Indonesian Photographers’ Pictures Shorlisted in 2012 Sony World Photography Awards

"Happy Cheerful" by Anom Manik Agung

The shorlist of 2012 Sony World Photography Awards was already announced last week. As reported by Exposure, seven photographers from Indonesia appears in the shorlist of Open Competition.

“I’m glad to have my picture appear in the shortlist,” said Anom Manik Agung, one of the seven Indonesian photographers. He sent his photo entitled “Happy Cheerful” in black-and-white to compete in Smile category.

There are 10 categories in Open Competition: Architecture, Arts & Culture, Enhanced, Low Light, Nature & Wildlife, Panoramic, People, Smile, Split Second, and Travel. The seven Indonesian photographers are Tan Nono Rahardian (Arts & Culture), Handri Fitrido (Nature & Wildlife), Pramiga Aditya (Panoramic), Zulkifli Thalib (People), Ricky Alexander (Smile), Anom Manik Agung (Smile), and Suprijanto Suprijanto (Travel).

“I knew the information from Twitter account of Sony Indonesia. Seeing 112.000 entries from 171 countries, of course, I’m happy though my photo just appears in the shorlist,” said Tan Nono Rahardian whose one of his pictures is shorlisted in Arts & Culture category. Tan actually sent three pictures; one of them entitled “Prayers at Harbour” – taken at Sunda Kelapa Harbour, Jakarta – is in the shortlist.

"Prayers at Harbour" by Tan Nono Rahardian

Compared to 2011 with 105,000 entries from 162 counties, the 2012 competition has garnered increased worldwide interest with over 112,000 entries from 171 countries, with the shortlisted images depicting the stories of extraordinary lives from around the world.

Beside Open Competition, there is Professional one consisting of 14 categories in three subject genres: Photojournalism & Documentary, Commercial and Fine Art. The Professional Competition reflects a turbulent year of global events with the war in Libya; the Greek and European economic crisis; the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and the fall of Gaddafi, in the Photojournalism & Documentary categories.  The shortlist for the Fine Art and Commercial categories gets to the very heart of daily life – a small sheep-farming community in Iceland; the rice harvest in South China; a religious pilgrimage in Poland and gold diggers in Chile.

The annual Sony World Photography Awards ceremony and gala dinner will take place on 26 April at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane.  The awards celebration will once again take place alongside World Photo, London, a month-long event which brings an eclectic mix of photographic events for all to enjoy.