British photographers dominate shortlist for 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

The judges of the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards today honour the work of 18 British photographers by shortlisting their work as top 10 in the world in the awards’ Professional, Open and Student Focus competitions.

Girl in weightlessness holding a ball, among many others. The child represents gentleness and fragility. Associated with the ball, expressing the lightness, it is the word innocence that is symbolized. For this image, time would be synonymous with gravity. In Grenoble South-East of France, April 9, 2016 | © Alex Andriesi, Romania, Shortlist, Open, Enhanced, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Girl in weightlessness holding a ball, among many others. The child represents gentleness and fragility. Associated with the ball, expressing the lightness, it is the word innocence that is symbolized. For this image, time would be synonymous with gravity. In Grenoble South-East of France, April 9, 2016 | © Alex Andriesi, Romania, Shortlist, Open, Enhanced, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Of the 49 nationalities included on the shortlist, the UK has the second highest number of photographers presented. In the Professional competition, eight British photographers have been recognised for strong bodies of work. The Open competition, which rewards the best single image across 10 categories, features eight British photographers on the shortlist.

A further 23 photographers from across the British Isles have been placed top 50 in the world (commended) across the 10 categories of the Open competition. And lastly, the Student Focus competition, for those studying photography, features two students from British universities.

The work of the shortlisted and commended photographers will be shown at the Sony World Photography Awards & Martin Parr – 2017 Exhibition in London from 21April - 7 May 2017. The show will include rarely seen work by Martin Parr, recipient of the 2017 awards’ Outstanding Contribution to Photography prize. Find out more at www.worldphoto.org. In the meantime, here are some highlights from the shortlist for you to enjoy.

All images courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards | Main image: © Alex Andriesi, Romania, Shortlist, Open, Enhanced, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

This image is a criticism of modern relationships and the distance between human beings in their daily interactions | © Carloman Macidiano Céspedes Riojas, Peru, Shortlist, Open, Portraits, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

This image is a criticism of modern relationships and the distance between human beings in their daily interactions | © Carloman Macidiano Céspedes Riojas, Peru, Shortlist, Open, Portraits, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

An infant is baptised according to the Orthodox rite in a church in Tbilisi, Georgia. July 2016 | © Beniamino Pisati, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Culture, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

An infant is baptised according to the Orthodox rite in a church in Tbilisi, Georgia. July 2016 | © Beniamino Pisati, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Culture, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Libya, July 14, 2016: Fighters of the Libyan forces affiliated with the Tripoli government walk around the gigantic chandelier of the conference room in the Ouagadougou conference centre | © Alessio Romenzi, Italy, Shortlist, Professional, Current Affairs & News, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Libya, July 14, 2016: Fighters of the Libyan forces affiliated with the Tripoli government walk around the gigantic chandelier of the conference room in the Ouagadougou conference centre | © Alessio Romenzi, Italy, Shortlist, Professional, Current Affairs & News, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

The reflection of the tree on the woman hair in the mid town | © Tavepong Pratoomwong, Thailand, Shortlist, Open, Street Photography, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

The reflection of the tree on the woman hair in the mid town | © Tavepong Pratoomwong, Thailand, Shortlist, Open, Street Photography, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

The human comedy. People relaxing at the beach. Everyone tells us a story | © Vito Leone, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Culture, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

The human comedy. People relaxing at the beach. Everyone tells us a story | © Vito Leone, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Culture, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Giant jewel beetles gleam in metallic colours because their outer layers contain multiple microscopic reflectors | © Felicity McCabe, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Professional, Natural World, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Giant jewel beetles gleam in metallic colours because their outer layers contain multiple microscopic reflectors | © Felicity McCabe, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Professional, Natural World, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Salvador, aged 6, sits on his bed in anticipation of witnessing the afternoon bullfight at Plaza de Toros Mexico. Behind him are several ribbons, each symbolize a bull dedicated to him by his matador heroes. Salvador's family is wealthy and staunch Catholics. They believe God will protect him from any harm | © Christina Simons, Iceland, Shortlist, Professional, Daily Life, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Salvador, aged 6, sits on his bed in anticipation of witnessing the afternoon bullfight at Plaza de Toros Mexico. Behind him are several ribbons, each symbolize a bull dedicated to him by his matador heroes. Salvador's family is wealthy and staunch Catholics. They believe God will protect him from any harm | © Christina Simons, Iceland, Shortlist, Professional, Daily Life, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

"I’m a proud American, I love this country, and I think it’s time America, to wake up." Raul Rodrigues jr. Apple Valley, California | © Giulia Piermartiri & Edoardo Delille, Italy, Shortlist, Professional, Portraiture, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Muharram mourning ceremony in Ardabil City/Iran This is a picture in Iran from Muharrem ceremony (in İran) A photo taken at the events of the Iran people's mourning ceremony | © Emrah Karakoç, Turkey, Shortlist, Open, Culture, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Muharram mourning ceremony in Ardabil City/Iran This is a picture in Iran from Muharrem ceremony (in İran) A photo taken at the events of the Iran people's mourning ceremony | © Emrah Karakoç, Turkey, Shortlist, Open, Culture, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Urban Symmetry presents buildings on the banks of the River Danube | © Zsolt Hlinka, Hungary, Shortlist, Professional, Architecture (professional), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Urban Symmetry presents buildings on the banks of the River Danube | © Zsolt Hlinka, Hungary, Shortlist, Professional, Architecture (professional), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Shot this picture with my drone, during a summer vacation on the Adriatic Coast | © Placido Faranda, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Shot this picture with my drone, during a summer vacation on the Adriatic Coast | © Placido Faranda, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Travel, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Mexico, Baja California, Sea of Cortez. A big school of Jacks forming a ceiling found at the protected marine area of Cabo Pulmo | © Christian Vizl, Mexico, Shortlist, Professional, Natural World, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Mexico, Baja California, Sea of Cortez. A big school of Jacks forming a ceiling found at the protected marine area of Cabo Pulmo | © Christian Vizl, Mexico, Shortlist, Professional, Natural World, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

My daughter at home (mid 2016), oblivious and lost in a dream-moment.  It’s one of the more serene images from an ongoing project where I aim to capture the fleeting micro-events that form a part of family life | © Tim Topple, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Open, Portraits, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

My daughter at home (mid 2016), oblivious and lost in a dream-moment. It’s one of the more serene images from an ongoing project where I aim to capture the fleeting micro-events that form a part of family life | © Tim Topple, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Open, Portraits, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

This series shows what happens when you take the names of meals in a literal sense. It shows you what happens when you begin to look at the language surrounding food in a comedic way, therefore transforming what the names of the meals and foods are in to what they literally describe and making them come alive as a physical form | © Grant Hegedus, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Professional, Still Life (professional), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

This series shows what happens when you take the names of meals in a literal sense. It shows you what happens when you begin to look at the language surrounding food in a comedic way, therefore transforming what the names of the meals and foods are in to what they literally describe and making them come alive as a physical form | © Grant Hegedus, United Kingdom, Shortlist, Professional, Still Life (professional), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

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The "Lonely Tree" is located in a hard to reach plateau of the Vermilion Cliffs (AZ), called "White pocket". The photograph was taken quite some time before sunrise so no color would distract by filling into the picture | © Tom Jacobi, Germany, Shortlist, Professional, Landscape, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

This picture was taken in February in Nagano-ken at an altitude of about 1,700 m | © Masayasu	 Sakuma, Japan, Shortlist, Open, Nature, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

This picture was taken in February in Nagano-ken at an altitude of about 1,700 m | © Masayasu Sakuma, Japan, Shortlist, Open, Nature, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

When arriving at the spot, it really felt like I interrupted these little palm trees while fighting, and they were pretending nothing happened. The photo was shot during my Christmas 2016 visit to Alicante, at Muralla Roja residential complex, designed by Ricardo Bofill | © Andrés Gallardo Albajar, Spain, Shortlist, Open, Still Life (open), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

When arriving at the spot, it really felt like I interrupted these little palm trees while fighting, and they were pretending nothing happened. The photo was shot during my Christmas 2016 visit to Alicante, at Muralla Roja residential complex, designed by Ricardo Bofill | © Andrés Gallardo Albajar, Spain, Shortlist, Open, Still Life (open), 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Syuzanna (9) sitting in a “shelter” made of old car rusty parts in front of the abandoned building she lives in Gyumri, Armenia. Ten days ago Syuzanna's father committed suicide, as people say, because of the debts | © Yulia Grigoryants, Armenia, Shortlist, Professional, Daily Life, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Syuzanna (9) sitting in a “shelter” made of old car rusty parts in front of the abandoned building she lives in Gyumri, Armenia. Ten days ago Syuzanna's father committed suicide, as people say, because of the debts | © Yulia Grigoryants, Armenia, Shortlist, Professional, Daily Life, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Sitting in a hide in the pitch black African night. All of a sudden a herd of cape buffaloes comes in to the water hole to get a drink © Andreas Hemb, Sweden, Shortlist, Open, Wildlife, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Sitting in a hide in the pitch black African night. All of a sudden a herd of cape buffaloes comes in to the water hole to get a drink © Andreas Hemb, Sweden, Shortlist, Open, Wildlife, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Carmen Sajeras, is an 85 years old lady who was born in Cuba, from an Spanish emigrant family although she feels 100% percent Cuban, she stills live in a nostalgic of the years before the Revolution and imagining how hers family used to live in Spain | © Anisleidy Martínez Fonseca, Cuba, Shortlist, Open, Portraits, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Carmen Sajeras, is an 85 years old lady who was born in Cuba, from an Spanish emigrant family although she feels 100% percent Cuban, she stills live in a nostalgic of the years before the Revolution and imagining how hers family used to live in Spain | © Anisleidy Martínez Fonseca, Cuba, Shortlist, Open, Portraits, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Iraqi men from the Hawija region of Iraq wait to be questioned by Kurdish security personnel at a base near Kirkuk. Having fled areas still under the control of ISIS militants, men and boys of fighting age are vetted for any links to the group before being allowed to join their families in camps for displaced people in the Kurdish controlled region of the country | © Ivor Prickett, Ireland, Shortlist, Professional, Current Affairs & News, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Iraqi men from the Hawija region of Iraq wait to be questioned by Kurdish security personnel at a base near Kirkuk. Having fled areas still under the control of ISIS militants, men and boys of fighting age are vetted for any links to the group before being allowed to join their families in camps for displaced people in the Kurdish controlled region of the country | © Ivor Prickett, Ireland, Shortlist, Professional, Current Affairs & News, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Is a panda cub fooled by a panda suit? That’s the hope at Wolong’s Hetaoping center, where captive-bred bears training for life in the wild are kept relatively sheltered from human contact, even during a rare hands-on checkup | © Ami Vitale, United States of America, Shortlist, Professional, Natural World, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Is a panda cub fooled by a panda suit? That’s the hope at Wolong’s Hetaoping center, where captive-bred bears training for life in the wild are kept relatively sheltered from human contact, even during a rare hands-on checkup | © Ami Vitale, United States of America, Shortlist, Professional, Natural World, 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Participants wait backstage during a regional bodybuilding championship in Stavropol, southern Russia, April 10, 2016 | © Eduard  Korniyenko, Russian Federation, Shortlist, Professional, Sport, 2017

Participants wait backstage during a regional bodybuilding championship in Stavropol, southern Russia, April 10, 2016 | © Eduard Korniyenko, Russian Federation, Shortlist, Professional, Sport, 2017

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