Photographer Name: Denis Rouvre Year: 2020 Image Description: My name is Chantal, I am 30 years old and I live in South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I was harvesting the cassava leaves when I saw them. They were about twenty dressed as soldiers. One of them started to take my clothes off. He laid me down on the ground and on the grass. He didn’t even spread a loincloth. I saw the man take off his pants. This man got on me and got into my vagina. When he started raping me, I started to cry. As he was coming out of me, I saw another one undressing. He also penetrated me and started raping me. The others were still standing spinning with their weapons. This one also raped me. When he was finished, another was taking off his clothes. By realizing what they were doing, it made me gone crazy. I lost myself. I saw with my eyes but my brain was no longer there. Series Name: Unsung Heroes Series Description: “Unsung Heroes is a project about violence against women around the world. In 2019, with support from international humanitarian association Médecins du Monde, I visited five continents and met more than 100 victims of violence. The women agreed to testify, their faces uncovered, in front of my camera. Some subjects had suffered violence linked to displacement following the war in Syria and in Colombia, others had survived domestic abuse, or the use of collective rape as a weapon in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Still more had faced moral violence, sexual exploitation, or discrimination against gender identity in Nepal, Cameroon and Uganda. The women I met are shadows that enter the light. The bruises and creases on the surface of their skin tell a story. Added to this are the voices, the words, the intimate experiences of violence that were shared. I wanted to show the suffering experienced by these women, but also their strength and resilience – in short, their ability to get up and fight again. ” Copyright: © Denis Rouvre, France, Finalist, Professional, Portraiture, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Adrian Markis Year: 2020 Image Description: The agony of love is a photo series about the last moments that live two lovers or married couple in their home. Series Name: Agony of Love Series Description: “Agony of Love is a series about the last moments two lovers, or a married couple, live in their home. These people still love each other, but they are suffering a huge crisis caused by years of living together. I think it’s very difficult to decide to go away, leave home and start over again. Hundreds of people that live together suffer like this, because they’re too afraid to make a decision – because of this fear, they cannot be free. My work is inspired by Edward Hopper and Gregory Crewdson. Agony of Love features several cinematic compositions, each one composed to create a narrative experience. The viewer is introduced to a couple on the verge of separation. It’s a close-up, intimate portrait where the characters face a major life obstacle. ” Copyright: © Adrian Markis, Argentina, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Yevhen Samuchenko Year: 2020 Image Description: Lemurian salt lake, Ukraine Series Name: At the Pink planet Series Description: “The first time you see the pink salt lakes of the Kherson region in Ukraine it feels as though you are looking at another planet. During the summer months, microscopic algae causes the water to turn pink and red. The view from above is literally out of this world, which is why I chose to use a drone to convey the atmosphere of this unusual place. ” Copyright: © Yevhen Samuchenko, Ukraine, Shortlist, Professional, Natural World & Wildlife, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Raul Ariano Year: 2020 Image Description: Zhongbao and Zhiyong in their apartment in Shenyang Series Name: LGBT in China Series Description: “The LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community has faced discrimination in China since 1979, when the communist party criminalised ‘hooliganism’ (an umbrella term that included homosexual activities). In 1997, the Chinese government abolished the crime of ‘hooliganism’ and four years later homosexuality was removed from its list of psychiatric disorders. Despite these changes, the LGBT community still feel stigmatised. Many Chinese families are traditional, and people avoid ‘coming out’ to their parents or relatives for fear of being labelled the underdog. What’s more, the one-child policy (which came to an end in 2015) has put extra pressure on parents to raise a child that meets all of their expectations, including having grandchildren. For some, this could be described as an obsession, which puts pressure on LGBT children to conform to a heterosexual lifestyle in order to give birth. ” Copyright: © Raul Ariano, Italy, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Masahiro Hiroike Year: 2020 Image Description: This photo was taken on July 16, 2019 in the mountains of Tottori, Japan. The goal is to publish this photo on the web and in photo books to protect the firefly habitat. I attached a release with a timer function to the camera and shot it with a 600 second exposure. Exposure for 600 seconds usually increases the noise, but the noise was not so much because it was bright with the moonlight. Series Name: Himebotaru Series Description: “Himebotaru is a type of firefly, measuring just six millimetres long, that lives in the forest. Both males and females emit a short burst of strong light, much like a flash – males at a rate of once per second and females once every two or three seconds. I’ve been researching the fireflies’ habitat for seven years now – these pictures were taken in the mountains of Tottori, Japan, in June and July 2019. Exposure times ranged from 13 seconds to 10 minutes. The purpose of the project is to share this phenomenon with people in the hope that it will encourage them to protect these wonderful creatures. ” Copyright: © Masahiro Hiroike, Japan, Finalist, Professional, Natural World & Wildlife, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Jeroen van Dam Year: 2020 Image Description: This project is about the secret life of Urban Explorers: mostly young people who venture into hidden manmade landscapes. Places right in the middle of the city, but off-limits and not known to the public. They have to take risks to get to those places. But their philosophy is to ‘Take nothing but pictures; leave nothing but footprints’. I follow them all over the world to document their adventures. This particular series involves tunnel systems, which are often very intriguing and architecturally pleasing, because of the circular shapes and massive scale. Within these daunting urban landscapes, there is always a human factor: a single person in his or her (un)natural habitat. Series Name: Urban Explorers Series Description: “This project is about the secret life of urban explorers – people who venture into hidden manmade landscapes. The places these individuals explore are often in the middle of cities, and yet off-limits and unknown to the public. There are risks involved in accessing these locations, but urban explorers like to leave a place as they find it – their motto is ‘Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.’ I follow these people all over the world documenting their adventures. This particular series features tunnel systems, which are often intriguing and architecturally pleasing due to their circular shapes and massive scale. Photographing someone in such an unnatural setting really appeals to me. These urban locations lend themselves to aggressive postproduction, moody tones and vivid colours – the overall effect is one that questions our relationship with the city. ” Copyright: © Jeroen van Dam, Netherlands, Shortlist, Professional, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Ronny Behnert Year: 2020 Image Description: Einootsurugi was one of the torii which was totally hidden. It was difficult to find that amazing spot but after a few hours of searching and exploring I found the torii. The special feature here was the symmetrical arrangement through the two lamps in the foreground. I spent more than three hours at this spot because of the spritual atmosphere at this place! Series Name: Torii Series Description: “Evidence of Shintoism and Buddhism – the most common religions in Japan – can be found in every corner of the country. Shrines and torii (traditional Japanese gates commonly found at the entrance to Shinto shrines, marking the transition from mundane to sacred spaces) can be seen in the remotest of locations, from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to the highest mountains and the deepest forests. Most of the time I use neutral density filters to force long exposures and keep my work minimalist in style. Some of my exposures last five minutes or more, which makes any distracting elements in the water or sky disappear – the longer the exposure, the clearer the photograph. ” Copyright: © Ronny Behnert, Germany, Finalist, Professional, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Didier Bizet Year: 2020 Image Description: Some reborn dolls are equipped with devices that mimic heartbeats, breathing, sucking or even head mobility. Rechargeable by USB, they are carefully hidden in the doll’s padding. Valencia May 2019. Series Name: Baby Boom. Series Description: Having first appeared in the United States in the 1990s, reborn is a hyper-realistic doll that resembles a newborn baby. Reborn artists go to great lengths to ensure that their creations are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Many reborns have birthmarks, veins, hair, visible skin pores, and even saliva. Markets for these dolls range from reborn artists and collectors to hospitals and adoptive mothers and fathers. The realism of a reborn is such that some medical centres use them to ease the suffering of clients with Alzheimer’s disease. What motivates a woman, or a couple, to “adopt” a reborn – the word “buy” is frowned upon in these circles – varies. For some, there is the attraction of caring for a baby that shares their physical features, as well as the joy of dressing it, taking it out in a pram, or even decorating a room for the new arrival. For others, a reborn is an antidote to loneliness, particularly in an age dominated by online communication. Reborns suffer from a bad reputation, with some suggesting they look like dead babies. For many, however, these dolls are sources of hope, wellbeing, and comfort. They may be fake babies, but the happiness, love and sense of sharing they provide is very real. Copyright: © Didier Bizet, France, Finalist, Professional, Documentary, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Maria Kokunova Year: 2020 Image Description: Series Name: The Cave Series Description: ‘The Idols of the Cave are the idols of the individual man. For everyone (besides the errors common to human nature in general) has a cave or den of his own, which refracts and discolors the light of nature, owing either to his own proper and peculiar nature.’ Francis Bacon, Novum Organum My childhood was spent in a small stanitsa (Cossack settlement) in Kuban region, Russia. After spending 15 years in a megalopolis, I experienced a desire to escape to the country. It has now been four years since I voluntarily isolated myself in a cosy cave of maternity, living in a country house in Ulyanovka, Leningrad Oblast. I deliberately restrict social contact and limit media consumption – my whole life is bound up in my home, children and art practice. Against all expectations, however, this life – free of any obvious negative external factors – is far from calm and quiet. The notion of the cave has become, for me, the quintessence of what a personal experience is made up of. In ancient myths the cave is a sacred place, often compared to a mini cosmos. It was the birthplace of gods, a site where sacred knowledge was shared and a place where gods went to die. Our ancestors viewed the cave as the beginning of the world, the womb of the universe. The notion of the cave has been connected with the Anima and the cult of the earth mother, the symbol of fertile soil that both gives life and takes it away. Francis Bacon, developing the idea of Plato, stated that the ‘Idols of the Cave’ arise from education and custom – the past of each individual determines how they see things. In psychoanalysis the cave is a symbol of regressive desires and the unconscious. For me, isolation in my own cave triggered a childhood trauma that had not been resolved emotionally – a stress disorder triggered by a series of four deaths and a suicide in the family over a very short period of time. The secluded setting of a country house resurrected memories of tension in the family, and of a pompous and theatrical provincial funeral. Alongside this, an inadequate connection with my external environment caused an increase in anxiety, while the children contributed to my irritability by continuously violating my personal boundaries. As a result, I began to experience problems with self-control. This was coupled with a sense of inadequacy: I would not go out for fear of having an accident and I was scared of the future. The bursts of anger were happening more frequently and I started to take my frustrations out on my husband and children. In the project I am constructing my own personal cave: combining pictures I made in my parents’ house – the site of my unresolved fears – with pictures of the place I am living in now. I am recording the experience of a physical presence in Sablinskiye Caves, near our house in Ulyanovka. Just as sensory deprivation, like that experienced in a real cave, can lead to hallucinations, my memory and imagination produce their own illusions – an imaginary threat – in the closed space of the house, resurrecting scenarios and ghosts from the past. At the same time, motherhood, social isolation and the awakening of primitive instincts such as aggression and fear of death make every moment of life extremely intense and meaningful. An ‘in-cave’ living boosts creativity: it becomes a personal myth, makes a plot for the project and initiates reflexive processes. Copyright: © Maria Kokunova, Russian Federation, Finalist, Professional, Discovery, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Name: Cast Out of Heaven Photographer Name: Hashem Shakeri Year: 2020 Image Description: A portrait of Dorna and Sevda, both 12, walking around the town on a weekend. The new town of Parand is located 30 km southwest of Tehran province. There is literally no entertainment or programs for children and adolescents here. Many of them tend to become affected by depression a while after settlement. Series Name: Cast Out of Heaven Series Description: The current U.S. sanctions against Iran, and the subsequent fall in the value of the rial (Iranian currency), are causing house prices in the country to skyrocket. As a result, many Tehraners have been forced to leave the capital and move to satellite towns where accommodation is more affordable. The Mehr Housing Project, initiated in 2007, was the largest state-funded housing project in the history of Iran. What followed was rapid growth in urban population and the construction of new towns. However, measures to ensure healthy living conditions for the inhabitants of these new towns was insufficient. Parand, Pardis and Hashtgerd, three newly-constructed towns on the margins of Tehran, suffered critical shortcomings. These are huge islands of soaring skyscrapers and indiscriminately developed apartments filled with crowds of people and cars. They begin, but seem to have no end. People from all over Iran are migrating to these new towns, which are becoming notorious for social pathologies like high rates of suicide among pupils and drug abuse. The residents of Parand talk about how the town’s population has doubled over the past six months, reaching 200,000. Yet the town can hardly provide educational, social and health care services for 10,000. Sleep-deprived newcomers leave early in the morning to reach their workplaces in the capital, often commuting for two to three hours a day. The relentless repetition of this cycle leads to alienation and frustration. To add to this, levels of unemployment are escalating. Here is the land of those cast out of their heaven: the metropolitan Tehran. And they all share the bitterness of the fall. Copyright: © Hashem Shakeri, Iran, Finalist, Professional, Discovery, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: José De Rocco Year: 2020 Image Description: Walls to the step… Series Name: Formalisms I Series Description: As a graphic designer, I’m drawn to bold colours and shapes. Formalisms I is the result of three years walking the streets and searching for beauty in places that most people pass by. I tend to take a record shot when I spot something interesting, and then return repeatedly until I get what I need. Form is the main theme for this series, but colour is really important too. Most of the pictures were taken in Argentina, except one that was made in Uruguay. Copyright: © José De Rocco, Argentina, Finalist, Professional, Architecture, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Sandra Herber Year: 2020 Image Description: Ice Fishing Hut. Lake Winnipeg, Canada. Series Name: Ice Fishing Huts, Lake Winnipeg Series Description: Winters in Manitoba, Canada, are long and often bitterly cold. When the temperature drops many lakes and rivers in the province play host to some amazing architecture in the form of ice fishing huts. These huts, shacks or permies (as they are called in Manitoba) must be transportable, protect their occupants from the elements and allow access to the ice below for fishing. With these requirements met, the mostly male owners are free to express their personality and creativity as they wish. The huts can be large or small, decorated or plain, luxurious or utilitarian, but they are all wonderfully unique. I captured these pictures on Lake Winnipeg in December 2019. My hope for this series, which is a continuation of work I started in 2018, is to capture the charm of the huts. By displaying them in a typology, I also hope to allow the unique beauty of each one to shine through. Copyright: © Sandra Herber, Canada, Finalist, Professional, Architecture, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Luke Watson Year: 2020 Image Description: This image was taken by the helmet pinhole Camera. It depicts buildings from the infamous sniper alley in Sarajevo. The aperture for the pinhole camera was made from a bullet hole that most likely killed the wearer. The image performs a reversal of the trajectory of a bullet, ‘shooting’ back at one of the buildings known to have been infamous sniping positions. Series Name: Witness Objects Series Description: Witness Objects features a series of items involved in conflicts ranging from the First World War to the Siege of Sarajevo, converted into pinhole cameras. The pieces range from helmets to empty food cans, each one belonging to an extensive collection held at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These objects are witnesses to events associated with war; each one designed to perform, protect or survive violent acts. They are symbols, artifacts and evidence. Their temporary modification into pinhole cameras has given them an unexpected new function, transitioning them from passive objects into potentially active tools. The work produced with these cameras has a tentative, yet symbolic, connection to the object itself. It references the cyclical nature of conflict, the blurring of fact and fiction and the stories that go undocumented. Copyright: © Luke Watson, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional, Creative, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Name: Kohei Ueno Year: 2020 Image Description: Series Name: The beauty of life, forgiveness, and the power of positive change Series Description: The beauty of life, forgiveness, and the power of positive change by Kohei Ueno looks at the annual migration and slow recovery of the ‘Tongan Tribe’, a pod of whales, which was almost hunted to extinction during the devastating large-scale commercial whaling that occurred during the post-war era.  Copyright: © Kohei Ueno, Japan, Sony Professional Grant, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards