The award for the best photograph was won by Chinese photographer Zhonghua Yang, but nine French photographers were also honored in various categories of the global competition for food photography and film.
“A wonderful, perfectly balanced image, full of light, shadow, mystery and emotion.” This is how Caroline Kenyon, founder of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year, describes Red Bean Paste Balls, the winning image of the global competition for food photography and film.
Among the thousands of photographs in competition submitted from 65 countries, the jury this year crowned the work of Zhonghua Yang, who managed to capture a scene of preparations for a feast for the Spring Festival in the rural province of Zhejiang in China. The image shows a woman entering a room where dim sum (Cantonese bites) are waiting, steaming, in a composition that is both masterful and lively. The light finds its way through the open doors and geometric shapes, and reveals the steam of the bites stored in white and pink shades. The image won the grand prize as well as the category “Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration”, one of the 36 categories of the competition in which the French photographers distinguished themselves.
It was notably in the wine category that they shone, with Thierry Gaudillère in the lead, who won both the “Places” sub-category and the overall prize for “Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year” with his image Harvest in Volnay, Burgundy. His aerial photograph featuring a play of shadows on a dirt path between the vines won over the jury, who also honored French photographers in the two other sub-categories of the prize.
The “People” sub-category was won by Jonathan Thevenet with his image Les Liens du Vin, which humorously and tenderly captures the family involvement during the harvest at the Aegerter estate in Burgundy. Guenhaël Kessler, meanwhile, won the “Produce” sub-category with In the Tank During Alcoholic Fermentation: an abstract, close-up image with blue, yellow and purple shades, captured in the Rhône Valley.
Among the other finalists, we find Azim Khan Ronnie, who won the category “Unearthed® Food For Sale” with his image of a floating fruit market in Bangladesh, or Evgeniya Nadeykina, who came in third place in the category “Tiptree Cake Award” with her torn chocolate cake in ochre and brown shades.
These prizes were awarded on Tuesday, June 4 by the famous chef and presenter Andi Oliver at a ceremony held at the Mall Galleries in London, which is hosting until June 9 an exhibition of all the finalist images and films of the competition. A way, according to Phil Turnbull, CEO of APAL, owner of Pink Lady® and main sponsor of the Awards, “to continue to tell important food stories from around the world through the best photographs. […] Every year, they remind us of the fundamental role of food in every culture and every people around the world.”
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