Winners of the Depositphotos Photography Contest 2020

This summer international photobank Depositphotos launched their first photography contest to support independent photographers in their artistic and professional pursuits. The theme of the contest was “Authenticity 2.0” to encourage participants to share their vision of authenticity, capturing candid moments in everyday life. In just one month and a half, 1884 photographers submitted their works to the contest and shared over 5,200 images under the hashtag #authenticity_is.

The competition was judged by independent international award-winning photographers Daro Sulakauri, Rosa Roth, Eldar Khamitov, Mikael Theimer, and Kate Kondratieva

They evaluated the works based on the following criteria: adherence to theme, uniqueness of concept, creative composition and framing, technical excellence/execution, overall artistic impression.

The winners of the Depositphotos Photography Contest
1st PLACE: Stefano Zocca, @stefano.zocca, Italy

2nd PLACE: Katalin Száraz, @katalin_szaraz, France

3rd PLACE: Mohammad Hedayet Sarker, @hedayetsarker, Bangladesh

Works of participants from the shortlist of the competition

Explore these inspiring, creative, and interesting works from photographers from all over the world from the contest shortlist that made it to the top 10.

Anna Zograf, @ever.ydaysummer

Khánh Phan, @ptkhanhhvnh
All about Khánh Phan

Saurabh Sirohiya, @saurabh_sirohiya_photography

Ramazan Cirakoglu, @photo_raman

Khánh Phan, @ptkhanhhvnh
All about Khánh Phan

Dina Alfasi, @dinalf

Azim Khan Ronnie, @azimronnie
All about Azim Khan Ronnie

More entries can be viewed on the Depositphotos blog, on the contest page, and under the hashtag #authenticity_is on Instagram.

Michael Joseph: Lost & Found

By Michael Joseph

Publisher : Kehrer Verlag

2024 | 144 pages

Lost & Found documents a contemporary American subculture of young Travelers through raw, striking portraiture and intimate storytelling. These Travelers abandon home to move around the country by hitchhiking and freight train hopping in a nomadic, transient existence outside of mainstream society. Along their personal journey driven by wanderlust, escapism, or a search for transient jobs, they find a new family in their traveling friends.

The high of freedom, however, does not come without consequence. The black and white portraits are made in public, on the street, using natural light. Individual stories, as a collection, form a greater narrative. Over ten years in the making, Joseph’s portraits reveal the human condition. They capture courage, tenderness, and determination in his subjects that have been largely ignored and unseen.

An incredible book that we highly recommend! All About Photo

All About Michael Joseph

Nick Brandt: Sink / Rise, The Day May Break: Chapter Three

By Nick Brandt

Publisher : Hatje Cantz

2024 | 120 pages

Through his widely acclaimed work, English photographer Nick Brandt (1964) addresses pressing environmental issues, consistently highlighting mankind’s impact upon the natural world. His work is truly a fusion of artistry and activism, and he is best known for capturing the majestic landscapes of Africa as well as intimate portraits of its wildlife. Sink / Rise is the third chapter of The Day May Break, an ongoing global series portraying ecological degradation and destruction. This chapter adopts a slightly different approach than its predecessors: taking humans, rather than animals or landscapes, as his subjects. Sink / Rise focuses on South Pacific Islanders impacted by rising oceans from climate change. The people in these photos, photographed underwater in the ocean off the coast of the Fijian islands, are local representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the water rises. In Brandt’s images, the Islanders sit down at tables, stand on chairs and embrace―all the while, their pinched expressions reveal the desperation of their asphyxiating condition.

All About Nick Brandt

Lisa McCord: Rotan Switch

By Lisa McCord:

Publisher : Kehrer Verlag

2024 | 204 pages

Rotan Switch is the first monograph by Lisa McCord, documenting life on her grandparents’ cotton farm in the Arkansas Delta community of Rotan. It takes its name from the community’s central landmark—the railroad switch where farmers loaded their cotton bales onto trains headed out of the Delta. Although it hasn’t been used in years, it remains a potent symbol of the complex intersections of industry and agriculture, of race and injustice. Collected over the last forty-four years, these images and stories are a reflection on the people and places that have taught McCord the meaning of the word home. It is also a self-exploration into her inherently complicated role in this community as both the photographer and the granddaughter of the farm owner.
This publication is a long-term project, constructed from McCord's analog photographs, family snapshots and ephemera. Including, monochrome photographs, color polaroids, and recipes.

Christer Strömholm

By Christer Strömholm

Publisher : Dewi Lewis Publishing

2024 | 296 pages

Christer Strömholm is recognised as one of the major figures of 20th century European photography. Strömholm captured his surroundings in black‐and‐white images that display his integrity, understated humour and a highly personal aesthetic. With an unmistakable sensitivity to human suffering, based on his personal experience, he took photography in a new direction. Sean O’Hagan, writing in The Guardian, has described him “as the father of Swedish photography both for his abiding influence and for his role as a teacher.”

Winners of the Depositphotos Photography Contest 2020

Discover all the winners

Selected Books