Earth Photo 2020 Winners announced

Earth Photo 2020 Winners announced

Earth Photo, an international competition and exhibition created by Forestry England and the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), rewards photographs and videos that document the natural world, its breath-taking beauty, and its ever-growing fragility.

Out of over 2,600 entries, 54 photographs and videos by 35 artists were shortlisted for Earth Photo 2020 by a judging panel made up of experts from the fields of photography, film, geography and ecology, and chaired by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Marissa Roth. Viewers are invited to discover them in an online exhibition.

Now in its third year, Earth Photo is proud to announce its 2020 winners, who represent the very best in nature, environmental and geographical photography.

Photographer Jonk wins the Place Category and is named the overall winner of Earth Photo 2020 with a series of four images representing buildings that have been abandoned by civilisation and re-conquered by nature. According to Joe Smith, Director of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), “this body of work gathers fragments of stories of human environments ‘taken back by nature’. While the images from all over the world have vivid clarity, they also warp the viewers perceptions of time and change. They serve as a mournful commentary on the twentieth century – the era of the ‘Great Acceleration’– but there is also something hopeful in the vivid evidence of the patient and robust capacities of the non-human world to re-cover.”

With Dead Tree #1 , an image created two years after a forest fire, Charles Xelot takes home the Changing Forest category. “Dead Tree #1 is striking, atmospheric and bold”, says Josephine Lavelle, Director of Marketing and Engagement, Forestry England, “It combines drama and suspense with the starkness of an unknown future. This is a poignant image since human induced wild fires, combined with the increasing realities of climate heating are a concern for forests both here in England and around the globe.”

The Climate of Change category winner is Glasgow-based photographer Joe Habben.
Entitled In Moleca , his winning entry portrays a visitor arriving in Venice during the ‘Acqua Alta’ (high-water), a yearly tide which has been exacerbated in recent decades. “This witty and arresting image presents us with a tourist having to adapt to a changing environment in a city that is both a hotspot of tourism, and a longstanding reference point for environmentalists in attempts to engage concern about climate change”, explains Joe Smith, Director of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), “For me the picture manages to negotiate its way around cliché via the presence of colour and the hint of puzzlement in the stance.”

Shot in the Daliang Mountains, China, Yanrong Guo’s Miss wins the People Category. Marissa Roth, Chair of the Earth Photo Jury, describes the image in these words: “This is an evocative and beautiful portrait, where the palette of colours is almost painterly. The composition is vibrant and balanced, with the branches and the pipe all leading the viewer’s eyes from left to right, by sweeping across the image; into a face weathered by time, into a timeless landscape. The placement of the subject nestled within the branches evokes his apparent contentment on being embraced by nature.”

The Nature Category goes to UK-based photographer Yi Sun for Dryland-Farming Study 7 , an image taken 3,000 ft. above Aragon, Spain. The aerial shot documents the severe droughts that the region has suffered and the resilience of local farmers. According to Andrew Stringer, Environment & Forest Planning Manager, Forestry England, when admiring this image, “your brain starts by trying to work out what you’re looking at. As you read the story behind the image you start to pick out tractor marks, the mosaic of human influence, the destruction of habitat, the impacts of the climate crisis, the resilience of the people farming this landscape. It elicited immediately powerful emotions and considerations of how we’re going to adapt to the striking realities of global heating, while also restoring the natural environment, our crucial life support system.”

Last but not least, the Short Film Award goes to Cambodia Burning by British photojournalist and filmmaker Sean Gallagher. Shot in early 2020 with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, this video shows the impacts of rampant deforestation on the South East Asian country. It is estimated that there is only 3% of primary forest left throughout the country; the main drivers being the conversion of forest lands for agricultural use and targeted logging of valuable species, such as Rosewood, for the Asian furniture markets. Decades of forest clearance have decimated the country’s biodiversity. Iconic animals such as tigers and elephants have long since been eradicated from most of the country’s forests.

The exhibition of all 54 photos and videos shortlisted for Earth Photo 2020 is now available online .

The shortlisted and winning pictures will be shown at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), London, from 18 January to 31 March 2021 and can be seen at Forestry England forests:
• Dalby Forest, from 17 October to 31 December 2020.
• Moors Valley, from 24 October 2020 to 21 February 2021
• Grizedale Forest, from 19 December 2020 to 25 April 2021

To view the online exhibition: https://www.rgs.org/earthphoto

To keep up to date with the latest news and announcements, please follow us on social media and use the hashtag #EarthPhoto:
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Earth Photo
Earth Photo is an innovative international photography competition and exhibition developed jointly by Forestry England and the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). The project reflects the organisations’ common interest in enabling a better understanding of the world around us through their complementary disciplines of the Environment and Geography.
www.earthphoto.world
 
Earth Photo judges
The shortlisted artworks and the winners are selected by an expert panel of photographers, curators, geographers, environmentalists and writers, chaired by award-winning photographer Marissa Roth and including, Matthew Arnold, Photographer; Katie Burton, Editor of Geographical Magazine; Tim Flach, Photographer; Vron Harris, Lecturer and artist; Magdalena Herrera, Director of Photography, Geo Magazine France; Simon Norfolk, Photographer; Michael Pritchard, Director, Education and Public affairs, Royal Photographic Society.

Forestry England
Forestry England manages and cares for the nation’s 1,500 woods and forests. As England’s largest land manager, we shape landscapes and are enhancing forests for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and businesses to grow. Forestry England is an agency of the Forestry Commission.
www.forestryengland.uk

Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is the learned society and professional body for geography. Formed in 1830, their Royal Charter of 1859 is for ‘the advancement of geographical science’. Today, they deliver this objective through developing, supporting and promoting geographical research, expeditions and fieldwork, education, public engagement, and geography input to policy. They aim to foster an understanding and informed enjoyment of our world and hold the world’s largest private geographical collection and provide public access to it. They have a thriving Fellowship and membership and offer the professional accreditation ‘Chartered Geographer’.
www.rgs.org

Parker Harris
Emma Parker and Penny Harris created Parker Harris in 1990. Their partnership is now one of the leading visual arts consultancies in the UK. A small dynamic team, they pride themselves in expert creation and project management of visual arts projects spanning all disciplines and all scales. Their clients range from trusts and foundations, SMEs and multinationals to charities, arts organisations and individual artists.
www.parkerharris.co.uk