The Sony World Photography Awards Travel 2018 shortlist revealed

From the evocative to the unexpected, the travel images on the shortlist for the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards give a revealing insight into life around the world.

Nearly 320,000 images were submitted from over 200 countries, with the competition seeing a 40% increase in entries compared to last year.

Ten photographers were shortlisted in the Travel cagetory; one of the Open categories that includes Culture, Enhanced, Motion and Street Photography that takes entries from non-professional photographers. In the Travel section, American photographer Richard Winston was shortlisted for his black and white photo taken in Namibia, Africa. He explains how he got the shot: “It was taken near the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. I walked down dune behind the transports to get a sense of scale of the dunes we had driven up. Looking back up, the vehicles seemed to be suspended in the air.”

Shortlisted works include beautiful imagery of frozen lakes, sunlit deserts and hidden forests; stunning portraits of faces from around the world, and unique insights in cultures and traditions that might otherwise be unseen.

The Sony World Photography Awards are judged anonymously by internationally acclaimed industry professionals. The 2018 Professional competition jury was chaired by Mike Trow (ex Picture Editor, British Vogue) with representatives from international museums, publishing and the media.

Amongst the shortlisted are Danish photographer Mikkel Beiter who took a photo of a cabin on a lake in Norway.  He explains: “This composition is quite popular amongst photographers at the moment and it’s easy to understand why!  The beautiful Mount Olstinden has almost the same shape as the roof of this cute yellow cabin and the yellow color creates some amazing contrast to the snow-covered mountain. I’ve removed a small cabin on the left side during post process. Besides that, colour correction, contrast and sharpness have been done with Lightroom and Photoshop.”

Category winners will be announced on 20 March, and Open Photographer of the Year revealed on 19 April.  All shortlisted and winning images will be exhibited as part of the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House, London. The exhibition will run from 20 April until 6 May.