Free Weekly Photography Contest | Photographer of the Week 11, 2026

From March 09, 2026, to March 15, 2026

Photographer of the Week | Photographer of the Week

Vietnam

Selling Hope, Buying Existence from series The Silent Market © Hùng Anh Nguyễn

Behind the Shot: Selling Hope, Buying Existence

This image captures a suffocating reality where a market stall is no different from an artificial cave built from thousands of cluttered items. Surrounded on all sides by Buddha statues, joss paper, and goods piled to the ceiling, the woman sits swallowed whole by her very "livelihood." The solitary neon light doesn't create a magical glow; instead, it only highlights the grittiness, dust, and claustrophobia of an oxygen-deprived space. This is the raw face of small-scale retail: humans imprisoning themselves in dark, cramped "holes" all day long, patiently clinging to a forest of objects just to exist. Her distant gaze isn't one of meditation, but rather the weary resignation of a life besieged within a survival cave with no exit.

Expert Juror

Sandrine Hermand-Grisel

Photographer, Founder & Editor All About Photo

www.hermandgrisel.com | @allaboutphotocom

Sandrine Hermand-Grisel is a photographer, curator, and editor of All About Photo, an international platform dedicated to supporting photographers worldwide. Born in Paris, France, and raised between Paris and London, she moved to the United States in 2006, where she further developed her connection to the global photography community.

In 2013, she co-founded All About Photo with her husband, creating a space designed to give photographers greater visibility and exposure. More than a cultural guide, the platform has become a trusted resource for photographers and photography enthusiasts alike, featuring curated exhibitions, competitions, and editorial content.

A central part of the platform is the All About Photo Awards, which she has helped shape over the years in collaboration with renowned photographers and curators such as Liu Bolin, Ann Jastrab, Ed Kashi, Eli Klein, Jules Maeght, Aline Smithson, Ami Vitale, Stephen Vanfleteren, Sabine Weiss, Frank Horvat, Elizabeth Avedon, Laurent Baheux, Ian Berry, Claudine Doury, Denis Dailleux, Hiroshi Watanabe and many others. She has also served as a juror and curator for numerous international galleries and organizations.

Her own photographic work has been published in books and magazines and exhibited in galleries and museums internationally.

Today, while continuing her personal work, she focuses primarily on discovering and promoting emerging and established photographers through All About Photo. She is also the editor-in-chief of AAP Magazine, a publication dedicated exclusively to showcasing outstanding photographic portfolios.