[Athanasios Maloukos/ tpoty.com]
Greek photographer Athanasios Maloukos has won the top prize in this year’s Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) awards, the BBC reported Sunday.
The Lamia-based lensman earned the honor for two bodies of work that explore ritual, belief and movement: the solemn Holy Week processions in Zamora, Spain, and the hypnotic Sema ceremony of whirling dervishes in Konya, Turkey.
“There’s a sense of rhythm and reverence in the images, which is incredibly difficult to achieve. This is all achieved in camera without over-processing and conveys the depth and intensity of each moment,” the BBC quoted TPOTY founder Chris Coe as saying.
Judge Jeremy Hoare described Maloukos’ work as “one of the best over the last 23 years of these awards,” the BBC report said.
Maloukos has previously been recognized in the same competition.
The winners were selected from more than 20,000 images submitted by amateur and professional photographers from 160 countries. Founded in 2003, the competition is judged anonymously by a 16-member international panel. Finalists must submit original raw files to verify authenticity and show that AI was not used in creating their work.
