Finalists Announced For Sony World Photography Awards 2016

Photographer Abhijit Banerjee of India: Gangasagar Fair
 
Gangasagar Fair is the second-largest fair in India and the largest in West Bengal and celebrates the harvest. I captured a group of women devotees who had come from Uttar Pradesh state while they worshipped the sun just after their holy dip.

Photographer Chaiyot Chanyam of Thailand: Splashing Birds, Bangkok

I was walking underneath Rama 8 bridge, Bangkok, searching for a subject for street photography. Instead, I noticed two birds sipping water on the bank, unaware of the coming crashing waves. I knew roughly what was going to happen, set my camera for an action shot, and meditated, waiting for a peak moment. Big waves unmercifully hit the bank and splashed all over the two birds.

Photographer Nader Saadallah of Egypt: Impression Lijiang

This is the Impression Lijiang, a cultural show that describes the lifestyle and several interesting traditions of the Naxi, Yi, and Bai people in a colorful and flamboyant outdoor production in Lijiang city, China.

Photographer Christian Spreng of Switzerland: Global Warming Bath

Global warming and the melting of ice caps captured in a lost place, Italy 2015 (assembled in PS)

Photographer Tanveer Rohan of Bangladesh: Playing In Dusty Dusk

Near Dhakas, children attending a school for religious studies play an improvised game of football.

Photographer Gultekin Alkurt of Turkey: My Childhood

This man lives in Istanbul, at Karakoy, in a tiny cabin left to him by his father. He can still smile despite the restricted living conditions.

Photographer Hu Weiguo of China: Heritage Of The Chinese Ancient Kilns

In Ganyao town, Zhejiang Province, laborers work inside a brick kiln. This kiln was built in a traditional manner 150 years ago.

Photographer Krasimir Matarov of Bulgaria: St. Haralambos

Jars of honey are blessed to celebrate the feast day of St. Haralambos, the day of the beekeepers. On that day, people bring jars to the church to be blessed. There is a tradition to light candles attached to the honey jars and put them on tables ordered in the shape of the cross.

Photographer Pedro Diaz Molins of Spain: Planned Obsolescence

The photographer interprets the concept of aging.

 

Photographer Imre Potyó of Hungary: Dancing With Stars

After a few decades, the Danube mayfly has returned to the Danube River, probably due to the increasing water quality.

Photographer Tugo Cheng of Hong Kong: Farming At Sea

Off the coast of southern China, a man fishes in an area constructed for aquaculture.

Photographer Ivan Kavaldzhiev of Bulgaria: Snow-White And Rose-Red

The photographer interprets a Grimm's fairy tale.
 

Photographer Wang LiJun of China: Hitting Tree Flowers

“Hitting Tree Flowers” is the local terminology used to describe a tradition of He Bei Province that has been around for over 500 years. People spread molten iron onto the ancient city walls and the iron splashes into beautiful sparkles, which locals call “tree flowers.”

Photographer Tino Solomon of the U.K.: The Stairway To Hell

The Milky Way rises over the Darwaza crater in the Karakum desert, northwest Turkmenistan. Two explorers peer into its fiery depths, known by the local Turkmen as the Door to Hell. In 1971, Soviet scientists discovered an underground cavern with an accumulation of gas. It was set on fire to avoid a toxic release into nearby villages in the hope it would burn out within days. Yet, 45 years later, it continues to burn. Often described as the world's most beautiful ecological disaster.

Photographer Jason McGroarty of Ireland: Totem Fox

I wanted to capture the heart-stopping moment when the wild breaches the barriers of the city and reminds us that the line between humans and wildlife is not as clearcut as we would like to believe, and that in the animal kingdom, the only thing we can count on is unpredictability, that the unexpected should be expected. 

Photographer Nikunj Rathod of India: Bird Hunter

The photo was taken in Mumbai in November 2015. I was cycling through an abandoned area one afternoon when I came across a few kids who were aiming for birds in the sky using a slingshot. I managed to convince them to demonstrate their shooting skills by aiming for an empty bottle. Shockingly, the situation became quite competitive among them as each wanted to perform better than their colleagues.

Photographer Oleksii Leonov of Ukraine: The Wrath Of The Gods

Photo taken during a thunderstorm in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Photographer Longxiang Xie of China: Snowing Heavily

Buddhist monks walking to a ceremony in heavy snow at the Langmu Temple, China