- British photographer Zed Nelson draws the Swpa $ 25,000 Swpa prize
- 10 category winners announced
- The exhibition is open to the public at the Somerset House in London until May 5
“In a small fraction of the history of the earth, humans have altered the world beyond everything they have experienced in tens of millions of years. Scientists call it a new era: anthropocene: the era of humans.”
These are the initial words that describe the project of the winner of the world photography awards of Sony Zed Nelson, The illusion of anthropocene.
The project, which covers six years and four continents, explores the behavior of the consumer of humanity towards nature and wildlife.
“Then, while we devasate the world around us, we have become teachers of an artificial ‘experience’ of nature administered by the stage, a reassuring show, an illusion … to mask our destructive impact on the natural world.”
Words and images of wildlife confrontation in zoos, national parks and museums around the world, some of which I have included below.
Image 1 of 2
While preparing to interview Zed during the opening day of the Swpa 2025 exhibition, which is celebrated in Somerset House in London until May 5, I was surprised how severely the AI is affecting the landscape of the images in an equally small fraction of the history of photography.
I asked Zed his thoughts about the generation of images of AI in photography, and this is what he said.
“The biggest concern in documentary photography, do people stop believing in what they see? We are already in the stage in which we can see an image and the first questions are;
“The problem with that is that joy and beauty in photography is to see something and surprise and think that this happened, this is real, this is a record, even for future generations, who we were and what we did.
“If you erodes the belief of people in the middle (photography), then we have problems. On the other hand, we may begin to value the truth more. And if an image is declared real, this is not AI, but a document of reality, it may be that its value increases.
There will also be a movement, an assessment of what is real, so documentary work will begin to be more important, no less.
“As AI multiplies, it will cause problems, people will question what is real and what is not.
“I think there will be a separation between what is created completely through AI and what is declared real. We will gravitate what is verified as real, done by people who care and we will have a genuine interest in telling stories.”
After our conversation, wandering through the SWPA exhibition, soaking in the diverse collection of very real images. A greater appreciation grows in me for those real stories, real people, real places, created in a real moment in time, and affect me even more.
I agree with Zed, even when the images generated by AI become increasingly credible and abundant, and the tools become easier and cheaper to access, we will still have to know and experience what is real, and be moved by it.
We cannot afford to be disconnected from photography due to the generation of images of AI, in the same way that Zed suggests in his project that we have disconnected from nature and instead we are consumers of it.
I have included a selection of SWPA winning images below. Even so, if you are in London, I recommend experiencing first -hand exhibition and looking for other photography shows near you. You can find more details on the website of the World Photography Organization.
Sony World Photography 2025 winners for each category
The Sony World Photography Awards comprise 10 categories, and the winner of one of these categories also receives the general photographer of the year. As mentioned, this year’s prize went to Zed Nelson, who also won the Wildlife & Nature category.
In addition to those categories, there is a photographer student and a youth photographer award of the year. I have included an image of each of those winners below.
In total, there were around 420,000 tickets from 206 countries, a record for the 18 -year contest.
