13 Award Winning Photographers on Framing a Slice of Life
While in conversation with 13 Hamdan International Photography Award winners, Conchita Fernandes uncovers the engaging stories behind their photographs, and also learns about the thought process behind their spectacular images. 2014
Now into its fourth edition, the Hamdan International Photography Award recently concluded its Life in Colour themed edition. Like every other year, this year too, saw photographers participate from across the globe, with 30,878 participants who submitted a total of 60,162 photographs. This time however, India topped the list of countries with the highest number of participants.
Photographers were encouraged to submit their images to categories like General, Life in Colour, Night Photography and Faces (Black and White). It was also quite interesting to see a black and white category in a colour-themed competition. There were a total of nine judges on the panel which included the likes of Aidan Sullivan, Alicia Adamopoulos, Gurdas Dua, Jassim Alawadhi, Maggie Gowan, Manolis Metzakis, Riccardo Busi, Tom Ang and Volker Frenzel.
Photograph/Zhang Xiangli
Zhang Xiangli is a great nature lover, and with the help of his photographs, he hopes to spread the message of safeguarding the environment. He won the second prize in HIPA’s Life in Colour category.
“Despite the precarious location of the birds on the tree branch, the photograph invokes feelings of hope and joy.”
I shot this image some time between May and July, in the village of Sha Tin, in the Jiangxi province in China. It took me about a month to locate this family of rare Asian Paradise Flycatchers, who are otherwise not known to make frequent appearances. Once I located the birds, it took me about a week to capture this tantalising shot. I made sure that the background was plain and decluttered, so as to bring out the vibrant colours of the bird’s feathers.
Zhang’s Tip
Maintaining Anonymity in the Wild
If you are planning to photograph a particular nesting ground, you must ensure that you are in no way disrupting the environment around you. In case you notice that the birds are distressed, it means that they have sensed your presence. Take this as your cue to move away from the area.
