Bengalurean wins big at iPhone Photography Awards 2019
Bengaluru: For more than a decade, Apple iPhones continue to be the best in the class in terms of processing power and cameras. The Portrait mode, which was first introduced in the iPhone 7 Plus in 2016, has become a must-have feature in every mobile in the market even to this day.
To encourage creativity among Apple device owners, iPhone Photography Awards (IPPAWARDS) was born. Founded in 2007, it is the first and longest-running iPhone photography competition.
Every year since then, IPPAWARDS has selected the very best shots among thousands of images submitted by iPhone photographers from more than 140 countries around the world. Winners are selected by world-renowned jury members and judge images on the basis of artistic merit, originality, subject, and style and ultimately decide the winners.
This year, Sreekumar Kanan from Bengaluru has bagged the top honours at IPPAWARDS 2019 edition. His picture of lord Ram statue titled ‘Piercing the Sky’ was adjudged the best in the ‘Sunset’ category.
“While driving out of Bangalore for a wedding shoot in Chittor, I saw the statue of Lord Ram coming up against a beautiful evening sky. Not wanting to let go off the moment, I stopped the car and reached out for my iPhone. I knew the sun would throw up the rays through the clouds any moment and waited for that to shoot this beautiful composition. It was majestic and awesome to see the moment revealing itself!” Sreekumar Kanan said to Deccan Herald.
The award-winning picture was shot on Apple iPhone 6S, Kanan confirmed to DH. The IPPAWARDS price includes a gold bar and a certificate.
He has been a professional photographer for the past six years and also mentors budding shutterbugs. In January 2019, Kanan won the Black & White Spider Photography award for his shot of ‘Pelican on the lake’.
His photograph of smiling worker amongst a field of sunflowers off Mysore called the ‘Indian Sunshine’ got international recognition and was displayed at the Louvre in France as part of an exhibition.
Kanan’s ‘The mystical birds of Bharatpur’ was also featured in National Geographic Channel’s ‘Shot of the Day’ contest.
In a related development, Dimpy Bhalotia from Maharastra has won second place for Series category in IPPAWARDS 2019 edition.
Last year, the honours (in Sunset category) went to Sara Ronkainen, Finland. She used the dandelions as a prop in the hand and captured the Sun rays filtering through it, using the iPhone 5S.