1ST PRIZE – NASHCO PHOTO

“The colors are the first thing you register in this photo. The repetitions of the corals and pinks are not only lovely, but also give a feeling of the heat in the home. The fan in the foreground brings a lot of visual interest to the frame and starts the repetition of all the curves in the rest of the photo-the other fan, the gate, the woman’s arms. This image is not only split into thirds on the flat horizontal plane but also three dimensionally-there is the fan in the foreground, then the gate and then the living room. These layers add a texture and depth to the image. In some ways, the success of this photo defies logic. Instead of the fan in the foreground drawing your eye into the photo towards the subject, it fights to compete with the subject for where your eye should rest. This ends up creating a tension and visual interest that makes the photo exciting.” – PHAEDRA BROWN

Photographer statement – A Cuban woman relaxes during the heat of the day at her apartment in Havana.

2ND PRIZE – GEORGE TATAKIS

“This photo is all about the textures. The detailed texture of the walls, dress, veil, blankets all add interest and depth to the image. The composition is beautiful and the high contrast gives an ethereal quality to the woman’s face that is captivating. The technical skill used to bring out the interesting details around the room gives it its beauty and warmth.” – PHAEDRA BROWN

Photographer statement – From the series Caryatis. This work focuses on female traditional costumes all over Greece, with me taking control over the whole scene and direction.

ERIC TSCHAEPPELER

“Environmental portraits of people in their bedrooms is a well-trodden photographic topic, but it’s no surprise – the bedroom, the only private space most of us have, can give a fascinating insight into our personalities, passions and rituals. This particular room is a chaos of pinks and pastel hues, jam packed with books, clothes, toys and figurines. The large Garfield stuffed toy and black-and-white cat are more prominent than the subject herself who is camouflaged amongst her paraphernalia, and it’s a pleasure to examine the scene and discover new details with each pass of the eye. The series title, Child Free, and Eric’s accompanying statement add a further level of interest. We are told this lady has chosen not to have children, choosing to live childhood instead through her possessions and obsessions. It makes for a fascinating character and an image of real complexity.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series Child Free. My subjects answered my advert looking for people who had chosen not to have children and were willing to pose in their homes in exchange for a print. The series was shot on medium format film.

MANOLO ESPALIU

“A fascinating response to the theme, Manolo’s image depicts a modern ghost town – one of several new communities in Iran that was abandoned mid-construction due to unfavorable economic conditions. Pale and lifeless against the arid hillside, they are indeed ghostly – monuments to nothingness, and symbolic of so many macro-topics that dominate our contemporary existence; geopolitics, economics and urbanization, profits so often put above people. One wonders what will become of these structures, frozen in time before they could become homes and communities.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – In recent years dozens of new urban centers have been built across Iran under the Maskan-e Mehr social housing project: a total of 17 new cities and around 1.5 million housing units with the main goal of reversing migration to larger cities, where living standards are deteriorating due to traffic, pollution and the high price of housing.

These communities were erected in arid, almost desert environments, as in Pardis (analogous to ‘paradise’ in Persian, half an hour northeast of Tehran), often with little regard for ecological conditions on the ground. The plan was to equip each community with a wide range of services: public transportation, parks, hospitals, schools, mosques, but the actual implementation of these plans soon proved to be a failure. The soaring inflation rate, as well as the tightening international sanctions, made these ventures unprofitable for developers, leading them to jettison projects mid-construction. Some 200,000 units lacked access to water, heating and sewer systems. Finally, the Maskan-e Mehr housing plan has finally turned out to be one of the biggest obstacles to Iran’s economic recovery.

AMBER MARIE RILEY

“”Home can be a feeling” says in her poetic statement, and it’s an idea that she conveys in this image – home as the sanctuary of friendship, togetherness and tenderness. Researchers talk of “the reminiscence bump” – the phenomenon that our strongest memories are forged between the ages of 10 and 30 – and so for many of us we remember feelings of youthhood with an unparalleled vividness and intensity. Amber’s image is a simple one, and yet all these ideas are imbued in these open palms and holding hands. It’s beautifully done.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series Home Safe. An investigative project that uses intimate imagery to discuss themes of safety and comfort, finding familial links within communal friendship groups. The project dissects how ‘home’ can be a feeling and a group of people more than just four white walls and a roof – the emotions you feel when you finally warm your hands after being outside in the cold for so long, that slight sting of adjustment but comforting and warming all the same.

Transience and time is explored throughout this project, documenting the minuscule moments of everyday life that would otherwise go overlooked if not for the presence of photographer and camera. Home Safe finds detail within lost moments, acting as a photographic time capsule to document one’s time in a certain location. This project is for all those who have felt so lost for years only to find peace within a short period of life. This project can be home for you when the notion of such feels so out of reach.

JAN PRENGEL

“In a world where so many decisions are based on functionality, on following trends and blending in, it’s amazing to see pure architectural expressions of character and personality like this. Jan captures a special, idiosyncratic place – the Venetian island of Burano – but it’s a special image too, framing the scene to perfectly balance the three primary colors in all their vivid glory. It’s picture perfect. You wonder who might live in such a charming place – what personalities would best match these vibrant homes.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series Houses of Individuality. This series captures the brightly painted houses on the small Venetian island of Burano. This bold tradition began somewhat as a beacon for fishermen approaching land so they could identify the buildings through the thick Venetian fog. Today, the colors reflect the various personalities of the owners.

ANDREW BRILLIANT

“We spend much of our time as photographers trying to capture the big moments, but it is often the understated slices of normality which are the most compelling, none more so than in the home. Here we see mother, daughter and cat at rest during the day time. It’s nothing unusual but it’s the simplicity of the moment – their togetherness, their peaceful expressions, the rumpled sheets and the way the soft light draws shapes above them – that makes for a quietly beautiful scene. A moment to relish.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series My Life as a Dad. Over 40 years of pictures of family life at home and abroad. Nina, Carol, Vinnie – Beecher Street.

TARAS BYCHKO

“Many great projects can start with a simple premise – in Taras’ case to document her children growing up in their apartment. Constraints such as this – photographing in a space you’re already intimately familiar with – can breed a creativity, hunting to find new perspectives to render the commonplace in uncommon ways, and it’s something she achieves brilliantly with this artistic split frame. As one child plays near a window, the silhouette of another is projected in the foreground, giving a sense of energy and playfulness – a place full of life. But it’s also not without a certain claustrophobia that many of us will have felt confined to small spaces over the last couple of years. The way Taras contrasts light and shadow is particularly striking, the chiaroscuro of the everyday. It leaves some of the scene to the imagination, which is what play is about after all.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series 2ROOMS. With this project, I document the life of my family. I want to make such pictures, which help in the future to my children remember their childhood, what they were and how they spent their time. This is a kind of “diary of time” that is limited to the space of our dwelling. The limited space of our apartment becomes a new challenge for me as a photographer: what you can shoot in such routine conditions? But the apartment itself becomes a kind of decoration for all the photos of this series. Of course, kids spend much of their time at home, and I have to watch and record all the things that, in my opinion, will be exciting and interesting for them.

VERONIKA K KO

“Veronika’s emotive statement does a wonderful job of surrounding this image with some context, but really the scene speaks for itself. Picked out by a shard of daylight that spills into the room, this woman’s posture is one of sadness and perhaps regret, the half-drawn blinds and darkened space symbolic of a closing-off from the world, and the doll on the bed from which she turns away emblematic of family and fleeting youth. Veronika’s statement speaks of this lady feeling forgotten with her children far away and seldom visiting, but there is also something to be said for her determination to support herself and to remain in the place where she grew up. The image is charged with emotional conflict, speaking to the power of home as both a place of solace and burden.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – While visiting a small village in Bulgaria, I saw a woman sitting on a little wooden bench in front of her house. I stopped to say hello. Happy to talk to someone, she invited me inside for a cup of herbal tea. She showed me rugs, tapestries, and tablecloths she made in her youth. In the bedroom, her favorite doll decorated the bed (a tradition in rural Balkan countries). It was the only thing keeping her company.

The 75-year-old widow lives alone and feels forgotten. Her three children left the family’s nest years ago, choosing the big city, other lands, and busy lives. She said they have their own families and visit her very rarely. I asked why she doesn’t join them. She said she is strong enough to take care of herself and that she doesn’t want to leave her home, where she was born, her native land, where the graves of all her relatives are. She doesn’t want to break away from her roots. It’s with a heavy heart that I imagine how many lonely elderly people there are in the world nowadays. I dream of a better world – a world with more kindness, compassion, and care for others.

SARA CUCE

“A crumbling home on the edge of a vast ocean, this image conjures ideas of the passing of time, nostalgia and impermanence, those feelings made more tactile by the black and white execution, the heavy analog grain and slight lack of sharpness. Sara talks of the impact migration has on identity, and this building bordering the sea is an apt metaphor for being on the edge, occupying the inbetween.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series Memory of the Eyes. An ongoing visual diary focused on the theme of belonging, identity, the concept of home and therefore of space, time and memory.

I grew up in Sicily and I’ve left my home and family to move to London about 8 years ago. We are constantly looking for who we are, where we come from and try to find our place in life. When one is born in a country but moves to another where is one’s home country then? This question is hard to answer, because migration is always a process which implies a struggle of identities.

I’ve always had contrasting sentiments when I thought about a place to belong to. Since I left, I often reflect about the concept of home and belonging. I often miss my family, the smells of home, the landscapes, the spaces, the bittersweet adolescent memories, a sort of nostalgia is growing up inside me, while I’m building a new home, a new life, a new place and space inside and outside me, and welcoming arms to belong to. Sometimes I feel this duality is pulling me in different directions, ripping me, other times I feel calm, at peace. I wonder if they can live under the same roof, inside the same body, together. In flux.

HENRI FITRIADI

“Shooting from a distance, Henri is careful not to disturb the innocent, candid joy of this scene. The uninhibited grins of these children as they sing in front of their makeshift house of banana leaves is infectious, and the perfectly controlled lighting renders them as a visual as well as metaphorical burst of color against the rising smoke and shadowy foreground. It’s an image imbued with a quiet magic.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Kids singing around a camp fire with a tent made up of piles of banana leaves set up in the front yard. A village in Magelang, Central Java – Indonesia.

BRENDA BAZAN

“All is painted in gold in this scene – the clear rapport between photographer and subjects, and affection between mother and child emphasized by this unconventional coloration. It works brilliantly to elevate the scene beyond a simple portrait, and to capture something of the unorthodox path Fish and their mother have pursued. Strikingly done.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – This portrait of Fish Fiorucci and their mom was taken in the kitchen of their home. Fish is a non-binary supermodel native to the US-Mexico border. Fish’s mom has been their biggest supporter ever since they started modeling in local runways organized by their mom herself, and throughout their international career with accomplishments as big as modeling for a campaign with Lady Gaga for Haus Labs and walking for Balenciaga during Paris fashion week.

JOHN BULLOCK

“This is a very well-crafted image imbued with the intense emotions that come with hospitals and illness – the idea of our body as a home and its ultimate frailty and ephemerality. John understands how to control light and shadow in a frame, but also of their symbolic power to convey hope and despair, optimism and fatalism. Balancing light and darkness, and using negative space to emphasize his father’s isolation in his plight while creating a thread of connection through eye contact, the resulting image is truly arresting. We’re glad to read that his father did make it back home following this hospitalization, willing to be documented in such vulnerability.” – LIFE FRAMER

“This is a very well-crafted image imbued with the intense emotions that come with hospitals and illness – the idea of our body as a home and its ultimate frailty and ephemerality. John understands how to control light and shadow in a frame, but also of their symbolic power to convey hope and despair, optimism and fatalism. Balancing light and darkness, and using negative space to emphasize his father’s isolation in his plight while creating a thread of connection through eye contact, the resulting image is truly arresting. We’re glad to read that his father did make it back home following this hospitalization, willing to be documented in such vulnerability.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – This is a photo of my dad at physical therapy after a battle with Covid. He was put on a ventilator and sedated for over a month, but he survived. This photo is part of a project I started on the first few days after he woke up. The point of the project is to show his recovery and his journey back home.

GALIT SELIGMANN

“Capturing a flat perspective, Galit documents a scene bursting with life – a harmony of coexistence present in spite of the disorderly, informal nature of these settlements and the chaos of color and texture on display. No space remains unused and it’s a joy to survey the scene, picking out details such as the man lurking in the shadowy central doorway, the trousers drying on the corrugated iron roof, and the blue container marked “not a dust bin”. In many parts of the world we live on top of one another, and it’s a testament to community that it works.” – LIFE FRAMER

RAYMOND VOS

“Capturing this couple – Sarah and Joseph – in their modest home, Raymond uses a low camera angle to maximize our view of the scene and root us very firmly in the space. There’s a lovely off-symmetry in the blues and yellows of their clothing – bright colors that stand out against the earthy surroundings – but we are offered few clues to who his subjects are and what may be behind their steely expressions. It’s an intriguing image we’d love to know more about. ” – LIFE FRAMER

KIKU OHE

“Acts of colonialism such as the British occupation Australia may have happened many hundreds of years ago, but their impacts are lasting and indelible. It was only in 1985 that the Australian government returned ownership of Uluru to its native people, and here we see one such Aboriginal woman stood in front of it and looking outwards. Lit by the low, golden sun, there is so much contained in her gaze. The weight of the past and the prospect of the future. We’d love to know what conversation was had between Kiku and Rene – what occupied their thoughts in this moment. It invites the viewer to question the idea of homeland, and what has come before them.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Portrait of Aboriginal artist Rene Kulitja in front of the beautiful and sacred Uluru. Uluru is the red heart of Australia, a monolith more than 500 million years old.

AGATA MENDZIUK

“Agata’s fascinating, somewhat cryptic statement sets the scene for this highly stylized image. Illuminated in the darkness by a sliver of daylight, this woman cowers at the window, a detached observer to a world happening apart from her empty surroundings. Is she fearful? Sorrowful? Unwell? Agata’s oblique execution gives few clues but it’s engagingly rendered nonetheless with a cinematic flair.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series Closer. The theme of Closer is a threatened sense of security in the personal and social dimensions. A starting point for the series is my strong belief that threat emerging in seemingly distant places eventually affects all the world’s societies in a chain reaction. In this sense hardships experienced now in external environments are close to us, getting closer every minute.

This is why the project is composed of portraits of diverse people in domestic or urban spaces – familiar and safe, in which, however, a disturbing dissonance is present. The glow of the fire visible in the background of an idyllic scene or the shattered glass of the window that creates composition for the whole image emphasize the tension between reliable repetition of everyday life and the shock created by imminent danger. The images increase the tension by asking a crucial question: When the danger strikes will you be its adversary or observer?

COLBY BLOUNT

“A moment of playful rebellion against decorum and tradition in a space of grand opulence, Colby captures a mischievous act with the viscerality of analog film and stark flash. You can sense the fun that was had making this image.” – LIFE FRAMER

MIGUEL PEREZ

“Depicting subversions of gender norms such as this is important, breaking down hardened ideas of certain spaces being only accessible to men or women. Trucking is traditionally a highly masculine vocation and so it’s interesting to not only see this woman engaged in it, but also to juxtapose the cold and clinical plastic and leather cabin with her lipstick and other adornments – little signifiers of self. Such a space becomes a home away from home with this life out on the road – something that must feel both freeing and restrictive. It’s a fascinating subject for a longform project, which we’d love to see more of.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series My House is my Second Home. Broken Lips. Women truckers who integrate the cabin and the sleeper of their trucks into the most intimate part of their daily lives. Spaces created to dream, love, eat and feel beautiful in a very masculine job.

PAUL HYNES-ALLEN

“Home should be a place of safety and contentment, but that’s a far stretch from what we see here. Paul’s semi-autobiographical, semi-staged image is wrought with feelings of bleakness and despair, his subject seeking escape in a bathtub surrounded by dirt and cigarettes. It is not an easy image to absorb but it’s a highly affecting one, the harsh cropping adding to the grim, claustrophobic atmosphere, and the anonymity of his subject asking us to question just how many people live in such spaces, grappling with such conditions.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series A Sense of Madness. Sited in a claustrophobia-inducing flat in Croydon (south of London) this project bears testament to the impact of mental illness on a life. My young protagonist is pictured seemingly trapped in a world of mood-controlling drugs, cigarettes, and daytime television. The pictures reek of the dirty velour and nicotine-stained wood chip wallpaper. This project draws into sharp relief an underclass the mentally ill are forced by their illness to join. This is no ordinary photodocumentary project – it is not another cold and analytical view of the ‘other’, or a concerned sociological rendition of a situation compassionately observed, but never really understood. This bleak story of loneliness, despair, and isolation, though keenly observed and extremely well crafted, is the result of concern for a sick friend. I made this project so much part of my personal experience that I have added my own belongings to the images; reinforcing his relationship both to the subject matter and to the subject.