Florida Museum of Photographic Arts is pleased to launch its 10th Annual International Photography Competition. The competition is featured online (here) and on our 10X10 outdoor digital screen at the top of Cube 200, FMoPA's museum building.  

People/Portraits

‍First Place and Best in Show: Fazilat Soukhakian – “Queer In Utah”, Erin & Amy, 2019
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‍The new generation of LGBTQ+ Mormons in Utah is changing the course of its historic struggle between their sexual identity and the conflicts with their religious beliefs, by publicly acting on their sexuality while some of them still practice their faith. Despite the Church’s strict teachings, they are determined in their pursuit of love, each taking their own path by either enduring through the scrutiny of their surroundings or taking a step away from the Church. Generally, the social framework of the LDS Church has resulted in a path of dilemmas and self-doubt for many people looking to make the hard decision whether or not to act on their desires. This project aims to take a look at some of those paths taken and the struggles that are endured by many of the brave millennials that are persistent in their quest for self-discovery and affirmation.
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‍Fazilat Soukhakian is an Iranian artist, photographer and scholar. She has received her BFA in Photography from the University of Tehran (Iran), and subsequently started her career as a photojournalist. In the US, she received her MFA, and a Ph.D in Architectural History and Visual Studies from the department of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning at the University of Cincinnati. Fazilat transitioned into the world of academics, complementing her art practice, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Photography at the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University. She considers herself a visual storyteller who observes and records her concerns regarding social and political issues that surround her as a means for social change and justice. Her work reflects on contemporary issues concerning gender inequality, gender segregation, and the loss of national identity. Her photography projects have been shown throughout national and international exhibitions and she has received a multitude of awards and recognition.

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Places/Landscapes/Drone

‍First Place: Attila Balogh – Larung Gar, 2019

Attila Balogh is an award-winning photographer based in Shanghai. Born in Hungary, he’s been living in China for over two decades. Besides landscape, architecture and street photography, he’s doing editorial and event photography for an international clientele. His photos have been featured in Elle, GEO, The Independent, Time, The Guardian, London Evening Standard, Business Insider, MSN, Conde Nast Traveler, Daily Mail, Financial Times, South China Morning Post, Shanghai Daily, China Daily and other major publications. Panasonic Ambassador, member of the Association of Hungarian Photographers.
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Nature/Science/Animals

‍First Place: Daniel Kariko – Sun Room Corner, August 26th [Owlet Moth], 2016

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This project is an investigation of our relationship to suburban landscape through micro images of locally found insects and other arthropods. My images utilize the combination of Scanning Electron Microscope and optical Stereo Microscope, in order to achieve a “portrait”-like effect inspired by the tradition of 17th Century Dutch Masters. Insects find way into our homes no matter how vigilant we are in our effort to keep the nature on the outer side of our windowpanes. During my inquiry into suburban experience, I started recording the indoor wildlife consistent with the environment my subdivision occupies. As we keep expanding our subdivisions to the outskirts of towns, we inhabit recently altered environments. This anthropomorphic presentation of our closest, often invisible, co-habitants in a humorous way, is an invitation to consider the evidence of the human impact on the landscape as we constantly redraw boundaries between us and the natural environment.

Daniel Kariko is a North Carolina based artist, and an Associate Professor of Fine Art Photography in School of Arts and Design at East Carolina University, in Greenville, North Carolina. Kariko is currently serving as an Assistant Director of the ECU School of Art and Design, and the Coordinator for the Undergraduate Programs. Kariko’s images investigate environmental and political aspects of landscape, use of land and cultural interpretation of inhabited space. He worked on several long-term photographic projects in his native Serbia, recording the aftermath of the war in Balkans. Since 1999 Kariko documented the endangered wetlands and dramatic changes in the landscape in Barataria- Terrebonne region of South Louisiana. His other projects include documentation of foreclosed housing in Florida during the 2008-09 real estate crisis, and scanning electron microscope portraits of locally found insects. Kariko’s work has been shown nationally and internationally in galleries and museums, as: Noorderlicht Photofestival, Groeningen, The Netherlands; Yixian International Photography Festival, Huangshan City, China; Manchester Science Festival, UK; Rewak Gallery, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Edinburgh International Science Festival, UK; Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia; Rijeka Foto Festival, Croatia; Fries Museum, The Netherlands; Festival della Scienza di Verona, Italy; Photon Gallery, Vienna, Austria; Royal Albert Hall, London, UK.
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Documentation/Photojournalism

‍First Place: Anton Ivanov – Lyad, 2019
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Lyad was very lucky, if it’s correct word, he left the room for tea in the kitchen when the bombing with explosive fragments arrived. And usually he was resting on this couch, above which is now a reminder of the wounds of war. But many families, including its neighbors, were less fortunate. Christian city of Scalbia, located in the immediate vicinity of the war conflict line in the north of the province of Hama. And the victims of mortar blind shelling are peaceful innocent people.

Anton Ivanov more than 15 years engaged in black and white film photography of medium and large formats. – Participant of exhibitions of analogue photography in Russia, Germany, France, Japan, USA and Italy. – He is one of the founders of the Art of Foto project and the art director of the gallery of the same name in St. Petersburg. – Participated in workshops on manual printing and toning in Germany with companies Heiland Electronic and Moersch Photochemie. Participant in the master class Black and White Fine Art Printing by John Sexton (USA). – After developing the films, Anton prints black and white photographs by hand on silver-gelatin baryta paper at the darkroom. Anton feels this is the best way to convey the artistic value of his work, so that the viewer fully understands the feelings and ideas that were with him at the time of shooting. – Photo expeditions: Member of the expedition “Journey to Russia” (2013) Member of the “Disappearing Tribes” expeditions (Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, 2017). Twice he climbed Elbrus mount with the flag of the Art of Foto gallery and a large format film camera (13×18 cm). The result of these photo expeditions was a personal exhibition “Elbrus. Two peaks” (2019).

Abstract Photography

‍First Place: Vincent Dupont-Blackshaw – Sport Lines #1, 2019
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Vincent Dupont-Blackshaw has been working as a professional photographer for the past two years. Trained in the arts, he lives between Paris and London. His work takes him across the world, seeking stories of new places to share with his audience. From these travels he brings back unique memories of the moments he captures in new places. “I look for moments that are quietly unique. Often an isolated thing or person in an environment that on first glance is ordinary but on second glance tells a subtle story. Light plays an essential part of how I see that story being told, creating a mood and provoking feeling in each image. As a travel photographer, I strive to catch the essence of the place I am in at that exact time. My role is to tell a story of that place for people to connect with.”

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Still Life ‍

First Place: Arnaud Montagard – Ketchup & Lines, 2018

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The lights are creating lines on the table, turning the picture into an almost abstract painting but the symbolic diner’s dressing ketchup and mustard refocus the viewer on where we are, a diner in Pennsylvania.

Arnaud Montagard (b 1991) is a French photographer, he currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. His photography focuses on composition and details, creating a cinematic atmosphere. With an emphasis on a minimalist aesthetic, his photography creates a new angle to an ordinary detail.

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Conceptual Photography

‍First Place: Ana Zibelnik – A stone falls faster than a feather, 2019

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Ana Zibelnik (b. 1995, Ljubljana) is a photographer currently based in the Netherlands. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana in 2018 and is currently working towards an MA degree in film and photographic theory at Leiden University. She has developed, published and exhibited her work both independently and under the axis of If Slovenia Were and lately within the 2nd cycle of PARALLEL – European Photo Based Platform. In 2019, she won the Verzasca Nera award for her series We Are the Ones Turning and was selected as the GUP New Talent of the year 2020, as well as a Haute Photographie 2020 Talent. She is the recipient of the City of Ljubljana’s scholarship for talented students.
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People's Choice

‍Jim Miller – When the Music is Over
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