Hasselblad Masters, a competition that is held every two years, is one of the most prestigious competitions in the photo industry. Established artists and unknown artists from around the world enter the competition. In the 2014 Hasselblad Masters competition there were twelve categories including architecture, fashion/beauty, wildlife, general, landscapes/nature, products, editorial, fine art, underwater, wedding/social, portrait, and a category called “project/21” devoted to photographers just breaking into the profession.
© Antonio-Pedrosa: Editorial Category
Entries were whittled down from thousands to just ten in each category. Each photographer had three of their images online which the public was then invited to vote on. The public’s opinion counted as one vote, while a panel of industry experts cast the remaining votes. One photographer from each category emerged, and was named the winner.
The twelve winning photographers have the opportunity to borrow state-of-the-art Hasselblad equipment in order to create a new set of images for the fourth special Masters Commemorative Book. They will also receive a trophy at photokina 2014, and all of their images will be published on the Hasselblad global website. Then, their images will be presented at exhibitions around the world.
© Bara Prasilova – Fashion Category
“We’re delighted with the number of entries the Hasselblad Masters 2014 competition attracted,” said Paul Waterworth, Hasselblad’s Global Photographer Relations Manager. “The standard was extraordinarily high this time around, and the category winners can be truly proud of their achievement. It’s a sign of the prestige that is now attached to this competition that it is attracting entries from some of the best photographers working in the world today, and when you look at the winners as a group you realise just how special your work has to be for you to be named a Master.”
The list of winners is as follows:
Architecture: Martin Schubert
Fashion/Beauty: Bara Prasilova
Wildlife: Rafael Rojas
General: Roman Jehanno
Landscapes/Nature: Hengki Koentjoro
Products: Bryn Griffiths
Editorial: Antonio Pedrosa
Fine Art: Rafal Maleszyk
Underwater: Chris Straley
Wedding/Social: Joseph Goh Meng Huat
Portrait: Dmitry Ageev
Project/21: Paul Gisbrecht
Dmitry Ageev – Portrait Category