“After Exodus” © KM Asad / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Food Photographer of the Year + category winner, Politics of Food.
“Myanmar Rohingya refugee children wait in a queue to collect food a refugee camp in Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar. According to the UNHCR more than 742,000 Rohingya refugees fled from Myanmar, most trying to cross the border and reach Bangladesh.”
The Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year has just announced the winners of its 2020 competition celebrating the best in food photography and film. Open to professional and enthusiast photographers alike, the contest highlights how intimately tied our lives are to food. It's a way to express our culture, pass on traditions, and celebrate the amazing things that the Earth has to offer.
The 2020 competition featured 24 categories that showcase the many ways that food impacts our lives. With descriptive titles like “Bring Home the Harvest” and “Politics of Food,” they represent a wide array of images that, together, challenge what you might imagine food photography to be.
Not all of food photography is styled shots of fruits and veggies (although that certainly is part of it); many of the winning images highlight the social aspects of food and meals. This is seen in the overall winner of the competition. Bangladeshi photographer KM Asad won the grand prize and the title of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020 for his powerful image titled After Exodus. The picture was shot in the expansive Rohingya refugee camp as the children there are waiting in line for their meal.
The poignancy of After Exodus won the admiration of the judges. “This moving image really speaks to our times,” says Caroline Kenyon, Founder/Director of the Awards. “The world is in the grip of COVID-19 and normal life, whatever that may be, has stopped for all of us. These Rohingya refugee children remind us of the fragility of life, that our need for food for survival connects us all around the world. We are all the same.”
Scroll down to see the winning images from the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020 competition.
“The Morning Catch” © Zay Yar Lin / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Bring Home the Harvest.
”Three fishermen throwing their fishing nets in the lake nearby U Bein Bridge in Mandalay, Myanmar.”
”Just Desserts” © Thomas Alexander / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer.
”A big finish for this inspired wedding feast.”
”Meike and Dörte Näkel” © David Weimann / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year – Overall Winner & People.
”Portrait of the german Pinot Noir winemakers, Meike and Dörte Näkel, from the famous wine estate Meyer Näkel.”
”A Langhe Winter” © Thomas Hyland / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year – Places.
”View of snow-covered vineyards at Castiglione Falletto in the Langhe district of Piedmont, Italy.”
”Clos Saint Patrice Sample” © Patrick Desgraupes / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year – Produce.
”Jerome is filing in a sample of Clos Saint Patrice at Chateauneuf du Pape-France to send to the lab.”
“Bowl of Squash” © Aimee Twigger / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Food Blogger.
”A bowl of autumn squash, Inspired by Vermeer. We had left them in a bowl by the window before a shoot and I loved the light and the colors.”
”Making Together” © KM Asad / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Food for Celebration sponsored by Champagne Taittinger.</br />”Muslims prepare a feast before the Friday prayer in a field close to the congregation ground during the first day of the three-day long Muslim Congregation, Biswa Ijtema, at Tongi near Dhaka, Bangladesh.”
”Olek Eating Pancakes” © Anna Włodarczyk / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Food for the Family
”My son Olek eating pancakes in our summer kashubian house.”
”When the Hive is Filled” © Xiaodong Sun / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Food in the Field
”Before harvesting the honey, The bee keeper carefully removes the bees from their hives, that very moment makes you feel in the world of bees. Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China.”
”Octopus Dots” © Nicole Herft / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Food Stylist Award.
”This was for the restaurant Chotto Matte in Soho. I played around with the plating so that the ingredients didn't change but the look was more dramatic. I wanted the chefs to still be able to do the same thing during service. I love using different sized dots when food styling.”
”Tattoo” © Jonathan Minster / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Fujifilm Award for Innovation.
”Personal work exploring the paradox in which meat-eaters are caught; a simultaneous love for animals, and the gulf between the happy farmyard we imagine and the reality of modern factory farming methods and the treatment of animals.”
”Looking Too Good to Eat (Just Yet)” © Sandy Wood / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, InterContinental Food at the Table.
”Who will get the best shot? 3 Instagrammers capturing the food at a social media event.”
”Baked Figs” © Liam Desbois / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture
”Baked figs with walnut, honey and fresh thyme.”
”Hilsa” © Azim Khan / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, On the Phone.
”A huge amount of hilsa arrives at Fisheryghat in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Chittagong fishmarket is the largest wholesale market of hilsa in Bangladesh. Locally known as ilish, the fish has been designated as the national fish of Bangladesh. Hilsa, always a special delicacy in a Bengali household is prepared in many different ways.”
”Vinaigrette” © Kai Stiepel / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, One Vision Imaging Cream of the Crop.
”To make a vinaigrette, you have to mix ingredients that sometimes don't want to be mixed together…”
”Caramel Lady” © Diana Kowalczyk / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Pink Lady® Apple a Day.
”The moment of sweetness is worth it.”
”Rhubarb” © Patricia Niven / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Production Paradise Previously Published.
”From a shoot with chef Hus Vedat for his column in Pit Magazine.”
”Curry Banquet” © Philippa Askew / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Student Food Photographer of the Year.
”Curry Banquet shows a range of vegetable dishes at Mowgli's Indian school. Tiffin dishes accompanied with Puri bread.”
”Ramen Art” © Xueping Du / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Street Food.
”Noodle shop merchants are displaying noodle making techniques.”
”Waiting for the Sun” © Nhan Do Thanh / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action.
”This photo was taken in Tay Ninh province, Vietnam. This one shows a Vietnamese traditional job – making Bánh Tráng. It is made with flour, shrimp, salt and sesame and is a Vietnamese favorite.”
”Lost in the Market” © Jeyabol Hoque / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, WFP Storytellers Innovation Award.
”Locals waiting for bargains in the fresh food market.”
”Vegetable Stall” © Zay Yar Lin / Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020. Category winner, Winterbotham Darby Food for Sale.
”A colorful vegetable stall with various kinds of fruit and vegetables at a night market in a hidden street of Yangon, Myanmar.”
