AAP is delighted to reveal the names of the 25 talented photographers who won "AAP Magazine #16: Shadows". They come from 12 different countries and 3 continents.
1st Place Winner:
Oliver Stegmann (Switzerland) Image Title: Hand Shadows
Series: Circus Noir
This series is part of a long-term project on circuses behind the scenes. The backstage is my "stage" as a photographer. I want to introduce the viewer to a world that is invisible to the spectators of a circus show. The roller coaster of the protagonists' feelings when they are not in the spotlight. The mysterious, sparse light behind the manege. The calm intensity of the introverted artists. The unexpected, magical moments that suddenly arise and never happen again. This project pays homage to the threatened world of circus shows and their artists.
Copyright: © Oliver Stegmann/Winner AAP Magazine #16 Shadows
2nd Place Winner:
George Mayer (Russia) Image Title: Anima Portrait # 4
Series: Anima
The psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung believed that there was a feminine beginning, or female part of the psychic setup, in subconsciousness of every man. He gave it the name "Anima", that is "soul" in translation from Latin.
The anima is a personification of all feminine psychological qualities that a man possesses, such as haziness and vagueness of feelings and moods, emotional sensitivity, prophetic insights, susceptibility to the irrational and the capability for individual love. If a man does not try to relate with his anima, he gets what Jung called "a loss of soul", i.e., a lack of vitality, flexibility and humaneness.
Copyright: © George Mayer/2nd Place Winner:AAP Magazine #16 Shadows
3rd Place Winner:
Guido Klumpe (Germany) Image Title: Puddle Man
Guido Klumpe was born in 1971 in Germany. He ́s been taking photographs since he was sixteen years old. After graduating from high school, he traveled through Southeast Asia. From then on he was infected by street photography, without knowing that this genre even existed. He discovered the magic of the decisive moment. He is almost blind since birth on the left and have 25% vision on the right because the optic nerves don't pass on as much information to the brain. You can imagine it like an internet video with a low data rate. Through photography he go to and beyond the limits of his vision.
“My work combines three genres that influence each other: street photography, minimal photography and abstract photography. I see my city as an urban landscape. A landscape made up of shapes, colors, reflections and light. I can dissolve and reassemble these elements, limited only by the laws of optics, the possibilities of the camera and my imagination. The overarching theme is the tension between
urban architecture and its inhabitants.“
Copyright: © Guido Klumpe/3rd Place Winner:AAP Magazine #16 Shadows
Discover all winners
Scott Bourne wrote: “Where light and shadow fall on your subject - that is the essence of expression and art through photography.” Mysterious, magical, intense, timeless, sometimes nostalgic... mastering the shadows in photography is an art in itself. It is a story in its own right, a unique form of expression. For this 16th edition of AAP Magazine, we were looking for the poetry as well as the power of shadows and the twenty-five winning photographers did just that! The winning portfolios are diverse and imaginative in their approach to the theme. Each image has a story to tell and reflects a unique form of expression. Selecting the winners was certainly not an easy task, but in the end we hope you will all enjoy this collection of stated or implied, literal or metaphorical shadows.
