2011 Winners' Gallery

Winning images from the Travel Photographer of the Year competition 2011 are displayed below.

To view a any of the thumbnails as larger images, please click that image to open the slideshow.

Travel Photographer of the Year 2011

Winner — Louis Montrose, USA

Biography

Winner, Louis Montrose

Louis Montrose was born in London, grew up in New York City, and has lived in the San Diego area of southern California for many years. His engagement as a visual artist springs from a passion for creating and viewing images that began in childhood. During a successful academic career in the humanities, he also wrote and taught about the history and cultural power of images.

Formerly an Elizabethan scholar and professor at The University of California, he now pursues his calling as a photographer full time. He works in a number of photographic genres, including cityscape, environmental portrait, travel and night photography. As someone with a compelling interest in the power of photographs to capture the vibrancy and diversity of human cultures, he values color as an essential expressive and communicative medium. At the same time, he remains deeply drawn to the formal power and tonal richness of black and white, and to the challenge of creating strong black and white images through digital capture and digital inkjet printing. His work has been exhibited in shows in London, Madrid, Copenhagen, and Buenos Aires as well as in California, Colorado, and Ohio; and has been published in LensWork, Black & White, COLOR, and other fine art photography publications.

Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2011

Winner — Arne Hansen, Germany (age 17)

Biography

The first time Arne was really confronted with photography was a few years ago when he got Adobe Photoshop. He was fascinated from the idea of creating artworks with a photorealistic look. But in order to get a good result in Photoshop you first need to take a good picture so he started learning. Last year when he went to the USA as an exchange student, he took a photography class and at the end of year he won the All-County High School Art Exhibition. Also, for Christmas his hostparents gave him an SLR-camera which was the beginning of his love of photography. He often works on projects together with his brother Tore, who is very creative and has a good eye. They always have a good time doing this together. So Tore was the model in Arne's winning portfolio.

YPA Emerging Talent Award & Young Travel Photographer - 15 to 18 years old - Green

Winners — Joel Biddle, UK (age 17)

Biography

Joel Biddle is a student at The Howard School in Rainham, Kent, England who first became aware of his talent for photography three years ago when he took it as a GCSE. He has decided to pursue photography as a career, and hopes to start by studying it at degree level.

His winning photographs are all about capturing the elements in a minimalistic way, observing the scenery for basic shapes and patterns found in nature. Achieving a sense of simplicity is often the objective in his work, something that was inspired by photographers Ciro Totku and Steen Doessing.

Young Travel Photographer - 15 to 18 years old - Green

Runner Up — Tom Spence, UK (age 17)

Young Travel Photographer - 14 years old & under - Green

Winner — Seamus Crowley, USA (age 14)

Biography

Seamus Crowley was born and raised in the town of Aspen, Colorado in the United States. Aspen is a very outdoorsy, active mountain town and it all started on a backpacking trip in the fall of 2009. Deep into mountainous backcountry he discovered his love for photography. Since then he has progressed greatly through life and photography and has photographed many subjects: landscape, portrait, sport, urban landscape, wildlife, and travel.

Photography isn’t his only interest though; he is greatly engaged in endurance sports. He runs cross country, ski Nordic, bikes, and runs track & field. In a way he has made a connection to photography through these. Through all of this he has only been a photographer for two years now, but he has loved every minute of it.

Runner Up — Lisa Gehrig, Switzerland (age 9)

Portfolio - Cultures & Traditions

Winner — Sergey Anisimov, Russia

Biography

Sergey Anisimov graduated from Kiev National aviation university and spent 18 years working as an engineer in Salekhard aviation enterprise. Today he is a CEO of a technical company. Photography is a favourite hobby, as is travel. He has visited many countries around the world, and his favourite places for taking pictures are northern and Arctic areas, including Franz Josef Land, Greenland, Spitsbergen, Wrangel island, Canada and Norway. But, for him, the most perfect place is his native land – Yamal.

Runner Up — Marcin Mikolajczuk, Poland

Highly Commended — Yurian Quintanas Nobel, Spain

Commended — Tessa Bunney, UK

Best Single Image in a Portfolio - Cultures & Traditions

Winner — Philip Lee Harvey, UK

Special Mention — Malin Palm, Sweden

Special Mention — Timothy Allen, UK

Portfolio - Exotic

Winner — Malgorzata Pioro, Poland

Biography

Malgorzata Pioro graduated in pedagogics and sociology from Jagiellonian University in Kracow. Photography became her main occupation after she graduated from the European Academy of Photography in Warsaw. She has worked as a lecturer at the University of Management and Banking as well as at the Academy of Photography and Academy 30+ in Kracow.

Runner Up — Timothy Allen, UK

Highly Commended — Thomas Endlein, Germany

Commended — Simon Morris, UK

Best Single Image in a Portfolio - Exotic

Winner — Yeow Kwang Yeo, Singapore

Special Mention — David Lazar, Australia

Special Mention — GMB Akash, Bangladesh

Portfolio - Natural Elements

Winner — Anil Sud, Canada

Biography

A family physician by profession, Anil Sud has been an avid photographic enthusiast since his teenage years when his father first handed him a Canon AE-1. Growing up in a small town, he taught himself everything he could about photographic technique and artistic vision by reading books and magazines and lots of experimentation.

Over time, he developed a passion for colour and design in his art - something that resonates with him deeply. It was only recently that he discovered the world of monochrome and the power that an image can convey without the assistance of colour to carry it.

Runner Up — Peter Karry, UK

Highly Commended — Matjaz Krivic, Slovenia

Commended — Philip Lee Harvey, UK

Commended — Johnny Haglund, Norway

Best Single Image in a Portfolio - Natural Elements

Winner — Richard Murai, USA

Special Mention — Ben Pipe, UK

Special Mention — Larry Louie, Canada

Special Mention — Doron Talmi, Israel

Portfolio - Spirit of Adventure

Winner — Franco Banfi, Switzerland

Biography

Franco Banfi is a professional photographer and photo-journalist, specialising in underwater wildlife & environments, nature and travels. For many years he has been known around the world for his versatility, expertise and accuracy in underwater imaging. He has meticulously documented a lot of uncommon animals and locations, wildlife and human relationship with nature, in environments from the Equator to the Poles. His reportages have been published in countless publications and renowned magazines around the world.

Franco is an award-winning photographer with his work has being recognised by Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and now Travel Photographer of the Year.

Runner Up — Martin Hartley, UK

Highly Commended — Chris McLennan, New Zealand

Commended — Edoardo Agresti, Italy

Best Single Image in a Portfolio - Spirit of Adventure

Winner — Franco Banfi, Switzerland

Special Mention — Johnny Haglund, Norway

New Talent Portfolio - Diary of a Destination

Winner — Edgard de Bono, Italy

Biography

Edgard de Bono was born in Udine in 1986, and has had an interest in travel and photography since childhood, admiring and studying the great photographers in Magnum and National Geographic. After graduating as an electronic technician, he attended several photographic workshops in Italy and other countries, travelling to Morocco and Senegal with Vittorio Sciosia.

The starting point for his growth as a photographer was a meeting with photographer Edoardo Agresti (commended in Spirit of Adventure) in Milan, and now he collaborates with different photo studios in his home town. But his dream is to work as a freelance photographer for international magazines.

Runner Up — Jonathan Munshi, USA

Highly Commended — Ling Cheong, Malaysia

Commended — Minna Graber, UK

Commended — Jon McCormack, Australia

One Shot - Wild Moments

Winner — Stuart Dunn, UK

Biography

Stuart was born in Newcastle 1977. He studied at the Northern Media School and gained a Masters Degree in cinematography. Upon his completion, Stuart embarked on his first filming expedition with fellow student and friend Pandula. On a shoestring budget and completely unpaid, they travelled to the Tamil Tiger controlled regions of Northern Sri Lanka in an attempt to tell the story of the civil war that had raged for over 20 years and give a voice to the 500 thousand refugees displaced by the conflict, a baptism by fire to say the least. Since then Stuart has gained an abundance of credits in a variety of publications and TV programmes. He now divides his time between the world of photography and cinematography, filming and photographing documentary assignments across the globe in inhospitable environments such as the Amazon jungle, the Arctic and the Himalayas.