Travel Photographer of the Year 2021: Ramadan feast and Sharjah camel race among winners


Sophie Prideaux
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Images of a Ramadan breakfast amid the devastation of a war-torn Syrian town and a camel race in Sharjah are among the winning shots from the 2021 Travel Photographer of the Year awards.

More than 20,000 images were submitted from 150 different countries for its 2021 competition of the annual awards.

Also among the winning entries were abstract images of the "paintings" created by the sand and tides in the Scottish Hebrides, a hare curled in a ball of ice and snow, and a "ghost leopard" apparently merging with the stars.

Look through the gallery above to see the winning images.

The winning shots will go on display at a free outdoor exhibition in London’s Granary Square near King’s Cross and St Pancras stations, in April and May.

The overall winner – the Travel Photographer of the Year 2021 – is Fortunato Gatto. The Italian photographer, who has lived in Scotland since 2007, submitted a series of detailed abstract images of his adopted home country, showing patterns in the sand in the Hebrides.

In the Young Travel Photographer of the Year category, two teenagers from the US impressed judges. Jai Shet, 18, won with a series of forest images capturing the seasons, while Tevin Kim, 16, won the 15-18 Year category for images of homes and barns in Mormon Row, Wyoming.

Indigo Larmour, 13, from Ireland, features in the Young Travel Photographer of the Year roll of honour for the third year in a row, this time taking top honours in the 14 and Under category with a dynamic portfolio capturing camel racing in Sharjah.

The winning entry for Young Photographer of the Year (14 Years and Under) by Indigo Larmour from Ireland, age 13. The camel racing shot is taken in Al Dhaid, Sharjah. Photo: Indigo Larmour / tpoty.com
The winning entry for Young Photographer of the Year (14 Years and Under) by Indigo Larmour from Ireland, age 13. The camel racing shot is taken in Al Dhaid, Sharjah. Photo: Indigo Larmour / tpoty.com

“The last two years have been tough for everyone and opportunities for travel photographers to shoot new imagery have been limited,” said the awards’ founder, Chris Coe. “Despite this, TPOTY has managed to keep attracting great imagery and we have kept our exhibitions running in safe outdoor spaces. The winning images and those received from all entrants are testament to the tenacity, creativity and ingenuity of travelling photographers. 2022 is TPOTY’s 20th award and we look forward to celebrating even more of the best travel-related photography from around the world.”

Italian photographer Alessandro Bergamini won the Best 8 portfolio category with eight images offering insight into the lives and communities of his subjects in Afghanistan, China, India, Myanmar and Russia. A black-and-white image of hundreds of men on horseback fiercely competing to win a game of "dead goat polo" in Kyrgyzstan, taken by Belgian Alain Schroeder, was voted the Best Single Image winner of the Best 8 category.

US photographer Jie Fischer was the winner of the Landscape & Adventure category with a colourful portfolio of flamingos over the coloured waters of Lake Magadi in Kenya. Professional ski photographer Pally Learmond, from the UK, won the Best Single Image award with his shot of a freeskier on the Dirty Needle mountain, Alaska.

The Living World category was won by British photographer Will Burrard-Lucas, using his self-developed Camtraptions camera trap system to capture images of leopards – including rare melanistic leopards – at night in Kenya. The Best Single Image award in this category went to Portuguese photographer Jose Fragozo, who captured the precise moment a hippo opened its eye as it rose from a mud pool.

In the People & Their Stories category, Italian photographer Beniamino Pisati won with his black-and-white portfolio documenting the lives of milk and cheese producers in the mountains of Lombardy, while Irish photographer Trevor Cole received the Best Single Image award for his unusual portrait of a young cattle herder in South Sudan.

The winning image in the People’s Choice category, chosen from 10,419 public votes, is Spanish photographer Dani Salva, whose image shows preparations for the dance of death in Verges, Spain.

Results

4.30pm Jebel Jais – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (Turf) 1,000m; Winner: MM Al Balqaa, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Qaiss Aboud (trainer)

5pm: Jabel Faya – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (T) 1,000m; Winner: AF Rasam, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

5.30pm: Al Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: AF Mukhrej, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

6pm: The President’s Cup Prep – Conditions (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Mujeeb, Richard Mullen, Salem Al Ketbi

6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club – Prestige (PA) Dh125,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Jawal Al Reef, Antonio Fresu, Abubakar Daud

7pm: Al Ruwais – Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Ashton Tourettes, Pat Dobbs, Ibrahim Aseel

7.30pm: Jebel Hafeet – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Nibraas, Richard Mullen, Nicholas Bachalard

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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A new relationship with the old country

Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates

The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.

ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.

ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.

ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.

DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.

Signed

Geoffrey Arthur  Sheikh Zayed

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The Great Battle, June 27 at 9pm

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Mal Mo E: The Secret Mission, June 28 at 8pm

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Updated: January 26, 2022, 4:57 AM`