The Extraordinary Photos Awarded in the 2021 Sony World Photography Competition

The Sony World Photography Awards, arranged by the World Photography Organization, just announced the winners of its annual Open Competition. The competition recognizes the best single images across 10 categories, including architecture, creative, landscape, lifestyle, motion, natural world and wildlife, object, portraiture, street photography, and travel. These are the winners in each category from this year’s Sony World Photography Awards.

Drying Fish — Travel

A photograph of a lone woman surrounded by hundreds of trays of drying fish in the Long Hai fish market in Ba Ria, Vung Tau, Vietnam. Taken from above, the pattern of the fish in trays resembles a large piece of fabric with the woman seemingly weaving it all together.

Girl Power — Motion

A black-and-white photograph recording the moment when a woman dives off a cliff on the island of Lokrum near Dubrovnik, Croatia, while her friends stand by and watch.

Little Kiss — Natural World & Wildlife

An amusing picture of a hare looking out into the field with its tongue sticking out.

Memento — Object

A photo depicting a tailor’s mannequin in an empty room. For Zih, the stillness of the scene evokes a feeling of solitude and stirs up memories of lockdown.

Son — Portraiture

This photo features a young child sitting on a table while gazing into space, lost in contemplation. The photograph shows another side to childhood, one of calmness and reflection.

Disinfection — Street Photography

A cinematic image documenting an employee of the Health Affairs unit of Ankara Municipality in protective gear walking along the train platform while spraying it with disinfectant.

African Victorian — Creative

A portrait of a young Black woman dressed in Victorian dress and holding traditional Shona cooking utensils. The image probes at stereotypical contextualizing of the Black female body and offers an alternative visual language through which a multifaceted African identity is presented.

The Blue Window — Architecture

Klaus Lenzen (Germany) for The Blue Window, depicting a ramp of stairs at the Hyatt hotel in Düsseldorf ascending towards a window from which a view of clear blue skies is reflected. Seemingly floating in space, the stairs and window are framed in dark shadows that highlight the design while also adding an element of surrealism.

Dias de Playa — Lifestyle

A softly focused picture of two women enjoying a morning walk on the beach in Alicante, Spain.

Electric Storm on Lavender — Landscape

A dramatic photograph capturing the moment lighting strikes a flowering field of lavender with a solitary tree at its center, set against a dusky evening sky. Taken in the province of Guadalajara, Spain.