Capturing Culinary Delights Across the Globe at the 2023 Pink Lady Food Photography Awards

The Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year is a global contest honoring the diversity and artistry in food photography across various applications. The competition’s 25 categories, ranging from magazine food styling to cultural and natural food portrayals, celebrate the cultural breadth of food’s representation in society. The Awards value technical skill, originality, and emotional connection to the subject, whether it’s a simple apple or a baker at work in the early morning. The grand prize winner will be awarded 5,000 GBP (around 6,570 USD).

Overall Winner: Candy Man

Seller Pappu Jaiswal. The photograph was taken in the streets of western Mumbai near the candy floss-selling grounds of the beaches and fairs. It is part of a wider series of images of the sellers, which capture the unique ways used to display the candy goods in the hope of attracting a buyer. “The winning image was part of a personal project – a huge amount of time and thought went into capturing it so it’s great to be recognised by such an esteemed panel of judges” Jon Enoch. Photograph: Jon Enoch/Pink Lady Awards 23

More: Pink Lady Food Photography Awards, Instagram h/t: guardian

Student Food Photographer of the Year supported by the Royal Photographic Society: Amazonian Foodscape

An imaginative scene that could be somewhere in the dense Amazonian jungle, made out of food. Photograph: Kim Bainbridge/Pink Lady Food Awards 2023

Food in the Field: Dinner is Ready

Sow taking a nap in a hole, meanwhile her piglets feed themselves in the hot weather of Palenque, close to Cartagena, Colombia. Photograph: Felipe Pizano Umana/Pink Lady Food Awards 2023

unearthed® Food For Sale: Selling Fish

Naya Bazaar is one of the oldest weekly fish markets in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We can see rare and expensive species of fish here that cannot usually be seen in other markets. Photograph: Md Mahabub Hossain Khan/Pink Lady Food Awards

Food Photographer of the Year (USA): British & American Chapel Barrel Room Fitapreta Vinhos Alentejo Portugal

The beauty of the Chapel Barrel Room (the building dates back to the mid 1390’s) at Fitapreta Vinhos early one evening compelled me to capture its pure serenity. I suppose any chapel should evoke such compulsion in one, whether full of perfectly stacked barrels or not. Photograph: David Sawyer/Pink Lady Food Awards 2023

World Food Programme Food for Life: Hungry Tears

Sustenance is unfortunately not available to everyone. Humiliation, which is sadly not unknown to starving children living off the hostile environment of the streets, is more often than not something they have to become used to. Ironically, this environment has been created by the very victims of humiliation who never miss the chance to take away the children’s means of extinguishing the flame of starvation, be it by force or accident – resulting in the flow of salty water from the innocent’s eyes. Photograph: Al-Nasim Talukdar Rajib/Pink Lady Food Awards

Politics of Food: Ramadan Meals Among the Ruins in Idlib, Syria

After the campaign of the Syrian regime in Idlib and the departure of the Syrian forces from the city of Nayrab, the people of the city found all its houses destroyed. That was in the month of Ramadan in the year 2020. Neither the war nor the destruction prevented the people from holding a group breakfast, an important tradition during Ramadan. Photograph: Mouneb Taim/Pink Lady Food Awards 2023

Moments of Joy: Hanging Up Persimmons

Autumn in Shanxi province, China. The mountainous region located in the Taihang Mountains is so cold and dry that making hanging made of persimmon becomes the main source of income for local farmers. The persimmons are harvested, peeled and dressed, and hung under the eaves in bunches, waiting to soften and freeze, hoping they will bring a good price in the New Year. Photograph: Zhonghua Yang/Pink Lady Food Awards

Food Photographer of the Year (The Gulf): Two by Two

While shooting in the northern town of Saint Louis in Senegal, I ventured into the neighbourhood of Guet N’Dar, meeting its people, trying to understand the community with the help of my guide, when I came across this spot. All that was there were the jeans and the door with the Senegalese flag. I waited and I waited and this is by far my favourite capture from that long wait. Photograph: Rico X/Pink Lady Food Awards

Food Photographer of the Year (South East Asia): Drying Fish

These women are drying fish but they appear to be connecting the coloured patches together. The details of the fish remind me of Van Gogh’s watercolour paintings. Photograph: Khanh Phan Thi/Pink Lady Food Awards

MPB Award for Innovation: Flowing Still Life: Greengrocery Project

Vegetables or green fish? Photograph: Elisa Villa/Pink Lady Food Awards 2023

Food Photographer of the Year (China): Anchang Sugar Dance Artist

Taken in Anchang, Shaoxing, Zhejiang province. The process of pulling sugar is a local specialty. This process is very skilful and the master appears to be dancing. Photograph: Zhonghua Yang/Pink Lady Food Awards

Food for the Family: Slurping Spaghetti

Spag bol is always a winner in our house and the leftovers are enjoyed for lunch the next day, as my youngest daughter demonstrates in this image. Photograph: Catherine Falls/Pink Lady Food Awards 2023

Food Stylist Award: Keiron George: Let them Eat Cake

This image is one of several in the collection ‘Beauty in Destruction’ shot with photographer Frankie Turner. Photograph: Keiron George/Frankie Turner/Pink Lady Food Awards

Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year – Produce: The Eye

Chardonnay lees forming a striking pattern at the bottom of a stainless steel fermentation tank. Photograph: Adrian Chitty/Pink Lady Food Awards

Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year – Overall (and People): Girl After Emptying a Tank at the End of the Fermentation

Girl resting after emptying a vat after the fermentation of the grapes in a vineyard in Burgundy. Physical and tiring work. Photograph: Thierry Gaudillère/Pink Lady Food Awards

Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer: Stories During Dinner

Kids playing around the family table at a wedding. Photograph: Isabelle Hattink/Pink Lady Food Awards

Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers: Adua’s Kitchen

Adua’s kitchen is part of a journey down memory lane of an 86-year-old woman who had to leave her lifelong home during the Covid pandemicю Photograph: Carla Sutera Sardo/Pink Lady Food Awards

Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration: Dinner with the King and Queen of Sweden

Sverigemiddagen (the Dinner of Sweden), an annual event held at the Royal Castle in Stockholm, celebrates individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to their local communities. Invited guests are honoured for their achievements and are hosted by the King and Queen of Sweden at a grand dinner. Photograph: Jonas Borg/Pink Lady Food Awards

On the Phone: Bonnet Delights

Saturday afternoon street food in Galle Fort, Sri Lanka. Photograph: Hein vanTonder/Pink Lady Food Awards