Under Water & Up a Mountain: Photography 2021 Competition Winners

To take a perfect photograph, the setting and atmospehere is key. Whether you create it yourself or go out in the world to find it, it influences the rest of the image and the process of taking that one shot. These Gold-winning Photography 2021 Award entries won big with their backgrounds!

Hailing from the United Kingdom, Jonathan Knowles is a Graphis Master and a brillant photographer when it comes to shooting still lives and beauty shots that bring product placement and advertisment up to a whole new level. This is shown in his photograph “Asquiths Bathrooms” (above). The image was was shot for the launch of the British luxury bathroom interior designers of the same name, and the whole image just drips splendor.

The model lies under a gush of running water, with only her face, hands, and lower arms viewable. Thanks to a lot of yellow lighting, the water is a deep gold, making it look as if she’s floating in a river of molten metal. Accents of turquoise and bright green bring out the texture in the water and how it surrounds her. Adding to the luxe feeling are the model’s gold bracelets and her impectable hair and makeup, which is thanks to makeup artist Jamiee Rose and hair stylist Robert Frampton. The actual image on Asquiths Bathrooms’ website features a running water effect, finishing off an photograph that makes customers want their own fancy bathroom.

The North Face is one of the best brands for outdoor clothing, and American photographer Tyler Stableford goes to photographic extremes to prove it. “The Heart of Winter” (above) was shot in collaboration with North Face athlete Anna Pfaff, and the goal of the shoot was to capture the spirit and soul of ice climbing in an interesting and unique way, along with the risk and reward of the sport.

In order to accentuate the color of Anna’s clothing and climbing rope, Stableford relied on a cool color palette for the ice, mountains, and the sky. Additionally, he wanted the viewer’s attention to be directed straight into the action, so he framed her in between the spires of ice and added a cool blue tone to the image to achieve the mood and composition he envisioned. Thanks to Stableford’s hard work, the images from this project were very well received, and were utilized across The North Face’s social media channels as promotional material.

To enter our Photography 2022 Awards competition, visit us at graphis.com.