NPR News

Sony photo awards: Computers on horseback, magnificent mountains, bathing elephants

By Jennifer Swanson

Published April 16, 2022 at 7:00 AM EDT

Left: Edwardo Benavides and his son Jonathon Benavides Reyes are migrants from La Unión, El Salvador. They took this portrait at an informal migrant camp in the border city of Reynosa, Mexico. Right: Stephanie Solano, 17, from Zacapa, Guatemala takes a portrait of herself at the camp in Reynosa.

The photographer of the year for the 2022 Sony World Photography Awards didn't take the photos – technically.

The striking black-and-white portraits of migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border were actually taken by the subjects themselves. Australian photographer Adam Ferguson gave them a remote trigger for his camera and told them to take the photo whenever they were ready.

The images highlight the migrants' "desire for freedom and self-respect. They are people who have a choice to make," says Mike Trow, jury chair of the awards.

These intimate photos are showcased alongside many honorees in this year's Sony World Photography Awards, an annual global competition that is free to enter and open to photographers of all skill levels. This week, jurors announced the overall winners, which include the work of photojournalists, creative photographers and student and amateur photographers. More than 340,000 images were submitted from 211 countries and territories.

Working in both black and white and color, photographers showed a world of unexpected moments and evocative landscapes – from a man in Argentina transporting computers on horseback to a lone figure in a Pakistani desert.

An exhibition of over 300 images from the contest are on display at Somerset House in London until May 2. Here is a selection of eye-catching images by finalists and winners from around the globe.

Beekeepers in central Senegal. The bees get their nectar from local mangrove flowers. The honey will be sold at the village market.

A man walks along a sand dune in the cold desert as a mountain looms in Skardu, Pakistan.

A man transports computer monitors on horseback in Corrientes, Argentina.

Left: Indian student photographer Sachi Deshmukh tangled her hand with yarn and old photos of her father. They "stand for the present, which is trying to connect with the past," she writes. Right: Belarusian photographer Maryia Sapego's still life consists of a fish, a sponge and a small painting, among other objects.

A line of men and women with torches walk along a ridge above a city nestled in the mountainside in Kurdistan.<strong> </strong> — A line of men and women with torches walk along a ridge above a city nestled in the mountainside in Kurdistan.

People bathe elephants in the Karatoa River in Bangladesh.

Left: A woman in Bali wears a headpiece made of flowers and leaves. Right: Surfers go for an evening ride at a beach by The Hague, Netherlands.

Twin sisters at a Buddhist monastery near the Hpa-an Township in Myanmar share a photo of themselves as children.

A mother and her two children in the Kasaï province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The province is still reeling from years of violent conflict. In his caption, photographer Hugh Kinsella Cunningham said he used double exposures to underscore the "tension of life for mothers in Kasaï, living in beautiful land, but unable to provide for their families."<strong> </strong> — A mother and her two children in the Kasaï province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The province is still reeling from years of violent conflict. In his caption, photographer Hugh Kinsella Cunningham said he used double exposures to underscore the "tension of life for mothers in Kasaï, living in beautiful land, but unable to provide for their families."