A modern point of view
LensCulture has announced the winners of its annual Exposure Awards, showcasing the best in contemporary photography.
Elena Anosova's winning series, Out-of-the-way, explores life in the extreme north of Russia. The images show the isolation of this region. "Life has not changed for centuries in that remote area surrounded by pristine wilderness," says Anosova.
Second place in the series category went to Armenian Areg Balayan for a project on the military. It was partly completed while the photographer was a private in the Karabakh Defence Army.
Third place for a series went to Antoine Bruy for Outback Mythologies: The White Man's Hole, a project looking at the history of the Australian town of Coober Pedy.
Jonathan Bachman's now famous photograph won first place for a single image. The image shows Ieshia Evans standing calmly in front of two police officers, who are wearing layers of armour and appearing to approach her in a hurry. The demonstration in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, organised by civil rights group Black Lives Matter took place days after police killed Alton Sterling.
Part of a series documenting the daily life of two sisters in Montpellier, France, Sandra Mehl's photograph captures childhood adventure. The shot won third place for a single image.
Forty-four photographers were recognised in this year's competition. Nadir Bucan was one of the other finalists. His photograph shows boys on donkeys carrying milk bins outside their village of Toreli, near Van in Turkey.
Rasmus Degnbol's image is of a rubber dinghy full of refugees arriving on the coast of Greek island Lesbos. "My project, Europe’s New Borders, offers a sense of scale on the dehumanised border crisis unfolding in Europe throughout the last two years," he says.
In Chinese Style Network Life, Jingli Wu documents the experience of visitors to internet cafes in China.
Alan O'Riordan's picture, captured in Hon Ro, near Nha Trang, Vietnam, shows a woman called Nga repairing fishing nets.
Stefan Kleinowitz's portrait is of Abdul, a 17-year-old orphan, who spent four years in a maximum security prison in Freetown, Sierra Leone. All this year’s winners, jurors’ picks, finalists and student spotlights can be viewed at lensculture.com/2017-lensculture-exposure-award-winners