World Press Photo Exhibition Sydney

images by peter bauza, courtesy of WPPF

words by ben stephens

Cast your mind back over the last 365 days or so, as a collective of humans we have been through a fair bit. From political wars resulting in very real wars, to acts of defiance to acts of selflessness, the humans are worth documenting.

With newsrooms getting smaller and the role of a photographer growing more and more consolidated, the art form still stands as a unique way to record the going on that take place on planet earth.

To really pay homage to the skill of snapping a photo that tells a story, once a year the World Press Photo Foundation collects the very the best of the year’s photography and takes it on tour around the world.

The WPPF has been doing this since 1955 in a bid to encourage photojournalists and help audiences understand world issues just that little bit more.

The exhibition takes over the State Library of New South Wales from May 27 to June 25 and is something you don’t want to miss you. We’re not into spoilers here at QT Life. We think something’s should be left as a surprise. We encourage you to attend the exhibition to find out the winners and all that jazz.

Though as we are huge fans of photography, let me take you through a number of our favourites from the 2017 haul of wickedly awesome photography.

This piece is by Canadian photographer, Amber Bracken. Amber documented the Dakota Access Pipeline protest and yielded some very confronting images.

This piece by Mathieu Wilcocks is moving. It speaks. Loudly.

Felipe Dana, a photographer based in Rio de Janeiro caught this stunning piece.

Elena Anosova shot this very raw piece in the Russian wilderness.. it’s confusing, but there’s something about it that speaks to the human condition.

War photography still covers a lot of the exhibition, this piece from Alessio Romenzi shows why.

For more information on the World Press Photo exhibition, head HERE