Sydney photographer Karl Grenet named Aussie winner of the Sony World Photo Awards

THIS picture by Sydney’s Karl Grenet has won the Australian title in the world’s biggest photography competition. Here’s how he got the shot.

Escher's Market Picture: Karl Grenet, Winner, Australia, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards Year: 2015 I came across this scene one afternoon in November 2014 while exploring the maze-like Mirza Ghalib Municipal Market in the Null Bazar area of Mumbai, India. As this is a 24-hour market, the shopkeepers take any possible opportunity between sales to rest for a few minutes. I chatted with the shopkeepers at this stall for 20 minutes, all the while making images of the scene, with no two images being the same due to the constant movement of shopkeepers going to their own stalls to make a sale, then returning to this stall to rest.

SYDNEY photographer Karl Grenet has won the Australian title in the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards.

Grenet’s winning image ‘Escher’s Market’ was chosen as the single best photograph taken by an Australian photographer entered into any of the 10 open categories of the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards, the world’s biggest photography competition.

Grenet is a documentarian and street photographer from Sydney who is currently based in Northern Thailand.

Third place ... This image was taken at dusk in Otjimaza village, just outside Epupa, Namibia.

“It still hasn’t properly sunk in that I have won. The quality of entries in every Sony World Photography Awards is always of the highest standard, and I am deeply honoured and humbled for my image to be selected as the winner of the 2015 Australian National Award,” Grenet said.

The winning image was taken in Mumbai, India.

“I came across this scene one afternoon in November 2014 while exploring the mazelike Mirza Ghalib Municipal Market in the Null Bazar area of Mumbai,” Grenet said.

Second Place ... Mihai Florea, National Award, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards Year: Facade of a building in Melbourne.

“As this is a 24-hour market, the shopkeepers take any possible opportunity between sales to rest for a few minutes. I chatted with the shopkeepers at this stall for 20 minutes, all the while making images of the scene, with no two images being the same due to the constant movement of shopkeepers going to their own stalls to make a sale, then returning to this stall to rest.”

Runners up for the Australian award were given to Melbourne photographer Mihai Florea, who was awarded second place, and to Wollongong native Ben McRae, who came in third place.

The National Awards program honours and rewards the best single image taken by a local photographer and runs across the world from Argentina to Australia. It is open to photographers of all abilities.

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