An Elizabethan scholar and former professor at the University of California, Louis Montrose of the USA, has become the overall winner of the 2011 international Travel Photographer of the Year awards (TPOTY), with two striking, and very different, portfolios; one documenting life in a painted village in Burkina Faso and the other depicting the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Photographers in nearly 90 countries submitted thousands of images for this year’s contest. Entrants from 33 countries were shortlisted and photographers from 20 countries scooped individual category awards. The winning images – which can now be viewed online in the Winners' Gallery on www.tpoty.com - will make their public debut at a major exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London from June 21st to August 19th 2012.
From a Beluga whale beneath sheets of ice, the mysterious beauty of sand dunes in America’s Death Valley, and abseiling down a thundering 225-metre waterfall, to vibrant Senegal streetlife, the snowy existence of the reindeer herders of Russia, some colourful and unusual views of London and a young Kenyan schoolgirl’s first view of a story book – via a Kindle - this year’s Travel Photographer of the Year winning images give a fascinating view of life, culture and nature around the globe.
The winners will receive prizes from Adobe Systems, Inc., Cutty Sark blended Scotch Whisky, the Elephant Family charity, Explore, Genesis Digital, Lexar Media, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), Oman Air and the Oman Ministry of Tourism, Photo Iconic, Plastic Sandwich, Tribes Travel, Tselana Travel, and Young Photographers Alliance.
The Young Travel Photographer of the Year award went to 17 year-old German photographer Arne Hansen for his portfolio depicting the physical impact of travel on nature. 17 year-old British photographer, Joel Biddle, took the honours in Young TPOTY 15-18, and also won the TPOTY/Young Photographers Alliance Emerging Talent Award, for his intriguing abstract images on the category theme of ‘green’. 14 year old Seamus Crowley (USA) won Young TPOTY 14 and Under, with shots of the Irish landscape, with 10 year old Swiss photographer Lisa Gehrig finishing as runner-up, and 17 year old Tom Spence (UK) runner-up in the 15-18 category.
The New Talent award was won by Italy’s Edgard de Bono and Britain’s Stuart Dunn finished first in the One Shot, Wild Moments category. In the portfolio categories, Sergey Anisimov (Russia) won Cultures & Traditions, Malgorzata Pioro (Poland) Exotic, Anil Sud (Canada) Natural Elements and Franco Banfi (Switzerland) Spirit of Adventure. The beginners’ category – First Shot – was won by Guy Lankester (UK) and Sheng Hong Tan (Malaysia).
The 2011 Travel Photographer of the Year awards were judged by an international panel of experts, including travel and wildlife photographer Steve Bloom, Caroline Metcalfe, Director of Photography for Conde Nast, stock photography expert Jerry Tavin, Colin Finlay of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Matt Phillips, Editor of Travel Africa, Mary Robert, Head of Photography for American International University, Melissa de Witt, Editor of Hotshoe, Manfred Zollner, Managing Editor of Fotomagazin (Germany), Debbie Ireland, former head of the AA Photo Library, photographer and TV cameraman Jeremy Hoare, landscape and panoramic photographer Nick Meers, designer and digital imaging expert Terry Steeley, freelance editor and writer Emma Thomson, and TPOTY founder, travel photographer Chris Coe.
About Travel Photographer of the Year
Formed in 2003, Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) rapidly became one of the world's most prestigious photography awards. Open to amateur and professional photographers of all ages, and from all countries, Travel Photographer of the Year now regularly attracts entries from over 80 countries each year. To date, the oldest TPOTY entrant has been aged 88, and the youngest just five years old. Photographers from 35 countries have so far won awards and enjoyed international exposure for their work. The winning images are showcased in the 'Journey' series of books and at Travel Photographer of the Year exhibitions. In 2011 TPOTY announced a collaborative partnership with the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) to take the awards into a new era, with a major annual exhibition of images at the Society's headquarters in Kensington, London. www.tpoty.com
Louis Montrose
Louis Montrose was born in London, grew up in New York City, and has lived in the San Diego area of southern California for many years. His engagement as a visual artist springs from a passion for creating and viewing images that began in childhood. During a successful academic career in the humanities, he also wrote and taught about the history and cultural power of images.
Formerly an Elizabethan scholar and professor at The University of California, he now pursues his calling as a photographer full time. He works in a number of photographic genres, including cityscape, environmental portrait, travel and night photography. As someone with a compelling interest in the power of photographs to capture the vibrancy and diversity of human cultures, he values colour as an essential expressive and communicative medium. At the same time, he remains deeply drawn to the formal power and tonal richness of black and white, and to the challenge of creating strong black and white images through digital capture and digital inkjet printing. His work has been exhibited in shows in London, Madrid, Copenhagen, and Buenos Aires as well as in California, Colorado, and Ohio; and has been published in LensWork, Black & White, COLOR, and other fine art photography publications.
Franco Banfi
Franco Banfi is a professional photographer and photo-journalist, specialising in underwater wildlife & environments, nature and travels. For many years he has been known around the world for his versatility, expertise and accuracy in underwater imaging. He has meticulously documented a lot of uncommon animals and locations, wildlife and human relationship with nature, in environments from the Equator to the Poles. His reportages have been published in countless publications and renowned magazines around the world. Franco is an award-winning photographer with his work has being recognised by Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and now Travel Photographer of the Year.
Stuart Dunn
Stuart was born in Newcastle 1977. He studied at the Northern Media School and gained a Masters Degree in cinematography. Upon his completion, Stuart embarked on his first filming expedition with fellow student and friend Pandula. On a shoestring budget and completely unpaid, they travelled to the Tamil Tiger controlled regions of Northern Sri Lanka in an attempt to tell the story of the civil war that had raged for over 20 years and give a voice to the 500 thousand refugees displaced by the conflict, a baptism by fire to say the least. Since then Stuart has gained an abundance of credits in a variety of publications and TV programmes. He now divides his time between the world of photography and cinematography, filming and photographing documentary assignments across the globe in inhospitable environments such as the Amazon jungle, the Arctic and the Himalayas.
Thomas Kokta
Born in Germany, Thomas caught the travel bug during his college years, after a stint as a student in the US. He first became involved in photography through his travels and love of the outdoors. An avid hiker and climber, taking photographs began as a way to share his wild world with family and friends. His images have been recognized in a variety of competitions, and he also conducts photo and travel tours in a variety of locations around the world.
Johnny Haglund
Johnny Haglund started to travel around the world in 1988. The first years he travelled as a backpacker, but always with a camera. He spent six months on the road, and six months in Norway, working to pay for his travels. He’s always had great interest in wild, isolated, remote and mystic places and cultures. And as his experience grew, he went deeper and deeper in to jungles, mountains and deserts. Today he works full time as a freelance photographer and writer, and in April 2011 his fifth book was released.
Timothy Allen
Timothy Allen was born in Tonbridge in the South East of England in 1971. At 22, after graduating from Leeds University with a BSc Zoology he left the UK and spent 3 years traveling around Indonesia which was the catalyst that sparked his passion for photography. In the nineties, after beginning a part-time diploma in photography, Timothy joined an aid convoy to Bosnia in order to shoot his first year reportage project. Six months later he had dropped out of college, moved to London and begun working for the Sunday Telegraph, later inspiring commissions from all the British broadsheet publications and finally, a 6 year position at The Independent working predominantly on features and portraits. Timothy joined Axiom Photographic Agency in 2002 leading him to cover a dynamic and broad spectrum of global stories with subjects ranging from the civil war in the remote Spice Islands of far eastern Indonesia, to the intriguing subculture of The World Taxidermy Championships in Springfield , Illinois.
In recent years, the focus of his work has turned to our planet’s remaining indigenous societies and he currently devotes his time to documenting the diversity of humanity’s cultural heritage. His multi award winning documentaries have taken him to every corner of the globe, from 19 000 ft up in the Himalayas to 40 metres beneath the South China Sea as well as projects within communities in the Arctic, tropical rainforest and remote desert locations.
For his latest body of work, Timothy spent almost 2 years shadowing BBC film crews during the production of the landmark television series Human Planet.
Philip Lee Harvey
Philip was born in Canterbury, England in 1969. After completing a Graphic Design degree at the Norwich School of Art and Design, Philip assisted some of the UK’s leading advertising photographers. Eager to develop his photographic career, Philip soon started taking on editorial and advertising commissions of his own.
Since then, he has worked in over 100 countries, ranging from Antarctica to the Sahara. His journeys have taken him to some of the world’s most inhospitable and demanding destinations.
His work has been featured in publications including BBC Lonely Planet Magazine, National Geographic Traveller, The Independent, the Saturday Telegraph, Condé Nast Traveller, Tatler, Vanity Fair and Volvo magazine, to name but a few.
His advertising clients have included Shell, UPS, T-Mobile, Ford, Bentley, Ericsson Communications, the Irish and British Tourist Boards, Sony, British Airways, Volkswagen, UBS Banks, Sea France, ITV, MasterCard, Kodak and BP.
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