Two UAE photographers named winners at Pink Lady Food Awards 2023

Poignant image of Syrian Ramadan meal also recognised this year

Jon Enoch from the UK was the overall winner and has also won in the Street Food category. All photos: Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2023

Khanh Phan Thi from Vietnam has won in the Bring Home the Harvest category

Carla Sutera Sardo from Italy has won in the Food Photographer of the Year Europe and the Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers categories

Jesslyn Jocom from Singapore has won in the Food at the Table category

Thierry Gaudillere from France has won in the People and Overall category

Catherine Falls from Ireland has won in the Food for the Family category

Hein van Tonder from the UAE has won in the On the Phone category

Keiron George, with photographer Frankie Turner, from the UK won the Food Stylist award

Zhonghua Yang from China has won in the Pink Lady Moments of Joy

Zhonghua Yang from China has won in three categories for this image and one other

Rico X from the UAE has won in Food Photographer of the Year The Gulf category

Khanh Phan Thi from Thailand has won in Food Photographer of the Year South East Asia category

Mouneb Taim from the Netherlands has won in the Politics of Food category

Kim Bainbridge from the UK has won in the Student Food Photographer of the Year category

Md Mahabub Hossain Khan from Bangladesh has won in the Food For Sale category

Maja Kowalczyk from Poland has won in the Young (10 and under) category

Jacqueline Tsang from New Zealand has won in the Young (11-14) category

Amitha A R from India has won in the Young (15-17) category

Two photographers from the UAE have been recognised in this year’s Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year.

One is Rico X, whose image titled Two by Two gained him the Photographer of the Year award for the Gulf region. The photograph shows two young girls in between four goats in the northern town of Saint Louis in Senegal.

“I ventured into the neighbourhood of Guet N’Dar, meeting its people, trying to understand the community with the help of my guide, when I came across this spot,” he said, describing the winning photograph.

“All that was there were the jeans and the door with the Senegalese flag. I waited and I waited and this is by far my favourite capture from that long wait.”

Rico X from the UAE was named Food Photographer of the Year (The Gulf). Rico X / Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2023

The other winner from the UAE is Hein van Tonder, who lives in Abu Dhabi. The winning image was captured on a mobile phone and depicts a typical Sunday afternoon in Galle Fort, Sri Lanka. The picture won the On the Phone category.

Hein van Tonder from Abu Dhabi won the On the Phone category. Hein van Tonder / Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2023

The work of Syrian photographer Mouneb Taim, who lives in the Netherlands, was also recognised in the Politics of Food Category.

The image shows a high-angle shot of a community being served Ramadan meals surrounded by collapsed buildings in Idlib, Syria.

Meanwhile, a colour-contrasting portrait of a candy-floss seller in India bagged the overall top prize this year.

The shot was taken by British photographer Jon Enoch in the streets of western Mumbai. It features Indian Pappu Jaiswal carrying an upright wooden frame filled with pink candy floss in transparent plastic bags.

The photograph is part of Enoch's wider series of images featuring sellers in the area, aimed at capturing the unique ways they display sweets to attract buyers.

“The winning image was part of a personal project – a huge amount of time and thought went into capturing it so it’s great to be recognised by such an esteemed panel of judges,” he told The Guardian.

The Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year started in 2011 and aims to celebrate both professional and non-professional photographers in the food sector.

The judging panel this year included Fiona Shields, head of photography at The Guardian, and Rein Skullerud from the United Nations World Food Programme. The recognised works will be exhibited at The Royal Photographic Society in Bristol.