Even though this year proved to be a hard one, the creative community seemed to pool all their visionary thoughts and brought them to live. Entrants of the Budapest International Foto Awards have shown us once again that no crises can stand in the way of art and creativity. To demonstrate this, we have compiled the best people photography this year that moved us on a deep level.
Winner of the First Place in People photography, Wei Ding brought us an engaging representation of the classic scripts of Chinese medicine, the 7 emotions —ecstasy, fury, worry, reverie, grief, terror, and shock — in other words, the causes of chaos. If these emotions are left untamed, they can disrupt the heart, intestines, and the Qi of a balanced body.
In Italy in Serra San Bruno, still today coal is produced as it was once done, a very accurate processing without any mechanical means but using only the hands. In addition to its charm, this craft has a characteristic, which has been handed down from father to son for several generations.
This photo series shows the journey of the photographer in his fight with depression: "Finding antidepressants unhelpful, I decided to get out of Moscow and find somewhere I could be happier, chronicling my own experiences. But the depression followed me. People imagine that depression is like ordinary unhappiness, only more so. It isn’t. And the things we typically do to cheer ourselves up can’t be relied on as treatments."
Heartbreaking and thought-evoking, this photo depicts a little girl in Transylvania. During Christmas, she was looking for wood for fire. The very poor and poverty stricken family is unemployed. For them, the survival from one day to the next it is a big challenge.
The photographer loves to create something unique for each couple, this time it was in Los Angeles at Walt Disney Concert Hall: the moment they got in one corner he saw that light bouncing on the wall and at the same time their reflection was on the wall. He positioned the couple on that pocket of light and asked them just to dance.
The coal fields in Jharia at the heart of India's coal belt have been burning for more than 100 years. Villages perched on the edge of the pits still house people, threatening to collapse from one day to the next. Open pit mining is expanding in the region having a profound impact on the environment and the people who live here. Every morning before sunrise the coal fields and disused mines come alive with scavengers who pilfer coal to sell on the black market in order to make a meagre living. For the new generation growing up here, will this be the only way of life too?
What is a blue zone? In recent years, the photographer has visited these places renowned for the vitality and well-being of their elderly. The blue zones are the five regions of the world with the highest concentrations of centenarians and where life expectancy is exceptionally high because of the lifestyle practiced by their inhabitants. She went to meet the centenarians of these zones, sharing their daily lives, sometimes living under their roof, documenting their lifestyle through photography.
Sisters, dancers, teammates. In their eyes we can read all the deep feelings of a family story. Three sisters with a gothic mood and an impressive location. A great contrast between the beauty of three young girls and a dark mood given by the style. The result was an intimate series who showed the close relationship between these three sisters and dancers in some unusual poses.
Two friends since childhood have a dream to travel the Aguapey River in Argentina aboard a self-built canoe in search of the legendary fish "Dorado".
Carol Mayer was left near death following a house fire when a young mother. She incurred horrific burns to over 80 percent of her body ... her family were told she would not survive. However, survive she did after enduring the year long agony of intensive care, operations and skin grafts to recovery. Over a decade on, Carol gives her time voluntarily to counsel and help later day burns victims and assist burns foundations. Carol has long grown accustomed to “The Skin I’m In’.
