BANGLADESHI PHOTOGRAPHER WINS TPOTY 2009

Stunning images take the title in most international entry to date

The 2009 international Travel Photographer of the Year awards have, for the first time, been won by a Bangladeshi photographer. G.M.B. Akash’s vibrant yet poignant images of rail travel in his home country and his portfolio depicting the ship-breaking industry in Pakistan all showed how imagery can tell a story, and won unanimous praise from the judges.

As well as being awarded the title of Travel Photographer of the Year 2009, Akash wins Adobe CS4 Web Premium software, an Apple MacBook Pro 13" with Aperture 2 software, a Mountain Paradise trip to Slovakia’s Tatra Mountains, an ILFORD Lightjet 40" x 30" silver gelatin print of one of his images, a 16GB Lexar CompactFlash & Lexar Professional card reader, a Plastic Sandwich leather portfolio book and a Wacom Intuos4 S pen tablet.

Many thousands of images were received from photographers in almost 70 countries this year, the greatest spread of international entries in the awards’ history.

The Young Travel Photographer of the Year award was won by 15 year-old Courtney Krawec from Australia.

The New Talent award by Taylor Weidman (USA) and individual category prizes have been won by photographers from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, India, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, UK and USA.

The entries were judged by a panel of experts that included the photographic director of Conde Nast Traveller, renowned photographers Steve Bloom, Jeremy Hoare, Nick Meers, and Chris Weston, and the editors of British Journal of Photography, Practical Photography and Germany’s Fotomagazin.

As always, TPOTY offered a great selection of prizes, from sponsors Adobe, HARMAN/ILFORD, Jacobs Digital Photo & Video, Intrepid Travel, LEE Filters, Lexar, Linhof Studio, Mountain Paradise, Photo Iconic, Plastic Sandwich, Rough Guides and Wacom.

TPOTY founder and judge, Chris Coe, said, “We have been delighted by the high standard of entries this year. When we launched TPOTY 2009, given the economic climate, we could not judge how well supported the awards would be. However across the board, from the fantastic support from our sponsors, to the incredible response from our entrants, it’s been absolutely superb and the winning images are outstanding. Each year the awards throw up a diverse range of travel-related imagery, encompassing every genre of style, from landscape, wildlife and portraiture through to reportage. Yet again we have a different style of winner, and it is heartening to see so many portfolios tell a story through imagery.”

Winning images online, in print and on display

The winning images from TPOTY 2009 can be viewed online in the Winners’ Gallery at www.tpoty.com and will be published in the new Travel Photographer of the Year book Journey Three, which will be available in February 2010. Containing the winning and other highly-placed images from the past three years of the TPOTY awards, Journey Three is priced at £25.00. And the winning images will be given their first public display at Adventure Travel Live at the Royal Horticultural Halls, London on January 29^th, 30^th and 31^st, 2010, where showgoers will be able to buy the first copies of Journey Three. Visitors to www.tpoty.com can save over 50% on tickets to Adventure Travel Live.

Category winners

Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2009

Open to photographers aged 16 and under, Young TPOTY was won by 15 year old Courtney Krawec (Australia), who will receive private photo tuition with Photo Iconic, Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom software, an 8GB Lexar Professional CF card and Lexar Professional card reader, and a Wacom Bamboo Fun pen tablet.

Four runners-up – Dan Leitch (UK), Josh Zimber (USA), Oscar Lebeck (Germany) and Pujavenkat Kolluru  (India) will each receive a 4GB Lexar Professional CF card, Adobe Photoshop Elements  & Premiere Elements plus a copy of Earthbound: a Rough Guide to the World in Pictures.

New Talent: A Traveller's Tale

Americans dominated here, finishing first, second and third. Taylor Weidman’s haunting tale of Romania’s orphans took top honours in this category, which challenged entrants to construct their own Traveller’s Tale, on any subject they chose. His prize is a place on a Photo Iconic photography course at the Tatra Mountains Photography Centre in Slovakia with Mountain Paradise, Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom software plus £300 to spend with Linhof Studio, Plastic Sandwich personalised leather portfolio book, and an 8GB Lexar Professional CF card and Lexar Professional card reader. And he will have his images showcased in the Travel Shooters Photographers’ Showcase on www.tpoty.com.

Douglas Ljungkvist (USA), Shelby Karns (USA) and Kym Morris (Australia), the runner-up, Highly Commended and Commended entrants respectively, each win a 4GB Lexar Professional CF card.

Portfolio category: Homeland

Poras Chaudhary’s vivid images of his home country of India won top marks in this category, and for his prize Poras will head for China with Intrepid Travel, and receive a Wacom Intuos4 M pen tablet, plus an 8GB Lexar Professional CF Card and Lexar Professional card reader.

Karoki Lewis (India/UK) was runner-up, Craig Easton (UK) Highly Commended and Ron Tear (UK) Commended.

Runners-up in each of the three portfolio categories win a 4GB Lexar Professional CF Card, plus £250 worth of LEE filters and a copy of Rough Guides’ Earthbound, while Highly Commended entrants receive a 4GB Lexar Professional CF Card and a copy of Earthbound, and Commended entrants win a 4GB Lexar CF Professional Card.

Portfolio category: Natural Wonders

The category for the wildlife and landscape photographers was won by British photographer Craig Churchill’s striking but gritty images of polar bears feeding on a rotting fin whale carcass. For his prize Craig will travel to Costa Rica with Intrepid Travel and receives a 26” NEC SpectraView® high-end professional widescreen LCD monitor, and an 8GB Lexar Professional CF Card and Lexar Professional card reader.

Daisy Gilardini (Switzerland) was runner-up, Sue Flood (UK) Highly Commended and Louis Montrose (USA) Commended.

Portfolio category: People of the World

Martin Edström (Sweden) won this portfolio category with his images exploring the lives of fishermen from Cape Verde. His prize is a trip to Morocco with Intrepid Travel, the versatile Wacom Cintiq 12WX interactive pen display and an 8GB Lexar Professional CF Card and Lexar Professional card reader. Karoki Lewis (India/UK) was runner-up, Larry Louie (Canada) Highly Commended and Lasse Damgaard (Denmark) Commended.