Istanbul Photo Awards winner depicts climate change

By Dildar Baykan

NEW YORK

A winner of the 2018 Istanbul Photo Awards hopes to increase awareness on environmental change with his work displayed overseas.

The U.S. daily Los Angeles Times photojournalist Marcus Yam won first prize in the story nature and environment category of the 2018 Istanbul Photo Awards with his photo series depicting the blazing palms in the 2017 California forest fire.

Yam told Anadolu Agency how he applied to the contest during the opening of the 2018 Istanbul Photo Awards at the UN headquarters:

"I was just wrapping up my body of work from California wildfires and I was looking to get as much exposure on that topic. I saw that the contest had the environmental category.

Showing his photo of blazing palm trees, Yam said, "This one specifically -- why did I choose this? This photo is emblematic of the beautiful nature of wildfires."

Yam said his award-winning photographs represents the “beauty and terror” of the fires.

"Wildfires are destructive and horrific but I chose this photo partly because it's representing so much beauty and so much terror," Yam said, adding that palm trees are the symbol of California.

Expressing his gratitude for being amongst the other great photographers, Yam said, "It feels good to be standing alongside the people you have always looked up to."

“I hope that my work will increase awareness on our future when it is exhibited overseas,” Yam added.

The photojournalist said he entered this body of work because it was emblematic in the “frontlines” of the change facing today’s environment.

The winners of the competition took their awards home, with Bosnian Damir Sagolj’s photograph depicting a child in a Rohingya camp in Bangladesh being named “Photo of the Year”.

Roughly 37,000 photos from 125 countries entered the contest sponsored by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB), Turkish Airlines (THY) and Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) but 27 photographers from 22 countries were awarded among them.

Kevin Frayer from Canada was the winner of the story news category for photos of Rohingya.

German Lukas Schulze was awarded the first prize in single sports category.

Schulze's photo titled "Athlete versus Animal" was taken during the 17th FINA World Swimming Championship 2017 in Budapest.

Pavel Volkov from Russia won first prize in the story sports category with his picture of a handicapped athlete.

Malaysian photographer Muhamed Fathil Asri was given first prize in the single nature and environment category.

His photo taken from above shows vehicles moving to an old bus terminal to escape the flood in Malaysia's Pekan Rantau Panjang in early 2017.

Andrew McConnell from Ireland won the story portrait category and Russian photographer Sergei Stroitelev won the story daily life prize.

Filipino photographer Ezra Acayan was given the young photographer award.

Rodrigo Cabrita from Portugal claimed the honorary award in story nature and environment, while Russian Anastasia Rudenko won the same award in story daily life category.

All winning photos are available on "www.istanbulphotoawards.com" and professional photographers can apply for the next year's Istanbul Photo Awards contest on the same website from Nov. 1, 2018 to Jan. 31, 2019.


2018 Istanbul Photo Awards
Author Sibel Uğurlu,Ahmet Salih Alacacı
Copyright Edited by Kübra Chohan