#008 Sony World Photography Awards 2019

”#008 Sony World Photography Awards 2019”announcement visual
The venue of the “#008 Sony World Photography Awards 2019” seen from the underground concourse

Ginza Sony Park will host around 250 prize-winning works from among the roughly 330,000 total entries in one of the world's largest photography contests!

This program is an exhibition of prize-winning works from the 12th edition of the Sony World Photography Awards ("SWPA") in 2019, one of the world's largest photography contests which this year had 326,997 total entries from throughout the world. Come and experience the diversity-rich world of photography in this casual photo exhibition at the park in the middle of the city.

June 1 (Sat) - 23 (Sun), 2019 10:00 - 20:00

*Pre-opening to the general public starting at 18:00 on May 31 (Fri)

#ginzasonypark #SWPA2019

* This program has finished.

Exhibition overview

There will be award-winning works from the four competitions of the SWPA, "Professional" (10 categories), "Open" (10 categories), "Youth," and "Student," in addition to introductions and displays sharing the history and general idea of the SWPA on each floor.

  • PARK B1 / Basement 1

    Award winning works from SWPA 2019 will be introduced via slide projector.

  • PARK B2 / Basement 2

    Works from the Professional (series photos) and Open (single photos) competitions will be on display.

  • PARK B3 / Basement 3

    Works from the Student, Japan National Awards, and Youth competitions will be on display. There will also be an introduction of the award winner for Outstanding Contribution to Photography in the past.

Exhibition photo 1
Exhibition photo 1
Exhibition photo 1
Exhibition photo 1
The PARK B2/Basement 2 venue 1
The PARK B2/Basement 2 venue 1
The PARK B2/Basement 2 venue 1
The PARK B2/Basement 2 venue 1

Discussion events

Discussion events will be held throughout the duration of the exhibition on the PARK B3/Basement 3 exhibition hall (participation free of charge).

On the first day June 1 (Sat) Scott Gray, the CEO and founder of the World Photography Organisation which is cooperating the exhibition, will lead a discussion and guided tour event. He will be explaining the messages that the works contain, and reasons for the selections of the award winners. (Japanese language interpretation available)

On June 16 (Sun) and 22 (Sat), editor and author of various magazines and books Masanobu Sugatsuke will be on hand as a "listener" for in-depth theoretical discussions about photography from various viewpoints with domestically and internationally active photographers Chikashi Suzuki and Mikiya Takimoto as guests.

On June 23 (Sun) Ihiro Hayami who founded the international photo festival "T3 Photo Festival Tokyo" will be on hand as "listener" for a discussion with SWPA 2019 Japan National Awards first place winner Toshio Ishido and street photographer (Ash) Shinya Kawaoto who was shortlisted in the Open Competition in SWPA 2017 about the path to a greater more expansive world through SWPA.

Global Photography Trends Seen at the Sony World Photography Awards

Date/time June 1 (Sat) two times - starting at 14:00 and 16:00 (around 30 minutes each)
Guest World Photography Organisation CEO Scott Gray

Getting Photography to Cross Over

Date/time June 16 (Sun) 15:00 - 16:30
Guest Mikiya Takimoto (photographer)
Listener Masanobu Sugatsuke (editor)

Photography as an Universal Language

Date/time June 22 (Sat) 15:00 - 16:30
Guest Chikashi Suzuki (photographer)
Listener Masanobu Sugatsuke (editor)

Profile

Scott Gray

Founder and CEO, World Photography Organisation. Scott Gray, started his professional career working on fashion and apparel exhibitions across Europe and the USA, before going on to launch a series of international events in Europe. Since 2005, Scott has conceived and been developing the World Photography Organisation and its various initiatives and programmes across the global photographic community under the "World Photography" brand, among which the Sony World Photography Awards was inaugurated in 2007. Scott is committed to the development of a product that provides an international platform to photographers whilst establishing photography into new and less mature markets, and providing various annual meeting grounds for a global industry to converge and facilitate exchange within the market.

Scott Gray

Masanobu Sugatsuke

President/Editor of Gutenberg Orchestra Co., Ltd. Born in 1964. After working at the editorial departments of Monthly Kadokawa, Cut, and Esquire Japan, Sugatsuke became independent. He serves as the editor-in-chief of various magazines including Composite, Invitation and Ecocolo, handling everything from editing printed works to providing planning and consulting services to clients. His written works include Hajimete no Henshu (Editing for Beginners), Butsuyoku Naki Sekai (A World Without Material Desires), and Shashin no Atarashii Jiyuu (New Freedom in Photography). He also serves as President of art book publishing company United Vagabonds. He currently has net-based serialized features in Commercial Photo and Wired Japan. He edits photobooks for photographers such as Kishin Shinoyama, Daido Moriyama, Yoshihiko Ueda, Mark Borthwick, and Yelena Yemchuk. He has also been awarded an NY ADC Silver Prize.

Masanobu Sugatsuke

Mikiya Takimoto

Photographer. He was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1974. He works on photography in a wide range of fields including advertising photography and other product announcements, as well as movies and commercial film in the film industry. He won the award for Best Cinematography at the 39th Japan Academy Awards in 2015 for Umimachi Diary (Our Little Sister). He has also handled cinematography for the films Soshite Chichi ni Naru (Like Father Like Son) and Sandome no Satsujin (The Third Murder).

Mikiya Takimoto

Chikashi Suzuki

Photographer. Born in 1972. Traveled to France in 1998. Began his career as a photographer for the magazine Purple. He worked on commercials and other productions for Issey Miyake, Toga, CeBIT, and Gucci in Japanese and international magazines.

Main group exhibitions: Colette (Paris, France) in 1998, MOCA (Los Angeles, USA) in 2001, and the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle, USA) in 2001.

Main solo exhibitions: Treesaresospecial (Tokyo, Japan) in 2005, G/P Gallery (Tokyo, Japan) in 2009, and Kosaku Kanechika (Tokyo, Japan) in 2018 and 2019.

Collections: Shapes of Blooming (Treesaresospecial) in 2005, Driving with Rinko Kikuchi (The International) in 2008, CITE (G/P Gallery, Treesaresospecial) in 2009, and Sakura! (Little More) in 2014.

Chikashi Suzuki

Ihiro Hayami

Founder of the T3 Photo Festival Tokyo (Tokyo International Photography Festival). Born in Osaka in 1982. He has been vigorously active in events such as overseas photography festivals, and among his recent activities he has served as panelist at the Photo Vogue Festival (Milan) in 2019, HIPA (Dubai) in 2018, and the LensCulture Black & White Awards (Amsterdam) in 2018, and he had a portfolio review in the New York Times Portfolio Reviews (New York) in 2018. He has also spoken and judged at many international photography festivals in places such as Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brazil, and Colombia. Major rotating exhibits that he has worked on in the past include Alejandro Chaskielberg's "Otsuchi Future Memories" (Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan) in 2016 and other years, and Alex Prager's "Week End" (Tokyo) in 2010. Previously he served as editor-in-chief at PHaT PHOTO photo magazine.

Ihiro Hayami

Toshio Ishido

Photographer. Born in Tokyo in 1975. In 2008 his hobby was riding around on his large-sized motorcycle, and he wanted to capture the beautiful scenery everywhere he went so he began carrying a camera. From that point on he was drawn into the allure of cameras, which subsequently replaced motorcycling as his hobby. He mainly shoots portraits.

Starting in 2018 he wanted to expand the range of expression in his photography, and began full-scale street photography work in Shibuya—where all types of people are about and neighborhoods change at a rapid pace.

Awarded First Prize in the Sony World Photography Awards 2019 National Awards, and Gold in Nature Flowers at the Tokyo International Foto Awards in 2018.

Toshio Ishido

(Ash) Shinya Kawaoto

Street photographer. Born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture. In 2016 he began shooting street photography mainly in the metropolis of Tokyo. His photography seeks to record the transformations of neighborhoods through the expressions of those who live in the city. He has received awards in a variety of competitions, particularly overseas, including the Shortlist in the Street Photography category of the Sony World Photography Awards 2017 Open competition, and being named a finalist in the LensCulture Magnum Photography Awards 2017. In March 2018 he opened his own individual exhibition called Scrap and Build. He is a member of the Tokyo street photography magazine VoidTokyo, which is currently being sold in roughly 40 countries around the world.

Ash Shinya Kawaoto

Related Exhibition

Starting on June 7 (Fri) Sony Imaging Gallery Ginza will have an exhibition focusing on works from the Student competition of SWPA 2019.

Evolution / Belong: Exhibition of award-winning works from the Sony World Photography Awards 2019 Student Competition

Duration June 7 (Fri) - 20 (Thu), 2019
Time 11:00 - 19:00
Venue Sony Imaging Gallery Ginza (6F Ginza Place, 5-8-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo)
Cost Free entry
URL https://www.sony.co.jp/imaging/gallery/

About the Sony World Photography Awards 2019

The Sony World Photography Awards is a photography contest backed by Sony and first held in 2007, with the aim of contributing to the ongoing development of the culture of photography. It is comprised of four competitions, Professional (10 categories), "Open" (10 categories), "Youth" (ages 12 to 19), and "Student," and provides platforms catered to every career stage and genre of photos. The Sony World Photography Awards 2019 which is the 12th edition of the event brought in a total of around 330,000 entries from 195 countries, making it one of the largest photography awards contests in the world. Award winners receive prizes including cash and merchandise, as well as assistance in spreading their wings throughout the world such as having their works displayed at a photography exhibition in London, England, and published in the annual Sony World Photography Awards Book, in addition to receiving media exposure on a worldwide level.

In the spring of every year, the works of award winners and successful awards entrants are gathered to be displayed at a photography exhibition at Somerset House in London. The exhibition is now a can't-miss cultural event in the London art scene, with over 30,000 visitors from countries around the world.

#008 Sony World Photography Awards 2019 Event overview

Duration

June 1 (Sat) - 23 (Sun), 2019

* This program has finished.

Time

10:00 - 20:00

*Pre-opening to the general public starting at 18:00 on May 31 (Fri)

Venue B1 - B3/ Basement1 - Basement 3 [Park Map]
Cost

Free entry

Organizers

Ginza Sony Park, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc.

Cooperation World Photography Organisation