The results of the TPOTY (Travel Photographer of the Year) 2010 competition have been announced. Canadian humanitarian documentary photographer and optometrist Dr. Larry Louie has been named the overall winner for his black and white images of Mali and China. TPOTY founder Chris Coe said, “So often images fail to make an impact or leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Aside from being beautiful, sumptuous images in their own right, Larry’s photographs linger, inviting you in to explore their intricate detail and fascinating textures. It is great to see the B&W medium used so well to capture scenes which are so obviously rich in colour, leaving the viewer to paint in as much or as little as they wish.”

TPOTY Press Release

‘ATMOSPHERIC’ IMAGES DOMINATE TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AS CANADIAN OPTOMETRIST TAKES THE 2010 TITLE

Canadian humanitarian documentary photographer and optometrist Dr. Larry Louie has taken top honours in the 2010 international Travel Photographer of the Year awards (TPOTY), with stunning, highly atmospheric portfolios of black and white images of Mali and China.

Photographers in over 70 countries submitted thousands of images for this year’s contest. Entrants from 34 countries were shortlisted and photographers from 18 countries scooped individual category awards. The judges unanimously agreed that his beautiful, very distinctive shots made Larry - who uses his photography as a platform to highlight the work of the eyesight charity Seva Canada – a very worthy overall winner.

TPOTY founder Chris Coe said, “So often images fail to make an impact or leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Aside from being beautiful, sumptuous images in their own right, Larry’s photographs linger, inviting you in to explore their intricate detail and fascinating textures. It is great to see the B&W medium used so well to capture scenes which are so obviously rich in colour, leaving the viewer to paint in as much or as little as they wish. Larry demonstrates a strong understanding of both light and tonal range so often missing in digitally captured B&W imagery. His shot of the 45-degree trainee Buddhist monk defying gravity on the wooden ladder just makes me smile no matter how many times I view it.”

As always, TPOTY offered a great selection of prizes from sponsors Adobe Systems, Inc., Genesis Imaging, Intrepid Travel, LEE Filters, Lexar, Photo Iconic, Plastic Sandwich, Wacom and Young Photographers Alliance for the winners, runner-up, highly commended and commended entrants in each category.

In addition to the title of Travel Photographer of the Year 2010, Larry wins a £1,000 TPOTY cash bursary, an Intrepid Travel trip to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, Adobe CS5 Design Premium software, a Lexar® Professional 400x 32GB CompactFlash® card and Lexar Professional Dual-Slot card reader, and a customised leather portfolio from Plastic Sandwich.

The Young Travel Photographer of the Year award went to 17 year-old British photographer Kat Waters, who was also one of the recipients of the inaugural TPOTY/Young Photographers Alliance Emerging Talent Awards. Norwegian photographer Ivar August Bull (age 18) also won a YPA Award, along with first prize in the Young TPOTY age 15-18 Big World Small World - People category.  14 year-old Chase Guttman (USA) took first prize in the Young TPOTY age 14 and under category, and 15 year-old Haoqing Cheng became the first Chinese entrant to feature amongst the prizewinners.

The New Talent award was won by Eric Kruszewski (USA) and Sweden’s Maja Flink finished first in the Adventures category. In the portfolio categories, Richard Murai (USA) won World in Motion, Quintin Lake (UK) came out on top in Amazing Places and James Morgan (UK) won Encounters. Alex Masi (Italy) won Best Single Image in Encounters, Matjaz Krivic (Slovenia) Best Single Image in Amazing Places and Jordi Cohen Colldeforns (Spain) Best Single Image in World in Motion. The beginners’ category – First Shot – was won by Brian Powell (USA/Canada) and Stuart Beesley (UK).

Winning images online and on display
The winning images can be viewed online in the Winners’ Gallery on www.tpoty.com, and will make their public debut at the TPOTY exhibition at Adventure Travel Live in London (January 28-30). TPOTY is also running Travel Photography Seminars at Adventure Travel Live, giving photo fans the chance to learn from the experts, such as Steve Bloom and Chris Weston, and talk photography with award-winning photographers, TPOTY judges and representatives from photo mags, image libraries and picture buyers.

“One striking element from this year’s judging was how images really come alive when printed well. So many competitions now use only online judging but I’m firmly of the belief that this simply masks some good images and makes other less accomplished ones look better than they are. It’s a joy to judge prints and all the best ones have a truly tactile element which makes them come alive. I hope people will take the time to come to our exhibitions to see them ‘in the flesh’ rather than just viewing them small online,” commented Chris Coe.

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS AND PRIZES

Young Travel Photographer of the Year
Kat Waters, the Young Travel Photographer of the Year wins Adobe Photoshop CS5 & Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software, a Lexar Professional 400x 16GB CompactFlash card & Lexar Professional Dual-Slot card reader, a Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch tablet, and a YPA portfolio review and feedback.

Chase Guttman (USA), the winner of YTPOTY Big World, Small World, age 14 and under receives Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software, a Photo Iconic image critique session and a Lexar Professional 400x 8GB CompactFlash card, as does Ivar August Bull (Norway), the winner of the age YTPOTY ‘Big World Small World - People’ age 15-18 category.

Two young British photographers - Gali Lucas (age 18) and Samuel Baylis (age 14) win Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software and a Photo Iconic critique session for being runners-up in the 15-18 YTPOTY People category and the Under 14 section respectively. There was no winner in the 15-18 YTPOTY ‘Big World Small World – Environment’ category, but 17 year-old Freddie Reed (UK) and 15 year-old Haoqing Cheng (China) were each Commended, and will receive a TPOTY Journey book.

Young Photographers Alliance Emerging Talent Award
This award was given by the judges to the most interesting entry from a photographer, aged 25 years and under, in either the New Talent or Young Travel Photographer of the Year categories. The judges were so impressed with some of the entries from younger photographers that two winners were chosen - Kat Waters and Ivar August Bull. They each receive a place on the YPA mentoring programme and feedback sessions with the editorial staff of the British Journal of Photography, and will be offered representation by Axiom Photographic Agency.

‘New Talent - Sell it! - award
New Talent winner Eric Kruszewski will journey to India and Nepal with Intrepid Travel, receive Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software, a Young Photographers Alliance portfolio review a Lexar Professional 400x 16GB CompactFlash card and Lexar Professional Dual-Slot card reader, and a customised leather portfolio from Plastic Sandwich. He will also be offered representation by Axiom, England’s premier travel photographic agency.

The runner-up in this category, Kimberly Walker (USA) receives a Lexar Professional 400x 8GB CompactFlash® memory card and a Young Photographer’s Alliance portfolio review. The Highly Commended entrant, James Cresswell (UK) wins a TPOTY Journey book and a Photo Iconic image critique session, and the two Commended entrants, Christopher Martin (Canada) and Jari Vipele (Finland) each win a Photo Iconic critique session.

Portfolio Categories
James Morgan (UK), winner of the Encounters portfolio category, receives a £500 TPOTY cash bursary, Adobe Photoshop CS5 & Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software, a Wacom Intuos 4 Medium pen tablet and a Lexar Professional 400x 16GB CompactFlash card and Lexar Professional Dual-Slot card reader. Jordi Cohen Colldeforns (Spain) was runner-up, Guylain Doyle (Canada) was Highly Commended and Kym Morris (Australia), who finished fourth in the 2009 New Talent category, built on last year’s success and was Commended here.

Quintin Lake (UK), winner of the Amazing Places portfolio category, receives a £500 TPOTY cash bursary, Adobe Photoshop CS5 & Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software, a Wacom Intuos 4 Wireless pen tablet and Lexar Professional 400x 16GB CompactFlash card and Lexar Professional Dual-Slot card reader.  Timothy Allen (UK) was runner-up in this category, David Pinzer (Germany) Highly Commended, and Richard Murai (USA) and Luke Duggleby (UK) were both Commended.

Richard Murai (USA) won the World in Motion portfolio category and receives a Wacom Cintiq 12WX interactive pen display, a £500 TPOTY cash bursary, Adobe Photoshop CS5 & Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software, and Lexar Professional 400x 16GB CompactFlash card and Lexar Professional Dual-Slot card reader. Hans Kemp (Netherlands) was runner-up, Dougie Wallace (UK) Highly Commended and Simon Hathaway (UK) Commended.

Each portfolio category runner up receives £250 worth of Lee Filters, a Lexar Professional 400x 8GB CompactFlash card, and a Photo Iconic critique. Highly Commended entrants win a TPOTY Journey portfolio book and a Photo Iconic critique, while Commended entrants receive a Photo Iconic critique.

Best Single Image in a Portfolio Award
Alex Masi (Italy) took the honours in Encounters, Matjaz Krivic (Slovenia) in Amazing Places and Jordi Cohen Colldeforns in World in Motion. Each receives Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software and a 24” x 20” Giclée exhibition print from Genesis Imaging. Special mention was given in Encounters to Poras Chaudhary (India), Daisy Gilardini (Switzerland), Matjaz Krivic and Guylain Doyle (Canada), to Chris Berragan (UK), Lukasz Kuczkowski (Poland) and Richard Murai in Amazing Places, and to Daisy Gilardini in World in Motion.

Single Image Categories
The One Shot category, Adventures, was open to amateur and professional photographers aged 19 and over. The winner, Maja Flink (Sweden) joins Intrepid Travel on an adventurous 10-day overland trip across Botswana and receives Adobe Photoshop CS5 & Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 plus a Lexar Professional 400x 16GB CompactFlash card and Lexar Professional Dual-Slot card reader. Runner-up, Tim Barker (Australia) receives a Lexar Professional 400x 8GB CompactFlash card, and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3. The Highly Commended entrant, Timothy Allen (UK) wins a TPOTY Journey portfolio book and a Photo Iconic critique, while Commended entrants, Lizzie Shepherd (UK) and Marsel van Oosten (Netherlands) win a Photo Iconic critique.

First Shot – Festival of Colour - beginners’ category winners Stuart Beesley (UK) and Brian Powell (USA/Canada) each receive a place on a Photo Iconic photography course plus Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software. Three runners-up - Maddie Shrotri (UK), Jeanette Seflin (Sweden) and Luke Regan (UK) win a place on a Photo Iconic course, and five Commended entrants - Maddie Shrotri (second entry), Jeff Howard (USA), Emily Craven (Australia), Dominik Siedlecki (Poland) and Natanya van der Lingen (South Africa) each receive a Photo Iconic image critique session.

All the previous winners of the TPOTY awards can be seen in the Winners’ Gallery on www.tpoty.com, and in the ‘Journey’ series of books from Travel Photographer. The most recent of these, Journey Three, was published in March, and contains the winning images from the 2007, 2008 and 2009 awards. Priced £25, it is available at bookshops and from www.tpoty.com.

Full details of the awards can be found on www.tpoty.com.

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Photo: Larry Louie

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