Coffee Shop, Abkhazia, region of Georgia by Jonk
Jonk has won the 2020 Earth Photo competition for his stunning series Coffee Shop, Abkhazia, region of Georgia; Hotel, Portugal; Swimming Pool, Italy and Theater, Abkhazia, region of Georgia, which depict abandoned spaces reclaimed by nature. His series of images also won the competition’s Place category.
Jonk and the five other category winners were selected from over 2,600 submissions by an expert panel of judges, chaired by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Marissa Roth. She said of Jonk’s winning work: “We chose Jonk’s compelling photographs as the overall winner because of the high degree of skill and vision that they represent, and also because they exemplify Earth Photo by straddling the duality of human coexistence with nature.”
Yanrong Guo won the People category for her striking image Miss taken of a pipe-smoking man in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, the largest settlement of ethnic minority Yi people in China.
Yi Sun won the Nature category for his work Dryland Farming, Study 7, which depicts an aerial view of interlaced tractor lines carved into a Spanish farm suffering from drought.
Sean Gallagher won the Video category for Cambodia Burning, a short film revealing the impacts of rampant deforestation decimating the forests of the South East Asian country.
Charles Xelot won the Changing Forests category for his work Dead Tree #1, which was taken of a contorted grey trunk, two years after a human-caused forest fire destroyed the landscape.
Joe Habben won the A Climate of Change category for In Moleca, an image which documents the effects of the ‘Acqua Alta’ (high-water) which transpires annually in the city of Venice.
Director of the Society, Professor Joe Smith, said: “Earth Photo plays a unique role in the landscape of photo competitions. Just like the subject of geography, Earth Photo invites photographers and filmmakers, and their audiences, to take an integrated, whole-system view of the relationships between humans and their world. The responses are varied in location, subject and approach. But these images, taken together, invite a range of responses, including curiosity, wonder, care and concern.”
You can view an online exhibition of the Earth Photo shortlist, including the winning images on our website.
A physical exhibition can be seen in Forestry England forests, including Grizedale in the Lake District, Dalby Forest in the Yorkshire Moors, and Moors Valley Country Park and Forest in Dorset, between now and spring 2021. The exhibition will also be on display at the Society between 18 January and 31 March 2021.
Find out more about Earth Photo.