Sony World Photography Awards 2017 Shortlist

Nature category, open shortlist. “Diamond-dust”. A picture taken in Nagano-ken, Japan, at an altitude of about 1,700 metres. Diamond dust can be seen on only a few occasions during the cold season. (Photo and caption by Masayasu Sakuma/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Daily life category, professional shortlist. “Inhabitants of the empty”. Syuzanna sits in a shelter made from an old car in front of the abandoned building where she lives in Gyumri, Armenia. (Photo and caption by Yulia Grigoryants/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Daily life category, professional shortlist. “A country doctor and her calling”. Family doctor Floarea Ciupitu visits a house in the village of Gângiova in south-west Romania, where she has worked for the past three decades. (Photo and caption by Ioana Moldovan/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Culture category, open shortlist. “Georgian baptism”. An infant is baptised according to the Orthodox rite in a church in Tbilisi, Georgia. (Photo and caption by Beniamino Pisati/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Culture category, open shortlist. “Mourning ceremony”, pictured in Iran. (Photo and caption by Emrah Karakoç/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Wildlife category, open shortlist. “Buffaloes and stars”. This picture, taken at Zimanga game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, used an in-camera multiple exposure, with the first lit for the buffaloes and the second focused on the stars. (Photo and caption by Andreas Hemb/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Portraiture category, professional shortlist. “Hamza & Shukra”, from the series Racism in India: the African Portraits. (Photo and caption by Mahesh Shantaram/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Portraiture category, open shortlist. “Present and past” shows 85-year-old Carmen Sajeras, born in Cuba from a family of Spanish immigrants. (Photo and caption by Anisleidy Martínez Fonseca/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Portraiture category, professional shortlist. “Raul Rodrigues Jr” in Apple Valley, California, US. Photographers Edoardo Delille and Giulia Piermartiri went on the road to meet Latinos pledging their vote to Donald Trump. (Photo and caption by Giulia Piermartiri & Edoardo Delille/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Current affairs and news category, professional shortlist. “Caught in the crossfire”. Iraqi men from the Hawija region wait to be questioned by Kurdish security personnel at a base near Kirkuk, Iraq. (Photo and caption by Ivor Prickett/2017 Sony World Photography Awards/Panos Pictures)

Current affairs and news category, professional shortlist. “We are taking no prisoners”. Libyan forces affiliated to the Tripoli government walk around a huge chandelier at the Ouagadougou congress complex in Sirte, Libya. (Photo and caption by Alessio Romenzi/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Sport category, professional shortlist. “Pumping iron in Russia”. Participants wait backstage during a regional bodybuilding championship in Stavropol, southern Russia. (Photo and caption by Eduard Korniyenko/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Travel category, open shortlist. “Lady in red”, shot with a drone on the eastern part of the Luštica peninsula in Montenegro. (Photo and caption by Placido Faranda/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Street photography category, open shortlist. “Metropolis”. A reflection in a window interrupts a street scene. (Photo and caption by Tavepong Pratoomwong/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)

Still life category, open shortlist. “Palm trees routine” was shot during a visit to the Muralla Roja residential complex in Alicante, Spain. (Photo and caption by Andrés Gallardo Albajar/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)