It is our pleasure to announce the winners and finalists for the 15th Head On Photo Awards. This iteration saw us receive thousands of entries from over 30 different countries. Our team of judges worked hard over a two week period to painstakingly review the entries to decide on this year’s Finalists and winners.

The winners were announced in front of over 2000 people on 4 May at the Launch of Head On Photo Festival 2019 at the campus of our launch event partner UNSW Art and Design, Paddington.

2019 Head On Photo Award Judges:

Arianna Rinaldo, Artistic Director, Cortona On The Move   

David Alan Harvey, Photographer, Magnum Photos   

Enrico Stefanelli, Festival Director, PhotoLux   

Genevieve Fussell, Senior Photo Editor, The New Yorker   

Grzegorz Kosmala, Founder, BLOW UP PRESS     

Lucy Pike, Photography Director, WeTransfer   

Lydia Dorner, Assistant Curator, Musée de l’Elysée   

Mags King, Managing Photo Editor, Fairfax Media   

Michael Cook, Photographer     

Michele Aboud, Photographer     

Moshe Rosenzveig OAM, Creative Director, Head On Photo Festival  

Banner image: John Swainston.

Head On Portrait Prize
Sponsored by Fujifilm

First

Juliet TaylorUnlucky

Pioneertown sits in the basin of the San Bernardino High Desert, where it is so black at night you can barely see a foot in front of you. Sheryl sits in her taxi outside Pappy & Harriet’s bar, waiting for her husband to finish drinking so she can take him home.

Second

Chris Bekos – Apparently André

With the sun setting, playful André lies on the sand; the ocean seems to wash away my little boy to reveal the young man he will become.

Third

Nadide GoksunYou are so self-controlling

My mother-in-law, reading a newspaper in the garden.

40 Finalists

Alessandro Grassani, Camillo Pasquarelli, Chris Bekos, Chris Hoare, Darren Leigh Roberts, Eduard Korniyenko, Elizabeth Looker, Ella Dreyfus, Ella Mack, Eva Collins, Grant Smith, Itamar Freed, Javier Arcenillas, Jessica Opgård, Joe Ruckli, Joel Pratley, Jonathan May, Jouk Oosterhof, Juliet Taylor, Justin Tan-Torres, Kati Leinonen, Kelly Champion, Lauren Horwood, Loulou d’Aki, Max Mason-Hubers, Monica Denevan, Nadide Goksun, Natalie Grono, Nathan Stolz, Nick Bowers, Olga Stefatou, Owen Harvey, Peter Solness, Rafael Heygster, Rebecca Murray, Simon Harsent, Stewart Leishman, Sylvia Konior, Tristan Still, Vivian Keulards

The Head On Portrait Prize 2019 is showing 4-19 May (daily) at the Festival Hub, Paddington Town Hall,249 Oxford St 

 

Head On Landscape Prize

First

Bruce Haswell – Blackpool, UK, 2016

Second

Itamar Freed – Arizona diptych

This photograph is of a diorama: a model of Arizona permanently installed in New York. The diorama’s original intent was to inspire environmentalism and visually preserve a unique landscape. I reinterpreted the scene; three-dimensional taxidermied birds and flora, and a two-dimensional painted mural in the background to produce a picture-perfect landscape, alerting the viewer to the disappearance of the natural landscape and the dissolving of two seemingly separate categories – nature and culture.
 

Third

Joel Jimenez – When the dust settles

There is a symbiotic relationship between humanity and the landscape, continually evolving, changing and influencing one another. These traces of human intervention deal with themes of longingness, solitude, and nostalgia in contemporary society, through ambiguous and elusive imagery that respond to the personal experience of the land we inhabit.

New South Wales Landscape Prize

Chris Round – The Big Trout, Adaminaby, NSW

The Big Trout in the trout fishing village of Adaminaby weighs 2.5 tonnes and holds the illustrious title of the world’s biggest trout. Seemingly leaping into the air to swallow a fortuitously placed star trail, the fish is given a new lease of life. This image, part of an ongoing project about the Snowy Hydro Scheme and surrounding region in NSW, explores the balance between nature and man’s intervention – vast structures amongst epic landscapes, re-shaped waterways and newly created ones. Also the exploration of life in the region – skiing in winter; walking, boating and fishing in warmer months.

40 Finalists

Abir Sultan, Allan Coker, Antonio Privitera, Ari Rex, Bradley Shaw, Brendon Kahn, Brett Leigh Dicks, Bruce Haswell, Catherine Barcan, Cathy Carter, Chris Budgeon, Chris Round, Christian Werner, Craig Proudford, Emma Perry, Fyodor Savintsev, George Byrne, George Nobechi, Itamar Freed, J Forsyth, James Ross, Joel Jimenez, Judy Thistleton-Martin, Kristyna Erbenova, Marcin Giba, Margeaux Walter, Max Mason-Hubers, Mikhail Potapov , Nicholas Moir, Nikki Easterbrook, Oli Sansom, Peter Williams, Robert McRobbie, Rodd Owen, Ross Duncan, Thomas Gloyn, Tim Georgeson, Tobias Titz, Ty Stedman, Wojciech Kruczynski

The Head On Landscape Prize 2019 is showing 6-30 May (Mon-Fri) at the Parliament of NSW, 6 Macquarie St, Sydney

 

Head On Mobile Prize

First

Mel Meek – Fruit crush

On a hot day, the whole family was at the beach. My niece had been swimming all day and it was time for a rest. I looked up and took a photo that was not so typical of our family photos, no silly faces or asking them to pose. I found my self asking what is she thinking about? It was the first time I saw her not as a child but as becoming so grown up.

Second

Lulu Pinkus – Cloud surfing

Third

Jennie Groom – Weed on ice

This photo is all about nature, textures and ice, the real stuff.

30 Finalists

Alan Ciantar, Alex Frayne, Alex Lai, Aung Ya, Ben Voorderhake, Chris Brown, Christian Fletcher, Dina Alfasi, Duane Bridger, Ellen Renneboog, Glenn Homann, Jake Nowakowski, Jennie Groom, Jonathan Pui, Josef Volavka, Kaye Strange, Lisa Stonham, Louise Clare Whelan, Lulu Pinkus, Mel Meek, Mike Clements, Nathan Laine, Sammi Lishman, Sarah Fairbanks, Ute Wegmann, Viki Murray, Virginia Woods-Jack, Ward Kirshaw, Wayne Chick, Zay Yar Lin

The Head On Mobile Prize 2019 is showing 4-19 May (daily) at the Festival Hub, Paddington Town Hall,249 Oxford St 

 

Head On Student Prize
Sponsored by Sony

First

Aimee Sluga – The last goodbye

My grandma was brought into the hospital with severe pressure sores, dementia, pneumonia and weighing only 45 kg. She is completely reliant on nurses and no longer knows who I am. Although she was smiling, you could tell she was in pain and it wasn’t a genuine smile, as though she was just copying my smile. I was shocked to see her this way and wanted to capture the sadness in a photo before she passed away.

Second

James Dryden – Spilt milk

A portrait focusing on forced advertising of commercial products.

Third

Sonia JudoChange

Is it her hair, her smile, her laugh? The clothes she wears, the shoes. Is it because she’s not the same? Nothing is; everything moves, everything changes, fashion, hairstyles, and people. Why is it like that, why do you think that? This image describes change and the effects of it, the different tones of lighting portray each individual to be their unique selves. 

Finalists

Aimee Sluga, Chloe Stocks, Chris Siu, Finley Starr, Jack Marr, Jack Sheill, Jade Melvey-Lester, Jade Reed, James Dryden, Joel Parkinson, Joshua Di Mattina-Beven, Lachlan Starr, Lachlan Thompson, Lewis Dobbin, Linda Peng, Mason Wang, Maya Armstrong, Oscar Lodge, Reuben Wilder, Sonia Joudo

The Head On Student Prize 2019 is showing 4-19 May (daily) at Paddington Reservoir Gardens 251-255 Oxford St 

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Head On Photo Awards 2024

Entries to the Head On Photo Awards 2024 open in May/June.

Image detail: Gary Ramage