[PHOTOS] Malaysian's Awesome Kampung Shot Wins In 2014 Sony World Photography Awards

The World Photography Organisation selected the winning images from over 70,000 entries from across the world, from photographers who are enthusiasts and amateurs, rather than professionals.

Winning and shortlisted images will be presented at Somerset House, London from 1-18 May as part of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition. The overall Professional, Open, Youth and Student winners will be revealed at the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Gala Ceremony on 30 April in London.

worldphoto.org

The achievement of each of the winners from across the three competitions is extraordinary - both in terms of the number of photographs they have been chosen from but also that the photographers themselves are not professionals, but individuals who are passionate about photography, enthusiasts and amateurs. The ten Open winners will also compete for a $5,000 (USD) prize and the title of Overall Open Photographer of the Year.

worldphoto.org

"Being a photographer is not easy. People may not know the many challenges that photographers had to face to attain the perfect image. Sometimes the story behind the image is much more interesting than what is seen in the picture. It is our job as a photographer to convey the story and breathe life into that image."

bbc.co.uk

"Captured in a village in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia, this image was taken in high shutter speed using only available light. It narrates the pains and gains of being a photographer, the heritage of an old house, forgotten traditional games and the old generations meeting the new, all of which complemented each other very well."

aol.co.uk

"I was on Durga Puja festival vacation, travelling on a local train. A boy was singing devotional songs and begging for alms. He was dressed as a Hindu God, Lord Shiva, a common view in Indian trains. This boy was charming, bright and had a melodious voice. He could not earn any money from the compartment and was sad. He was singing alone. My camera was ready, hanging on my neck, with the 20mm wide lens attached. I took three shots of the boy."

aol.co.uk

"Before leaving, my daughter gave him an apple and I gave him some money. The boy moved to the next compartment happily. These children are from very poor families. Their parents work as contract workers on a very poor daily wage. They work all day long in the fields. The children sing and beg for money to earn bread for the family, when their parents cannot manage a contract. Yet they are cheerful, happy and friendly."

imaging-resource.com

"She wanted me to take her photo when she was in the air. I took this image on a fast shutter speed to capture her in the air jumping into the lake after coming out of the mud bath. The result was interesting. With the smile on her face and the way she jumped, she seemed to prove how insignificant her age was. she was the hero of the day."The photo taken in Dalyan, Fethiye, Turkey.

aol.co.uk

"My photo was shot in southern China- phoenix Town, which shows the scene of people traveling in the rain during the rainy season. Tripod was used for this picture and I used slow shutter on purpose to combine the static and dynamic status of tourists. On the background there are old residential buildings and an old stone bridge, this combination enabled a more spiritual atmosphere for the photo."

aol.co.uk

"This is a stitched panorama of 12 horizontal shots, each shot is a long exposure with tripod at 30 seconds shutter speed. It was about 4am on the night of April 2013 when I captured the milky way arch form south to north in the lighthouse in Capo Spartivento, south Sardinia. The main difficulty was the right to overlap the shots, and the bright rays of the lighthouse."

aol.co.uk

"I was about 20m away and I had to cover the lens at the time of the passage of the beam to avoid excessive overexposure. I was fascinated by the landscape I saw in south coast of my island, the lighthouse made everything special."

popphoto.com

"This image took me few months to complete. It started from an idea, a clear vision. It is a daydream about a getaway or rescue, a story with an open ending. I would like to leave the final interpretation to the viewer. Technically I didn't really know how to accomplish an image like this, so I ended up doing some experiments that did not turn out well. After some trial and error I decided to just let this idea wait a bit."

aol.co.uk

"I collected the props, found a suitable location. Finally when I was ready, I took all the photos in the same location and then composited them together in Photoshop. The difficult part was the fish bowl. There was sea nearby and my friend helped me to carry it. The fish bowl got rather heavy when we filled it with water and we almost fell with it on the slippery rocks when trying to carry it up from the shore. Luckily no one got hurt and the fish bowl is still in one piece today."

theatlantic.com

"This photo was taken at Kawranbazar Slum, Dhaka, where people live along with two rail tracks on both of the sides. When there is no train, the rail tracks become their common space. I realised that this place has a lot of visual potential."

aol.co.uk

One day, while returning home after a day-long shoot (not having so interesting photos) suddenly I saw one little girl feeding a kid standing right in the middle of the two tracks. At that moment the rail tracks were telling me that this should be my frame and I clicked. This photo fulfilled my thirst for that day."

theguardian.com

"Every year Shiites in the city of Bijar, Iran, hold Imam Hussein mourning ceremonies. Today, this ceremony has become a tourist attraction and people from all over the world come to see the event. This type of ceremony can vary greatly in various Shiite cities, but in Bijar it is held on the streets."

aol.co.uk

"This was taken in Bucharest, at Turda Blvd, 41 tram station. As the weather got worse in the evening, I hesitated to use the camera before I spotted one interesting situation, with pedestrians walking against car lights, on a zebra crossing. I moved on without taking the photo. Between two tram stations, sleet turned into snow."

aol.co.uk

"I went down to the first station and I told myself that I had to take a picture of the situation. Things where changing before me. The flakes had become chaotic, the sharp cold wind became annoying. Cars where barely advancing, the light was difficult, the woman with the umbrella was standing there petrified. I pulled out the camera and took the picture, handheld, marking the first snow of the year."

aol.co.uk

"This photograph was taken during my journey to China in November 2013 with my best friend. During my time in China, I really got into street photography and eventually fell in love with it. The photograph was taken while we were on a night train. We stayed on it for 24 hours, so I was in a confined space for a quite a long amount of time. I got up early in the morning to get out and to capture the atmosphere you could find amongst the travellers. And then I found that girl who attracted my attention from the very first moment I saw her. Somehow, she perfectly conveyed the atmosphere that was present amongst the many travellers on the train."

aol.co.uk

"Most of them were waiting eagerly to reach their individual destinations, many of them looking out of the window and watching the world pass by as the train sped through the country. They were completely captivated by the landscape flying by. To me, the little girl stood out from all the other passengers on the train, as in the heat and speed of the moment, she took a minute to herself, completely unaware of everything that was going on around her. She just seemed to be in her own little world, and somehow seemed to have escaped the confined space of the train, even if merely in her thoughts."