Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2011
Given to Jan Grarup
'Pure of Sight', the portfolio entered by Chinese photographer Jing Huang, is not dedicated to any subject in particular. Each of his twelve black-and-white images has its own unique story to tell. In his portfolio, the photographer appears to have selected a series of images entirely at random. They show landscapes, wildlife and detailed close-up images. Nevertheless, each photo has a charisma of its own. Everyday scenes and objects are suffused with a magic that captures the viewer's soul. The young photographer has discovered a way to lend enormous depth to familiar and seemingly trivial things. Jing Huang explains that he could never be a good writer because he finds it difficult to find the right words. And that is why the camera is his eye, and photography is the medium to express his innermost thoughts. His images communicate what he has to say without the need for words. Viewers see the world as it is seen through the eyes of the photographer.
Jing Huang, born in 1987, is a real newcomer. His passion for photography evolved from a wish to tell stories through pictures. To accomplish this, he enrolled at the Arts Academy of Guangzhou in southern China in 2003 to study photography and digital art. He is a passionate Leica photographer and the owner of a Leica M4-P that he still uses for his work today.
The Leica Oskar Barnack Award was held for the 32nd time this year and recorded a record participation of over 2,000 entries (last year, 1,700 photographers took part). Professional photographers from over 89 countries took part in the competition. The majority of this year's submissions came from Germany, the USA, China, France and Russia. This year, the jury members included Leica photographer Stanley Greene; Mark Rykoff, picture editor at TIME.com; Anna Gripp, editor-in-chief at Photonews; Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, creative director of the Leica Gallery in Salzburg; and Dr Andreas Kaufmann, chairman of the Supervisory Board at Leica Camera AG.
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