Feast for the eyes has a distinctive Chinese flavour

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Chen Ying’s picture, Traditional Skill, won the Food for Celebration category with its depiction of a family in China’s Fujian province making traditional food for Chinese New Year (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

China’s best photographic talent enjoyed more international success when the winners of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2022 awards were announced at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in London.

In the 23 categories, four were won by photographers from China, with an additional 18 honours being picked up for placed finishes or high commendations.

The 11th staging of the competition, the winners of which were announced on April 26, attracted more than 9,000 entries from more than 60 countries and continued a rich vein of success for Chinese photographers, who won the competition’s overall top prize last year and in 2019.

The overall winner this year was Kebabiyana by the Indian photographer Debdatta Chakraborty, in which Chakraborty captured an ordinary street in Srinagar that is transformed by street vendors at night lighting up their ovens and filling the air with smoke and aromas.

Among the category winners, the Chinese photographer Lin Weining achieved success in both the Food in Action category, with an image of an old man preparing vegetables in a sun-drenched courtyard, and the Food for the Family category, depicting a family in western Hunan province making food for Spring Festival.

Chang Jiangbin’s image, Movement of Noodles , took first prize in the Bring Home the Harvest category (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Chen Ying’s image of New Year dumplings being made in Fujian province won the Food for Celebration prize and Chang Jiangbin’s image of noodle making won the Bring Home the Harvest category.

In addition, Chinese photographers picked up four second-place awards, three third-place awards and 11 highly commended awards.

The team of judges, led by the internationally renowned photographer David Loftus, included Fiona Shields, head of photography at The Guardian, Na Risong, art director and curator of the Inter Art Centre Gallery in Beijing, the National Geographic photographer Tasneem Alsultan and Rein Skullerud of the World Food Programme.

“Never has the importance of photography and food been so great,” said Philip Turnbull, chief executive of Apple and Pear Australia, owner of the awards sponsor Pink Lady. “Huge global events – war, famine, the end of lockdowns, the revival of the hospitality industry, the chance to celebrate with friends and family again – all these are recorded in the awards, which show so vividly how food touches every aspect of our lives. The competition continues to be a truly global celebration of the art of food photography.”

This year’s finalists works will be exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society, one of the world’s oldest photographic institutions, in Bristol from 20 November to 12 December 2022. Admission is free.