The famous photographer Andrea Pacella during an interview held by max&douglas per #photo interview, stated that today we should stop talking about smartphones and talking about smart cameras. When presenting a phone, such as the iPhone 12, it is as if they are presenting a camera; Phones and phone performance are the last things that focus on now.
And it is now a concrete and visible truth, as when we observe the quality and the increasing number of photos that are taken via smartphones, and which are preferred to conventional cameras. DSLR or smartphone seems to have become a debate if not on at least on the agenda, a debate that photographers, enthusiasts and journalists have undertaken since the cameras of phones began to impose themselves more and more clearly within the digital landscape and visual.
iPPA 2021, the best photos taken with the iPhone
Istvan Kerekes – Transylvanian Shepherds
In support of this is the consolidation of an international photographic competition for images taken with a iPhone, l’iPhone Photography Awards, which is becoming more and more famous – the first and longest running photography contest for the iPhone – and now regarded as the Oscar of mobile photography. Founded in 2007, the same year the first iPhone was released, the contest is held annually with three overall winners and three winners for each of the 19 sub-categories.
This year, IPPAWARDS 2021 received thousands of submissions from photographers around the world. The contest welcomes all photos that have been taken with any iPhone or iPad, and although the use of any iPhone or iPad app for editing is allowed (and the use of additional lenses is also allowed), photos cannot be edited in Photoshop or any desktop image processing program. The categories are Abstract, Animals, Architecture, Children, Cityscape, Landscape, Lifestyle, Nature, People, Portrait, Series (3 images), Still life, Sunset, Travel, Other. All photographers compete for the 4 IPPAWARDS Photographers of the Year. Grand Prix, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
The contest welcomes all photos that have been taken with any iPhone or iPad
Sharan Shetty – Bonding
This year’s awards have enhanced the exceptional photographs taken in one of the most tragic years that humanity has witnessed collectively, photographs that can offer glimpses of beauty, hope and resistance of the human spirit. Among the proposals of thousands of photographers from around the world, the winner of the Grand Prix and the Photographer of the Year award was the Hungarian photojournalist Istvan Kerekes for her image, Transylvanian Shepherds: “Two rugged shepherds traverse an equally rugged industrial landscape, carrying a pair of lambs in their arms. The determination of men and the desolation of their environment are a moving contrast with the hope and innocence of the lambs entrusted to their care ”.
The First Place Photographer of the Year award went to Sharan Shetty of India for his image, Bonding, “where a man and his horse communicate in an empty landscape, offering each other comfort and sweet words”. The second prize went to Dan Liu of China and its image A Walk on Mars; “An astronaut crossing a desolate Martian landscape, raising questions about our relationship with worlds beyond ours”. Finally, the Third Place Photographer of the Year Award went to Jeff Rayner from the United States for her photo, Side-Walking on Air, “a portrait of a young girl bathed in light on her Los Angeles sidewalk”.