DIRECTOR'S CHOICE: Artist's Statement

First Place: Danila Tkachenko

Restricted Areas

The project "Restricted Areas" is about the human impulse towards utopia, about our striving for perfection through technological progress.

For "Restricted Areas," I traveled in search of places which used to hold great importance for the idea of technological progress. These places are now deserted. They have lost their significance, along with their utopian ideology which is now obsolete. Many of these places were once secret cities, that did not even appear on any maps or public records.

Any progress comes to its end earlier or later, what's interesting for me is to witness what remains after.


DIRECTOR'S CHOICE: Artist's Statement

Second Place: Sébastien Tixier

Allanngorpoq

Greenland is suffering the effects of climate change and its society has undergone profound evolution over the last few decades. Supermarkets, churches are making their way into Inuit culture, traditional outfits from animal hides mix with modern fabrics. These radical and rapid changes raise questions about society and identity. Its people are torn between a desire to catch up with the modern world, and a feeling that they are an ice population which, like the ice itself, is slowly melting away. "Allanngorpoq" can be translated as "being transformed".

2013, medium-format photographs, 80 x 97 cm


DIRECTOR'S CHOICE: Artist's Statement

Third Place: Salvatore Calafato

A Day on the Beach

In Italy the 15th of August is a national holiday and it is seen as the peak of summer.

The beaches that day are very crowded, people even arrive the day before and set up tents just to be sure to have the maximum of their holiday.

They spend all day along at the beach and over there all the usual activities, like playing, eating, sleeping, etc., are done outdoors.

All kind of people are seen, and it is a pleasure to contemplate at the same time so much of humanity enjoying and relaxing under the sun.


DIRECTOR'S CHOICE: Juror's Statement

Enrico Stefanelli

President & Director, Photolux Festival, Italy

It is an honor for me to have been a part of The Choice Awards. I reviewed very interesting projects and treated with different photographic languages, from conceptual to portraits, from reportage and photojournalism to the landscape. I congratulate all the photographers because I noticed a high quality in many works inspected and it was not easy to choose the best. Many photographers are on the right path and it is necessary for them to continue. One suggestion is to be very careful with the editing and the smallest details. Sometimes just a single photograph can make a project better or worse. I would also invite photographers to seek their own language and their own mode of expression that differs, if possible, from what we have seen. They have to see the world with "new eyes" and show us this new vision.

The planning, the rigor of the technique and a good edit will ensure that your work is recognized as the best.

Thanks for this opportunity that also for us jurors can be a time of growth.