“Red Bean Paste Balls” by Yang Zhonghua (China). Overall Winner and Winner, Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“In the rural area of Xiangshan, Zhejiang people are busy with preparations for a feast to celebrate Spring Festival, also known as Lunar New Year. This includes the tradition of making dim sum, such as red bean dumplings, steamed rice cakes, and glutinous rice cake, each of which has a legacy of traditional craftsmanship.”
A striking image of preparations for China’s Spring Festival won the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024 competition. Yang Zhonghua’s image shows a woman entering a room filled with steaming red bean paste balls in a glorious ode to tradition.
“This wonderful, perfectly balanced image is full of light, shadow, mystery, and poignancy,” says Caroline Kenyon, founder, Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year. “It is clear a celebratory feast is being prepared. The food is exquisitely made, its circular shapes contrasting with the angularity of the fretwork screens, through which the light pours. Meanwhile, the woman who has made the food, weary, carries in yet another tray. Her role is to labor and to serve while the guests party and enjoy.”
Yang is one of 36 winners honored across a wide array of categories. Selected from thousands of entries submitted by photographers from 65 countries, the winners highlight food stories from around the world. From glimpses of a grape harvest to portraits of delectable cakes, the images look good enough to eat.
“Despite the challenges of an ever-changing world, we never cease in growing, gathering, cooking, eating, and celebrating with food,” says Phil Turnbull, CEO of APAL, owner of Pink Lady® and headline sponsor of the Awards. “Each year, the remarkable photographs serve as a reminder of the fundamental role of food in every culture and every people around the world.”
Scroll down to see some of our favorite winners, and then head over to the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year website to see the full gallery of finalists and winners.
Check out the winners of the 2024 Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year competition.
“It’s Raining Cake – Hallelujah!” by Ming Tang-Evans, Stylist: Tarunima Sinhaa (UK), Winner, Tiptree Cake Award, category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“A celebration of cake with ‘My Little Cake Tin’s’ signature colourful and stylish edible floral decoration.”
“Pitmaster, Big Bob Gibson’s, Decatur, AL” by Simon Urwin (UK), Winner, The James Beard Foundation Photography Award, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Chris Lilly is the multi-award-winning pitmaster at Big Bob Gibson’s in Decatur, Alabama. Big Bob (Lilly’s great-grandfather-in-law), opened the business in 1925 and found fame for his revolutionary white barbecue sauce (at a time when most BBQ sauces were red and tomato or chilli-based.) His recipe of mayonnaise, black pepper, vinegar and lemon has since become hugely popular worldwide.”
“Les Liens du Vin” by Jonathan Thevenet (France), Winner, Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year – People, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“A Moment captured at the Aegerter estate in Burgundy, France. The children, the family, all gathered around the harvest. The transmission is running.”
“Blood Orange Cardamom Cake” by Barbora Baretic (Slovakia), Winner, Food Stylist Award, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Creating this image as a symbol of long-awaited spring was pure joy. Blood oranges are incredible by their texture, color, and shine, and that’s what I wanted to capture.”
“A Day in the Field” by Natnattcha Chaturapitamorn (Thailand), Winner, Tenderstem® Bring Home the Harvest, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“At the beginning of the rice farming season, a young farmer carries a rack of rice sprouts across a paddy field in Sakon Nakhon province, Thailand.”
“The Pig’s Testament” by Diego Marinelli (Italy), Winner, Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (Europe), a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“The killing of the pig is a real ritual of Italian rural culture. I was struck by the elderly man’s sense of respect towards the sacrificed animal, and I hope that the image makes us reflect on how man’s relationship with food has changed in the last 70 years.”
“Radish Salad” by Raewyn Epps (New Zealand), Winner, Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (New Zealand), a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Playing with shapes, colors, and texture.”
“Oh Beautiful Crumb” by Antonia Larrain Eyzaguirre (Chile), Winner, Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (Chile), a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Handmade sourdough bread with a crispy crust, fluffy and airy crumb, and with the perfect humidity. Just feeling its smell makes your mouth water and you cannot leave it or change it just like that. It’s a deep, unconditional, and loyal love.”
“Chestnut Season” by Tailai Obrien (Australia), Winner, Hotel Art Group Cream of the Crop, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Chestnuts symbolize Autumn harvest. In our family with strong Celtic roots, they are considered guardians of men and animals. The antique chestnut roaster is a family heirloom and a nod to our farming heritage. The crested dove symbolizes harmony and virility. Chestnuts are highly nutritious and a delicious food for celebrations.”
Selected from thousands of entries submitted by photographers from 65 countries, the winners highlight food stories from around the world
“Mangrove Fisherman” by Teo Chin Leong (Singapore), Winner, Food in the Field, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“A Burmese fisherman attempts to make a catch in a mangrove forest. The early morning rays of the sun create a magical atmosphere.”
“Fisherman” by Hein van Tonder (South Africa), Winner, On the Phone, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“A man selling the catch of the day in the vibrant fresh market in Pondicherry, India.”
“Biscuit Cake” by Winifred Harms (South Africa), Winner, Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year (African Territories), a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Biscuits at their best.”
“Tribal Farmers Sell Their Fruit” by Azim Khan Ronnie (Bangladesh), Winner, unearthed® Food For Sale, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Boats fan out across a stretch of the lake, creating a floating market selling an array of fresh fruit. This is a floating market of seasonal fruits such as jackfruit, pineapple, mango etc. at Rangamati, Bangladesh. The tribal farmers sell their fruit every early morning at minimum price on a wholesale basis.”
“Breakfast with the Brokpas” by Debdatta Chakraborty (India), Winner, Pink Lady® Moments of Joy, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“The Brokpas are a small ethnic group mostly found in the union territory of Ladakh, India. The Brokpas traditionally claim themselves to be descendants of Alexander’s lost army. The Brokpa diet is based on locally grown barley and wheat, prepared most often as tsampa (roasted flour) and Gur-Gur Cha, a brewed tea made of black tea, butter, and salt.”
“Autumn Cocktail” by Viktoriia Kondysenko (Ukraine), Winner, MPB Award for Innovation, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Taste of autumn. Autumn cocktail with pumpkin juice and maple syrup.”
“Hanging Buri (Yellowtail)” by Matteo Alberti (Italy), Winner, Food Influencer, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Buri is Japanese for the fish Seriola quinqueradiata, known in English as ‘yellowtail’. For centuries, fishermen filleted buri, salted them, dried them for about ten days, and finally wrapped them in leaves and long rice-straw ropes before hanging them in front of their houses, exposed to the sea breeze.”
“Let Them Eat Cake!” by Lynne Kennedy (UK), Winner, Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Lucy and Tony and their children made the long journey from Kent to the Isle of Skye to get married. They didn’t want to transport a traditional wedding cake all that way, so their cakemaker produced these fabulous little ‘cakes in containers’ for them. We found a spot by the historical Sligachan Bridge and they tucked in!”
“New Year in Old Cave Dwelling” by Ren Xiuting (China), Winner, Food for the Family, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“Photographed in Licheng County, Shanxi Province. During the Chinese New Year, families gather around to make dumplings and have a good time talking and laughing.”
“B.L.T. Contemplation” by Delaney McQuown (USA), Winner, Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2024.
“This photograph is part of my ongoing self-portrait project, urging women to find liberation through unidealized self-images. Excessive self-documentation fosters familiarity, enabling women to exist unapologetically in photos. Capturing myself eating a B.L.T. without inhibition felt fitting, given the complex relationships women often have with their bodies and food. I’m passionate about women embracing their cameras, leading to liberation and self-love.”
Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year: Website | Instagram | Facebook
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year.
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