UAE photographer wins Sony National Award for Moroccan horse festival photo – The National

Oday Shanshal, a photographer from the United Arab Emirates, won a national award at the 2023 Sony World Photography Awards for his shot, knights.

Knights on horses cross the Moroccan desert during a festival that took place in November. The photo was taken using a slow shutter speed, while panning the camera to follow the movement of the runners.

He is just one of a handful of winners from the Middle East and North Africa to have won their respective national gongs, with horses being a major theme in their photos.

Scroll through the gallery above to see images of all these winners and more

Confidentby Abdulla Al-Mushaifri of Qatar, is the image of a young “knight” demonstrating his horsemanship in Oman, while watching the gathered photographers waiting to capture him.

Abdelrahman Gabr from Egypt photographed Anna, a horse-loving kitesurfer, for her image, The Cavalierportrait of the woman and her mount on a beach in El Gouna, where she spends most of her time training.

People were also a focus, with Saudi Arabia’s Mansour Mohsen, for example, winning for his shot of a girl in traditional dress from the kingdom.

Elena Georgiou, meanwhile, from Cyprus, focused the lens on man and architecture with her image, The girl in the red hatwhich shows a little girl crossing Eleftheria Square in Nicosia, a building designed by the late British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid.

Focusing on natural wonders, Erhan Coral from Turkey was inspired by the famous hot springs of Guroymak, Bitlis, which maintains a temperature of around 40°C all year round, even when the outside temperature is as low as -14°C. .

The National Awards are part of the Sony World Photography Awards 2023. The program was set up by the World Photography Organization and Sony to support local communities of photographers around the world.

A total of 55 countries participated this year, out of more than 415,000 images submitted from more than 200 destinations, of which 200,000 were sent for the Open contest. New this year are four regional awards, set up for regions across Europe.

All national award winners receive Sony digital imaging equipment and will be included in the Sony World Photography Awards book and exhibition, alongside winners of student, youth, open and professional competitions. The exhibition will take place at Somerset House in London from April 14 to May 1.

Updated: February 07, 2023, 08:42