Local photographer wins World Press Award
(VOV) - “The Pink Choice”, a series of works by Vietnamese photographer Maika Elan (born Nguyen Thanh Hai), has won first prize at the 2013 World Press Photo Contest.
Maika’s collection was recognised in the contest’s Contemporary Issues Stories category.
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| Photographer Maika Elan |
The 27-year-old photographer, who graduated from the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, chose to explore the stories of homosexual couples in Vietnam through her camera lens.
Her photographs depict her subjects’ daily lives, recording private moments through a focus on living spaces and a desire to capture the visual essence of their relationships.
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Maika was awarded the “Best Photo Essay” at the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation workshop in 2010. She was also listed as a finalist in a 2012 contest for female Asian photographers.
Her photos were exhibited in Hanoi in November 2012, and have been published by numerous print and online newspapers in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and China.
The 2013 World Press Photo Contest, the 56th of its kind, featured more than 100,000 photos taken by 5,666 photographers representing 124 of the world’s countries and territories.