EISA’s Maestro’s international photography contest results are out for 2024-25. These awards recognise photography talents from across the globe. This year’s theme was ‘Sports and Games’, and it saw enthusiastic participation from India. Gabriele Pardini from Italy won the first prize of €1500. Congratulations to all the winners.
The winning images will be published in the September issue of Smart Photography.
1st Prize: €1500 & EISA Maestro Trophy
Gabriele Pardini (Italy)
Tuscan, born in 1975, I am a self-taught amateur photographer who started in 2012 dedicating himself to nature and sports photography, while in life I deal with plant design. My growth essentially took place through the photography portal www.micromosso.com where I met authors from whom I drew inspiration and who helped me grow technically. Personally, I look for a creative approach in every situation, going beyond the banality: I pay a lot of attention to the composition, the shooting point and the depth of field. For me, the emotion conveyed by the images is important. peritopardini@gmail.com
2nd Prize: €1000 & EISA Maestro Trophy
Janusz Jurek (Poland)
Janusz is a visual creator: a graphic designer, an illustrator and a street photographer. He has a penchant for finding absurdities in everyday life and unposed situations that are somehow different from the norm. He has been awarded and distinguished many times in many competitions and events related to street and reportage photography.
Janusz is a graduate of the Artistic and Pedagogical Institute of the University of A. Mickiewicza in Poznań. He wrote his master’s thesis under the supervision of prof. Ph.D. T. Gaworzewski. He runs “NEO – Applied Graphics Studio” in Ostrów Wielkopolski. He deals commercially with graphic design, photography, animations, 3D graphics and broadly understood new forms of visual creativity.
About the winning series
“Skowyrne wraki” (Destroyed cars but still full of power)
On a closed track created in a field, races are held in which low-budget, old cars take part. They are characterized by the absence of many irrelevant body elements. An additional scratch or dent does not make any impression on the owners. Despite the simplicity of the races and the age of the vehicles, the drivers and their families supporting them are very involved in the competition.
The pictures were taken at Guzowice in Poland. Guzowice is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Cieszków, within Milicz County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. www.januszjurek.info
3rd Prize: €750 & EISA Maestro Trophy
Cees van der Jagt (Netherlands)
In battle with the Koppenberg
I am an independent photographer specialising in sports photography. For me, sports photos are photos with emotion: the joy of victory, the disappointment after a loss, or the fighting spirit when the battle is not yet decided. And in this series: suffering. I made the images during the Tour of Flanders. This is the highlight of the Flemish Classics and is known in Flanders known as the ‘High Mass’. It rained in the afternoon and the Koppenberg slope turned out to be a big mud puddle. This was where the decision finally fell: on the extremely slippery cobbles, racing was impossible for many. As a result a true battle with the Koppenberg; trying to conquer it while sliding and walking.’
www.ceesvanderjagt.nl
