Indian Photographers Triumph in Global Food Photography Competition
A haunting image, Red Bean Paste Balls, by Chinese photographer Zhonghua Yang, has won the overall prize of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024, the world’s leading celebration of food photography and film.
The image, which had first won the Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration category, was taken in the rural area of Xiangshan, Zhejiang during busy preparations for a feast for the Spring Festival, also known as Lunar New Year. This includes the tradition of making dim sum, such as red bean dumplings, steamed rice cakes and glutinous rice cakes, each of which has a legacy of traditional craftsmanship.
Photographers of India achieved great success in this year’s competition; from the thousands of entries submitted from over 65 countries across the world, they had a total of 15 finalist images.
Kishore Das won the Philip Harben Award for Food in Action category with ‘Rice Grain Threshing’. The image captures a woman engaging in the ancient practice of threshing rice grains as sunlight beams through. Das was also Highly Commended in the World Food Programme Food for Life category with an image of a family sharing a meal whilst living on the streets of Kolkata.
Debdatta Chakraborty won the Pink Lady® Moments of Joy category with a heartwarming image, ‘Breakfast with the Brokpas.’ The Brokpas, a small group found in the union territory of Ladakh, have a diet based on locally grown barley and wheat, and Gur-Gur Cha, a brewed tea. Chakraborty was also Highly Commended in The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action category for his image ‘Tea Tales of Terai’.
Other finalist photographers from India included: Konark Basu, Gurudas Bate, Arun Saha, Kainaat Arif,
Indigo Larmour, Udayan Sankar Pal, Mohammed Rimon, Haider Khan, Sanghamitra Sarkar, Udayan Sankar Pal and Saurabh Sirohiya. The winners of all 36 of the competition’s categories were announced by acclaimed chef and broadcaster Andi Oliver in an exciting Awards ceremony gathering stars of the food and art world at the Mall Galleries, London on Tuesday 4 June 2024.
This year’s global judging panel, tasked with assessing the thousands of entries submitted from over 65 countries across the world, was chaired by legendary food photographer, David Loftus, and included: Asma Khan, Presenter, Chef’s Table, Cookbook Author and Founder, of Darjeeling Express, Fiona Shields, Head of Photography, Guardian News & Media, Chef Ian Kittichai, Restaurateur, Author & TV Host and Nik Sharma, Cookbook author, Photographer, Columnist.
“Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year continues to tell important food stories from across the globe through the very best photography,” says Phil Turnbull, CEO of APAL, owner of Pink Lady® and headline sponsor of the Awards. “Despite the challenges of an ever-changing world, we never cease in growing, gathering, cooking, eating and celebrating with food. Each year, the remarkable photographs serve as a reminder of the fundamental role of food in every culture and every people around the world.”
An exhibition of all the finalist images and films will premiere at the Mall Galleries, London. The free-to-enter exhibition, which has been named one of the best photography exhibitions to see in 2024, runs from 5th – 9th June. The exhibition forms part of the first-ever Plate! St James’s, a new festival across the historic area of St James’s in London celebrates food, drink and photography from the 5th – to the 23rd of June.
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