Bulgaria. The image is part of my ongoing project called "Foodtopia", a miniature world created with food items.Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture. Daniela Gerson, United States. Celebrating all the colours of the melon rainbow in cubed salad form, with feta, basil and spices.MPB Food Influencer. Elisa De Cecchi, Italy. Draining pasta by the window sink on a gloomy day, moisture fills the air, condensation forms on the windows and droplets slide down the glass. It is an activity that seems quite mundane, but I find it evocative.On the Phone category. Kasia Ciesielska-Faber, UK. In Lofoten archipelago, stockfish racks have become part of the landscape. The cod is preserved by drying on large racks with no salt or smoke required as the temperatures are just below freezing. The climate is perfect for outdoor stockfish production.One Vision Imaging Cream of the Crop. Paolo Grinza and Silvia Vaulà, Italy. This image is part of a photographic series based on the concept of "hands at work". Developed for the restaurant Etiko Bistrot (Torino, Italy) on behalf of Plastikwombat - Photography Art and Concept.Pink Lady® Apple a Day. Amanda Farnese Heath, UK. I asked this group of children what their ultimate 'Tea Party' table would look like. 'Toffee apples and cake' was their reply. Here, in an autumnal wood in Scotland, I got to work re-creating this table for them. Not one apple remained at the end of the day.Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (African Territory). Marguerite Oelofse, South Africa. In 1957 South Africans were introduced to the first Simba Chippie. Simba, the Lion, is one of our most famous icons, and this potato snack is one of our country’s favourites. This shot was taken in Bo-Kaap at The Rose Corner Cafe, a national landmark, over 100 years old.Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (Chile). Matt Wilson. Harvester carrying a crate of grapes on his head at Vina Moraines vineyards in Maule, Chile.Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (Europe), Remko Kraaijeveld. Netherlands. As adults we often eat with our eyes and not with our stomachs. Children are still very much in touch with their stomachs. Eat like a child. Remko took this image of our daughter for our family cookbook INSANE, written and cooked by his wife, Vanja van der Leeden.Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (Gulf). Manju Jisto, UAE. This photograph exhibits the beauty of a banana blossom that was gathered in Kerala, India.Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (New Zealand). Christall Lowe. Boning competition in action in New Zealand.Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (South East Asia). Thien Nguyen Ngoc, Vietnam. The soft light of a new day illuminates the smoke from the fishing boat engine and the shape of green nets moving underneath the water surface when local fishermen pull in their nets. Many local fishing families along the coastline of Phu Yen province will follow the near-shore currents to catch anchovy during peak season. Salted anchovy is the most important raw ingredient used to create traditional fish sauce - the spirit of Vietnamese cuisine.Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (USA), Sriram Rajmohan. How to keep the kids engaged during the pandemic - movies released in OTT, family time, popcorns and loads of butter!Politics of Food. K M Asad, Bangladesh. A little girl collects water with her older sister in the Chad Uddan slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh in September 2021. In the urban slum areas, people have access to fresh water only twice a day in the morning and evening.Production Paradise Previously Published. Mike English, UK. Marco red mullet.Student Food Photographer of the Year supported by The Royal Photographic Society, Kim Bainbridge, UK. A glass teapot with a tea flower blooming in it. the hardest part was to catch the light in the right place so only the outline is visible.The Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers, Marguerite Oelofse, South Africa. Celebrating African heritage, fused with a touch of inspiration from French Post-Impressionist artist, Henri Matisse. The painter-like aesthetic in my photography creates a three-dimensional feeling by using bold colours, form and textures. These elements are native to our diverse South African culture. 'At the Table' is a celebration of the fruits of our freedom.The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action. Weining Lin, China. An old man is preparing vegetables in the courtyard bathed in sun. He finely cuts the meat and puts it in a basin. This is a common picture in a farm yard, and you can imagine the happy family life behind it.unearthed® Food for Sale. Anna Loraine Hartmann, Germany. The lights are dimmed underneath the corrugated roof top, keeping the sunlight out to prevent the harvest from spoiling. In between the dark aisles of the bustling market in Yogyakarta, one only finds welcoming smiles and well-sourced produce.World Food Programme Food for Life. Faisal Azim, Food After Work. Brick factory workers in a dusty, unhealthy environment. They get a short break to eat food brought from home in the dusty environment before starting work again. For a full day in this unhealthy place they earn very a small wage.Young (10 and under). Rupkotha Roy Barai, Bangladesh. Village woman are processing the raw fish which are collected locally. A little baby is enjoying the whole process.Young (11 - 14). Indigo Larmour, India. At the festival of Chhath Puja, devotees stand in a body of water as the sun sets, giving offerings of food and prayer. As there were no rivers or lakes near my home in Delhi, worshippers did this in a pond in a local park.Young (15 - 17), Joyjit Das, Bangladesh. Eid ahead so a boy is working on drying raw semai in the sun.
If you're in the UK, check out the finalists from 2022 compeition in Bristol at The Royal Photographic Society 20 November – 12 December 2022.
