20 Photographers Who Were Chosen By The Aap Magazine For Capturing The Essence Of “Colors”

The 35th AAP Magazine Photography Awards (Colors edition) have brought to the forefront a kaleidoscope of colors and emotions that remind us of the power and depth of visual storytelling.

#1 Eric Seidner (United States)

Image source: Eric Seidner

“Singapore’s historic Old Hill Street Police Station is famous for its more than 900 windows painted in the colors of the rainbow. This image is part of a series displaying the use of rainbow color schemes in architecture.”

#2 Jaroslav Mares (Czech Republic)

Image source: Jaroslav Mares

“I took this picture in the locker room of a local high school. A random blue and white composition as if waiting for a photographer. I was lucky to be there. The image is part of the Blue World series, which I compiled from images from my archive.”

#3 The Second-Place Winner: From Series “Unattainable Beauty” By Natalie Strohmaier (Germany)

Image source: nataliestrohmaier

“This picture is part of my series „Unattainable Beauty which explores the artificial creation of beauty. An unrealistic ideal of physical beauty is often portrayed in popular media and creates a pressure on individuals to conform to a certain beauty standard. Since flowers are symbols of beauty, the models of the series are made up of photographically staged flowers and plant parts symbolizing an unnatural Unattainabable Beauty“. All models are hand-assembled with different cut flowers and potted plants and were photographed in the studio.”

#4 Marlène Delcambre (France)

Image source: Marlène Delcambre

“I saw this beautiful building on the internet and I decided to take self- portrait in this place. I took a flight to Spain. With my black dress and my white socks, I found the perfect harmony to play in this beautiful colorful place.

”I’m walking alone and yet
It’s in the exhausted rhythm of my shoes
May red, pink and blue give me back this vision
That the earth is only an immense unfolded newspaper
Sometimes a photograph passes…””

#5 Mateusz Zurowski (Poland)

Image source: Mateusz Zurowski

“Tetrachromacy (from Greek tetra, meaning four and chromo, meaning color) is the condition of possessing four independent channels for conveying color information, or possessing four types of cone cell in the eye. Organisms with tetrachromacy are called tetrachromats. And you? What do you see?”

#6 Joyce P. Lopez (USA)

Image source: Joyce P. Lopez

“With the recent passing of three family members I was thinking about transitions: day to night, young to old, living to dead, I began to obsess over the color cobalt, which can sometimes be seen at twilight. Trying not to be sad over these recent events, I focused on the part of their lives they missed. I worked with this color scheme and shapes. It represented to me, their time missed.”

#7 Melanie Schoeniger (Germany)

Image source: Melanie Schoeniger

“This series reimagines the feeling of awe I experience when diving: and the vast mysterious sea is my stage. These images utilize unique perspectives that highlight bioluminescence and surreal colors inspired by coral reefs and nudibranchs, and they envision how underwater species sense the world via ultraviolet and infrared sight. As our oceans are in a vulnerable state, it is my hope that my focus on beauty and wonder will spark reflection about humanity’s role in our interconnected ecosystems.”

#8 Klaus Lenzen (Germany)

Image source: klenzen53

“Color keys can direct the viewer’s eye to a picture detail, can be dominated in such a way that the main motif fades into the background.”

#9 Myrta Köhler (Austria)

Image source: Myrta Köhler

“Blue. Deep and distant. Sky and sea. Longing and courage. Dream and infinity. Is it possible to entrust one’s whole being to this indefinable vastness? Myrta Köhler explores this question in her large-format cyanotype series FLOW AND THEN. The „photography in slow motion creates images of weightlessness, which is only made possible by relinquishing control: During the process of creation, the artist surrenders herself to time, light, water and, not least, to chance.”

#10 Sebastian Piórek (Poland)

Image source: Sebastian Piórek

“A playground full of joy hidden somewhere deep in the south of Poland shows its beauty in the first flash of sun from above. This region is known for its mines and strongly urban character of architecture, so such a colorful playground is a kind of pearl from the ground and also from the air.”

#11 Carolyn Silvernail (USA)

Image source: Carolyn Silvernail

“This is a photo taken of a small waterway near Fort Pulaski National Monument, outside of Savannah, GA. I live in Savannah and am inspired by the swamps and marshes that surround us here on the coast.”

#12 Martina Holmberg (Sweden)

Image source: Martina Holmberg

“The images are from my series Mayfly. The images are photographed with expired or overexposed polaroid film. They are snapshots of life, a sense of humility about the constant miracle of life and the awareness of our impermanence. How we all belong together and how strong and at the same time fragile life can be.”

#13 Rohina Hoffman (USA)

Image source: Rohina Hoffman

“Artichoke for steaming with aromatics is part of a series called “In Gratitude”, an homage to food and family. Prompted by the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is a series of portraits of myself, my husband, and my three children showcasing the items that we used to create our daily meals. I aim to highlight the words of MFK Fisher “our three basic needs, for food, security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined, that we cannot straightly think about one without the others.””

#14 Fabien Dendiével (France)

Image source: Fabien Dendiével

“This photo is part of a series on the French countryside and what remains of a time gone by: the old interiors of our grandparents, abandoned cars and out-of-service petrol stations… Photography is a way of keeping a memory of all these things that marked generations and our childhood. In a way, it immortalizes this heritage.”

#15 The Third Place Winner: From Series “Paris Metro” By Ellen Stern (USA)

Image source: ejsternphoto

“One day in the Paris Metro, I noticed a French worker shaving down a multitude of thick ads placed on top of each other in a frame next to the tracks. When it was shaved all the way to the base, the image that remained from the torn ads was a beautiful melange of color, form and beauty. Completely fascinated by the discovery of this process; I have scoured the Paris metro for the past few years as on a treasure hunt; photographing these images of torn and ripped advertising posters.”

#16 Alessandro Gallo (Italy)

Image source: Alessandro Gallo

“Colors in architecture can makes difference and communicate a mood. Here inspired by a residential building in Lisbon.”

#17 Marco Cajazzo (Italy)

Image source: Marco Cajazzo

“The Robot is a surreal shot taken in Catania (Sicily). Anyone who looks at the photo is initially surprised and tries to understand how it is possible. There is a skillful game of juxtapositions that is typical of a certain genre of street photography. The magic is completed by the power of colors: the yellow of the trousers, the metallic elements and the backpack, but also the blue of the metal bar and the smartphone in the subject’s pocket.”

#18 Jyotsna Bhamidipati (USA)

Image source: Jyotsna Bhamidipati

“This image was taken as a part of my Motherhood project while I was making some apple pie with a side of asparagus for my son and my daughter decided to join and help me to cook for her brother.”

#19 The Winner Of Aap Magazine 35 Colors: From Series “Thinking Of Guy Bourdin” By Kyla Rys (USA)

Image source: kyla.rys

“Thinking of Guy Bourdin is an homage to the iconic French fashion photographer, Guy Bourdin. The series applies the photographer’s primary color palette in with vibrant reds and blues. Such contrast emphasizes the striking details of contemporary fashion staples.”

#20 Pawel Pilch (Poland/USA)

Image source: Pawel Pilch

“Aerial photographs documenting Solar Evaporation and Mineral Extraction Fields in Utah, United States.”