Every year, the Sony World Photography Awards is separated into two competitions – an Open and a Professional. As you might expect from the title, the Open competition can be entered by anybody, amateur, professional or somewhere in between.
The Open competition is further split into several categories, comprising Architecture, Creative, Landscape, Lifestyle, Motion, Natural World & Wildlife, Object, Portraiture, Street Photography and Travel.
While the professional categories show off superb talent, there’s always something special about the Open competition, which arguably is a little looser, freer and more creative. Perhaps it’s because the Open category is based on a single image, rather than a portfolio, but it’s here where we see some of the wackier, more daring and downright strange imagery.
The overall Open Photographer of the Year went to Dinorah Graue Obscura from Mexico, for her picture which topped the Nature & Wildlife category.
This year, the Open category also attracted some controversy when the winner of the Creative category turned out to be an AI
