Sony World Photography Awards 2014, Part 1

The Sony World Photography Awards have announced the winners of their Open, Youth, and National Award competitions. The winners were selected from over140,000 images in 70,000 entries submitted by photo enthusiasts and amateurs from across the world. 

Overall winners and the judging of the final categories are to be announced on April 30.

From the awards website:

The Sony World Photography Awards is widely recognised as the leading global photographic awards programme in existence today. Launched in 2008, the awards are dedicated to supporting and cultivating photographic culture. Through a range of annual competitions, we hope to discover new talent in the world of photography and moving image. Whether you are just starting out or a fully-fledged professional you can enter whichever competition you believe suit your level and experience.

The categories are:

Professional Competition - for serious photographers.

Open Competition - for amateurs and enthusiasts.

Student Focus - for those studying photography.

Youth Award - for anyone aged 19 and under.

Photographs, moments frozen in time, are fascinating not only from the photographic standpoint but also becuase of what is depicted, insights and glimpses of foreign cultures and people, images that make us sad, angry (look at the horse photo below), smile, frown . . .

A selection of announced winners and placegetters follows (Part 2 during next week).  Captions are by the photographers.

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Winner, Hong Kong, National Awards: In July each year, a heart-pounding scene of wildebeest migration repeats itself in Kenya.

Second Place, Hong Kong, National Awards: Fire Dragon festival in Macau.

Winner, Peru, National Awards: A man sells balloons in a cemetery in the capital Lima, Peru.

Second Place, Negai-bun Wonh, China, National Awards: Horse fighting in Rongshui, Guangxi, China.

Winner, Travel, Open Competition: My photo "Rain in Ancient Town" was shot in southern China - Phoenix Town - which shows a scene of people travelling in the rain during the rainy season. In the background there are old residential buildings and an old stone bridge.

Winner, Poland, National Awards: Tatiana, a resident in the village of Szack, Ukraine, and her horse.

Winner, Architecture, Open Competition: In an office building in Cologne I went down to the base of this staircase, set up my tripod, and fixed it in the middle with a wide-angle 10-24mm lens. 

Second Place, Singapore, National Awards: A young boy tries on the mask of a masked dancer who is having a breather after his physically grueling dance, at the festival at Tamshing Lhakhang in Bumthang, Bhutan. September 2013.

Winner, Panoramic, Open Competition: A stitched panorama capturing the Milky Way arch form south to north above the lighthouse in Capo Spartivento, south Sardinia, at 4am, in April of 2013.

Winner, Youth, Culture Category: This image is from a larger project about racism within ballet as a profession.

Third Place, Nordics, National Awards: This photo I captured after an hour of patience. Suddenly the sky turned white and this image appeared on my camera screen.

Winner, Youth, Environment Category: This photo was taken at Kawranbazar Slum, Dhaka; where people live along with two rail tracks on both of the sides and when there is no train, this rail tracks become their common space. I realized that this place has a lot of visual potential. One day, while returning home after a day long shoot (not having very interesting photos) suddenly I saw, one little girl feeding a kid standing just right in the middle of the two tracks. At that moment the rail tracks were telling me that this should be my frame and I clicked.

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Censoring Anne Frank's Diary

In 2013 Gail Horaleck, American citizen and mother of a 7th grader, made international headlines when she demanded that Anne Frank’s diary not be taught in her daughter’s school and that it should be removed from the school library on the ground that it was pornographic. Her demands were downcried, even by right wing groups, but it is of interest in highlighting that the diary mostly read is an expurgated verson of the original.

Some interesting facts and trivia:

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Anne Frank, pictured in May 1942

Annelies "Anne" Marie Frank (1929 – 1945) was a Jewish victim of the Holocaust, best known as being the author of her wartime diary “The Diary of a Young Girl”. Although born in Frankfurt, Germany, she lived most of her life in Amsterdam, Holland, her family having moved there in 1933 when the Nazis gained control. In 1942 they went into hiding to escape the increasing Nazi persecution of the Jewish population. For 2 years the family, plus others, lived in some concealed rooms in the building where Anne’s father had worked. Betrayed by someone whose identity remains subject to conjecture, the group was transported to concentration camps. Anne and her sister Margot died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen in March 1945. The camp was liberated in mid April 1945, the liberators finding 53,000 emaciated and bruatlised inmates, plus 13,000 unburied corpses. The only survivor of the family was Anne’s father, Otto, who had been sent to Auschwitz. On returning, he was given Anne’s papers and diary by Miep Gies, who had safeguarded them. His efforts resulted in Anne’s diary being published in 1947. 

Otto Frank

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Anne’s diary had been given to her as a blank book when she turned 13. Her entries chronicle her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944. Anne and her family went into hiding on 6 July 1942.

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From Wikipedia:

In her writing, Frank examined her relationships with the members of her family, and the strong differences in each of their personalities. She considered herself to be closest emotionally to her father, who later commented, "I got on better with Anne than with Margot, who was more attached to her mother. The reason for that may have been that Margot rarely showed her feelings and didn't need as much support because she didn't suffer from mood swings as much as Anne did." 

The Frank sisters formed a closer relationship than had existed before they went into hiding, although Anne sometimes expressed jealousy towards Margot, particularly when members of the household criticised Anne for lacking Margot's gentle and placid nature. As Anne began to mature, the sisters were able to confide in each other. In her entry of 12 January 1944, Frank wrote, "Margot's much nicer ... She's not nearly so catty these days and is becoming a real friend. She no longer thinks of me as a little baby who doesn't count."

Frank frequently wrote of her difficult relationship with her mother, and of her ambivalence towards her. On 7 November 1942 she described her "contempt" for her mother and her inability to "confront her with her carelessness, her sarcasm and her hard-heartedness," before concluding, "She's not a mother to me." Later, as she revised her diary, Frank felt ashamed of her harsh attitude, writing: "Anne, is it really you who mentioned hate, oh Anne, how could you?" She came to understand that their differences resulted from misunderstandings that were as much her fault as her mother's, and saw that she had added unnecessarily to her mother's suffering. With this realization, Frank began to treat her mother with a degree of tolerance and respect.

Most of Anne's time was spent reading and studying, and she regularly wrote and edited her diary entries. In addition to providing a narrative of events as they occurred, she wrote about her feelings, beliefs, and ambitions, subjects she felt she could not discuss with anyone. As her confidence in her writing grew, and as she began to mature, she wrote of more abstract subjects such as her belief in God, and how she defined human nature.

Frank aspired to become a journalist, writing in her diary on Wednesday, 5 April 1944:

"I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that's what I want! I know I can write ..., but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent ... and if I don't have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can't imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ... I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that's inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that's a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer? "

She continued writing regularly until her last entry of 1 August 1944.

Age 12

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Anne’s diary was not just one book.

It began with a red checked autograph book given to her on her 13th birthday, which she converted to a diary, intending it to record her most personal feelings and thoughts. It was intended for her eyes alone, she writing in the first entry on June 12, 1942: "I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support." 

On March 28, 1944 Anne heard a speech on the radio given by the Dutch Cabinet Minister Gerritt Bolkestein who stated: "History cannot be written on the basis of official decisions and documents alone. If our descendants are to understand fully what we as a nation have had to endure and overcome during these years, then what we really need are ordinary documents -- a diary, letters from a worker in Germany, a collection of sermons given by a parson or priest. Not until we succeed in bringing together vast quantities of this simple, everyday material will the picture of our struggle for freedom be painted in its full depth and glory." 

This inspired Anne to want to have her diary published after the war and to rewrite her whole diary. This she did on loose sheets of paper, adding to entries in some cases and shortening them in others.

Her diary actually consists of the original diary, two further notebooks and additional loose material.

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Life in the Secret Annexe was not much fun, especially when it was occupied by 2 families. 

In one poignant and striking passage on 29 October 1943 she describes the depression and melancholy she was experiencing:

"Outside, you don't hear a single bird, and a deathly, oppressive silence hangs over the house and clings to me as if it were going to drag me into the deepest regions of the underworld.... I wander from room to room, climb up and down the stairs and feel like a songbird whose wings have been ripped off and who keeps hurling itself against the bars of its dark cage."

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Anne wrote in her diary:

‘I don’t want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me!’

So what then is the issue about alleged pornography?

The answer is that the various editions of her diary, for which her father Frank (who died in 1981) has been the editor, have omitted certain passages. In 1995 on the fiftieth anniversary of her death, a new version was published: The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition. This version contains 30% more material, including passages in which the developing adolescent records observations and comments about her body, her erotic feelings, her curiosity about sex and her wonderment at the physicality of female genitalia:

‘There are little folds of skin all over the place, you can hardly find it. The little hole underneath is so terribly small that I simply can’t imagine how a man can get in there, let alone how a whole baby can get out!’

Other passages that were edited out by father Frank, some of which have also been the subject of the above pornography allegations, are quoted in the following passage, a review of the 1995 book by The Independent:

The new Diary presents a less forgiving author. "Father has a friend, a man in his mid-seventies, who's sick, poor and deaf as a post. At his side, like a useless appendage, is his wife, 27 years younger and equally poor, whose arms and legs are loaded with real and fake bracelets and rings," she wrote in a restored entry for September 1942.

The following month she remarked irritably: "Everybody teased me quite a bit yesterday because I lay down on the bed next to Mr van Daan. `At your age!' `Shocking!' and other remarks along those lines. Silly, of course. I'd never want to sleep with Mr van Daan the way they mean."

A November entry about her impending period was seen as too shocking to print in the 1940s. "PS. I forgot to mention the important news that I'm probably going to get my period soon. I can tell because I keep finding a whitish smear in my panties."

In January 1943, Anne reported a confidential chat with Peter van Pels, with whom she was falling in love. " `Peter, the German word Geschlechtsteil means `sexual organ' doesn't it? But then the male and female ones have different names.' `I know that.' "The female one is a vagina, that I know, but I don't know what it's called in males.' `Hmm.' `Oh, well,' I said. `How are we supposed to know these words?' "

The following month she wrote about another talk with Peter. "He said he'd never be able to feel like a Christian, but that after the war he'd make sure nobody knew he was Jewish. I felt a momentary pang. It's such a shame he still has a touch of dishonesty in him."

Anne was open-minded about sex, but her father felt the morality of the day would not tolerate her views.

He removed a comment she also made in March. "It's not wrong for a man to bring a little experience to marriage. After all, it has nothing to do with the marriage itself, does it?"

Her frank remarks about her body were also seen as too shocking. "Until I was 11 or 12, I didn't realise there was a second set of labia on the inside [of the vagina], though you couldn't see them. What's even funnier is that I thought urine came out of the clitoris. I asked Mother one time what that little bump was, and she said she didn't know. She can really play dumb when she wants to!"

By April she had become closer to Peter. "I told him all about girls, without hesitating to discuss the most intimate matters. I found it rather amusing that he thought the opening in a woman's body was simply left out of illustrations. He couldn't imagine it was actually located between a woman's legs. The evening ended with a mutual kiss, near the mouth..."

One further item about Otto editing out some passages:

With understandable vanity, Mr Frank also censored a comment about himself. "All those cute nicknames seem so affected," Anne wrote of her parents in March 1944, "and Father's fondness for talking about farting and going to the lavatory is disgusting."

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Funny Friday

The above card was in my home letter box this week. It started me wondering: How does Mr Farouk get rid of the "bad evil spirits" from you and your home? Does he splash Holy Water and say "The power of Christ compels you"?  And why does an international clairvoyant need to letter box everyone? Isn't that a contradiction?

So guess what the theme today is?

You got it! My God, you must be psychic!

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My wife came home after visiting a psychic.

"I've got some bad news," she said, "the psychic told me that someone real close to me will die very soon."

"Really?" I panicked, "did she say anything else?"

"Yes, she told me that the person that's going to die loves me very much," she replied. 

"Oh thank god for that," I laughed, "for a second there I thought you were talking about me."

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I went to see a psychic that a friend had recommended to try and contact my grandfather.

We both sat at the table and after a few minutes the psychic's eyelids started fluttering and she began to moan.

Eventually a voice says, ' Grandson are you there. '

' Yes I'm here, ' I replied, ' is it really you Grandad. '

' Yes, its really me, ' said the voice.

' Can I ask you a question Grandad, ' I said.

' Of course, anything you like, 'said the voice.

' When did you learn to speak English, ' I asked.

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I went to see a clairvoyant yesterday, a big fat woman smiled and said,

"Take a seat."

"I'm sorry" I replied "I think I'm in the wrong room, I've come to see the clairvoyant."

"Yes, that's me." she smiled.

"Well it says 'medium Debbie' on the door, but you're fucking massive."

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Welcome to the first day of psychic class; your final grades have been posted.

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My mate came up to me the other day and asked,"John, is it true you've been having precognitive visions?" And I thought, I can see where this is going...

I couldn't believe the psychic read my mind so accurately!

He said "You're thinking this is a load of shit, aren't you?"

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I went to see a medium last night.

He said, "I've got a man in the room, he has a big belly, a receding hairline and quite an ugly face."

"Sorry," I replied, "I don't know anybody like that."

"Hang on a minute," he said, looking into my eyes, "I'm on the phone mate."

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A man goes into his son's room to wish him goodnight. His son is having a nightmare - the man wakes him and asks his son if he is OK? The son replies he is scared because he dreamt that Auntie Susie had died. The father assures the son that Auntie Susie is fine and sends him to bed.

The next day, Auntie Susie dies.

One week later, the man again goes into his son's room to wish him goodnight. His son is having another nightmare - the man again wakes his son. The son this time says that he had dreamt that granddaddy had died. The father assures the son that granddaddy is fine and sends him to bed.

The next day, granddaddy dies.

One week later, the man again goes into his son's room to wish him goodnight. His son is having another nightmare - the man again wakes his son. The son this time says that he had dreamt that daddy had died. The father assures the son that he is OK and sends the boy to bed. The man goes to bed but cannot sleep because he is so terrified.

The next day, the man is scared for his life- he is sure is going to die. After dressing he drives very cautiously to work fearful of a collision. He doesn't eat lunch because he is scared of food poisoning. He avoids everyone for he is sure he will somehow be killed. He jumps at every noise, starts at every movement and hides under his desk. Upon walking in his front door at the end of the day, he finds his wife.

"Good God, Dear," he proclaims, "I've just had the worst day of my entire life!"

She responds, "You think your day was bad, the milkman dropped dead on the doorstep this morning." 

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Corn Corner:

I read in the paper the other day how a clairvoyant midget escaped from prison.

The headline said 'Small Medium at Large'.

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Leadlight Beauty

One of the members of our trivia team, Lazarus, is Kerrie. She and husband Bob run a leadlight business out of premises at Summer Hill, New South Wales. During last night’s triv I mentioned that I had come across an article about amazing effects from leadlights and I said that I would reprint that article. Here it is. . . 

From The Huff Post, 19.03.2014, at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/15/nasir-al-mulk-pink-mosque_n_4959362.html

Nasir al-Mulk 'Pink Mosque' Of Iran Is Like Stepping Into A Kaleidoscope

The Huffington Post | by Yasmine Hafiz

From the outside, the Nasir al-Mulk Mosque in Shiraz, Iran, seems like a fairly traditional house of worship -- but it's hiding a gorgeously colorful secret.

The multitude of stained glass windows turn the inside of the mosque into a riotous wonderland of color that is absolutely breathtaking.

Japanese photographer Koach was blown away by the mosque's beauty which is best appreciated in the morning light, explaining:

You can only see the light through the stained glass in the early morning. It was built to catch the morning sun, so that if you visit at noon it will be too late to catch the light. The sight of the morning sunlight shining through the colorful stained glass, then falling over the tightly woven Persian carpet, is so bewitching that it seems to be from another world.

Even if you are the world’s least religious person, you might feel your hands coming together in prayer naturally when you see the brilliance of this light. Perhaps the builders of this mosque wanted to show their “faith” through the morning light shining through this stained glass.

Not to mention the gorgeously painted, intricate arches and niches.

It's also known as the "Pink Mosque" for the rose-colored tiles that cover the interior. However, picking out just one color doesn't do justice to the plethora of hues that decorate it.

Though Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem and Istanbul's Blue Mosque both feature stained glass windows, on the whole they are fairly uncommon in mosque architecture.

The rarity of architecture like this makes Nasir al-Mulk all the more precious.

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Some bonus items:

Traditionally leadlights were the result of coloured glass being placed into position with lead, known as lead came, whereas stained glass was the ornate leadlighted glass with painted images as often seen in church windows.  Today the distinction has become blurred and the terms are often used interchangeabnly.

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The Pink Mosque was built 1876-1888.  

Restoration, protection and maintenance, observing all international standards on historical places, has begun and is continuing.

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According to one cmmentator to the above article:

"In Islamic art the repeated geometric tessellations are a metaphor for the infinity of Allah. The mathematics of geometry mirror the perfection of Allah."

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Banksy's street art stained glass window mural displayed at a 2011 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles:

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Three Bats and a Bird

"I’d give all wealth that years have piled, 

The slow result of Life’s decay, 

To be once more a little child 

For one bright summer day."

- Lewis Carroll

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My friend Tony Z sent me an email yesterday headed “We've been painted on a wall somewhere!?!?!”.

His email was an onsend from his son Christian, now an adult, of an email with the same caption and two photographs:

Tony's email was accompanied by the following message:

Otto
This is a photo of my son and 3 of his friends when they were about 5 years old. My son is in the Robin outfit. Somehow this is now a painting on a wall in Melbourne, called I think “3 bats and a bird”. I don't know how the artist got the photo . Apparently he is world renowned. I'm not aware where exactly it is other than on a wall somewhere in Melbourne.
TZ

Here is another pic of the art work:

The work is by Brisbane street artist Fintan Magee who has done some fascinating and quality street art, as the Batman artwork, which is correctly identified as having been done in Melbourne, shows.  I am unaware as to its location in Melbourne.

In a chat after receiving the email Tony informed me that the four boys were friends. The occasion was not dressup fior school or for any function, simply that the four were enthralled by Batman and Robin. The lad to the right of Christian/Robin would not answer to any name but Batman when he was wearing the outfit. The Batman to the left of Robin was Christian’s best friend, the Dark Knight to his left, in black, was the first Batman’s older brother. The photo was taken by one of the parents and it is believed that it was spotted by Fintan Magee on a Facebook page.

Here is another version:

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“. . . although these days may seem commonplace, in years to come they will crystallise in our minds as our best! . . . we shall all look back to the friendships, the adventures, the fun . . . to the best days of our lives.” 

- Cottee’s Cordial ad 

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/co

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Coincidentally, not long after I received Tony's email, I received the following in a mobile phone text message from son Thomas:

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More works of street art

How amazing are some of the street art works featured below and in past posts.

Take the time to have a look at each, not just a glimpse and a scroll to the next but an actual look.

How was the work created?  

Is its function simply decorative, or amusing, or is there also a message that is sought to be conveyed?

Was that message effectively communicated?  

How does the work make you feel?  

What was your initial reaction on seeing it?  

Have you seen anything like it before?  

How does it compare with works in galleries?

How effectively has the environment, wall etc been incorporated where utilising a natural feature?

Take, for example, "Love" . . .

Which of the two do you prefer?  Whys?  Have you noticed that the second of the two has the hands and arms bloodied?  Why is that?  Is it one person or four?  Does the blood suggest being a victim or a perpetrator of violence.  How does that relate to the message?  Is the first work more powerful from being more abstract and with less to distract?  Lots to think about.

Here are some more:

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