Photography Culture

The PDN 30 for 2018 Seems to Take a Very Documentary Oriented Approach (NSFW)

Chris Gampat
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03/04/2018
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Last Updated on 03/09/2018 by Mark Beckenbach

The PDN 30 for 2018 have been announced!

The PDN 30 are a highly coveted bunch of photographers. Each year they seem to outdo themselves: newer and brighter photographers seem to take center stage each time. This year, the PDN 30 seems to involve lots of photographers who do documentary style work and tell stories. In the past there has been a mixture of commercial, portraiture, and surreal work. But this year, it’s very clear cut.

It’s pretty shocking at times though. Many photographers often ask if it’s worth it for them to apply to these and whether or not they’re scams. PDN has been proven over the years to be worth their weight in gold. Though I’ll be the first to admit the magazine itself isn’t necessarily as relevant, the stories they do are still super interesting and the contests that they hold are worth their weight in gold when it comes to boosting one’s career. In fact, lots of these photographers I’m sure have a very bright photojournalistic career ahead of them.

The 2018 PDN’s 30: New and Emerging Photographers to Watch are:

Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi

The Minova Rape Trial: A victim, veiled to protect her identity, testifies before the military tribunal. Between February 12th and 19th, 2014, most significant rape trial to date in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – a country once dubbed the “rape capital of the world” – took place in Minova, South Kivu. Thirty-seven soldiers of the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) were accused rape and pillage committed during in a 10-day run of violence in November 2012, during which more than 1,000 women, men and children in Minova were raped. February 12, 2014. Minova, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Copyright Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi

Sarah Blesener

A portrait of Curtis, Kate and Jude, siblings, laying in their backyard in Watford, North Dakota. 6 July 2017. The Long family has five children whom they homeschool. Western North Dakota attracted families from across the nation during the recent oil boom. Watford, like other rural towns in the region, is now facing unemployment and overdevelopment since the decline of the oil industry.

Ted Cavanaugh

Bon Appetit, May 2017

Matthew Cicanese

Title: Twig Ant with Treasure
Caption: A bright orange twig ant only a few millimeters long, traverses the alien landscape of a wetland twig. She maneuvers between mats of moss, towering fungi, and twisted lichens like this strap lichen (Ramalina sp.). In her mandibles, she carries her tasty treasure – a single springtail (Collembola) back to her colony.

Cody Cobb

Gabriella Demczuk

“ I believe that was in Virginia, that big battle of Bull Run. And I heard old man John Blackwell say he was in it, and Ike Johnson, that was one of the Colonel’s slaves. And this man was carryin the flag, well, he got shot. Ike Johnson saw the flag fallin and he run and grab it sayin, ‘I ain’t gonna let it hit the dirt.’ And he carried it the rest of the war. Didn’t get killed. Now they was brave, and they know’d if they won the war they’d get free; they had somethin to fight for.”-Joseph Sutton, whose parents were slaves of the Lloyds, in his biography “Praise the Bridge That Carries You Over” by Shepard Krech, III
Talbot County Color Guard at the 150th Unionville Memorial celebration, Unionville, Maryland, Intaglio Photo Etching, 2017

Kyle Dorosz

Emile Ducke

The villagers make sure that the laid back fire does not change direction towards the village. It took the inhabitants of Aidara several days in order to bring the wildfire under their control. Even if the fire could be stopped before it reached the village, it did destroy parts of wood stocks for the winter time and fields where they used to collect berries.
Aidara, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia,
15.07.2016.

Kholood Eid

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Alina Fedorenko

In Cambodia most of the living Vietnamese are stateless residents, have no citizenship papers, as a result they face difficulties in getting access to education, employment, healthcare and housing. Stateless Vietnamese built floating settlements of dwelling zones on waters which don´t require citizenship papers.

Johanna-Maria Fritz

Majed Kallub (26) poses on stilts and with juggling culls in front of the Gaza Circus School building in the city district Betlaahya in Gaza city while a pickup truck full off Hamas fighters passes by. Gaza, Palästina 2017.

Julia Gartland

Jennifer Garza-Cuen

‘Wandering In Place’ project

Matthew Genitempo

Laurel Golio

Brian Guido

R. J. Kern

Kenzi and Hootie, Anoka County Fair, Minnesota, 2016. From the project, “The Unchosen Ones.”

Joyce Kim

Daria Kobayashi Ritch

Álvaro Laiz

Deer-man. “It was still a time when a Udege, looking at a deer, he thought he saw a deer-man (…) When he saw a tiger, he thought he saw a tiger-man. In those times all sort of things happened to people. Such things happened that nowadays do not”. Udege tale

Eva O’Leary

Brad Ogbonna

Paola + Murray

Jordi Pizarro

Hannah Reyes Morales

A young girl walks home in Smokey Mountain, Philippines.

Maggie Shannon

Danna Singer

Daniele Volpe

On the way to the cemetery to bury the 77 victims of the Covadonga massacre. Estrella Polar, Chajul.

Cole Wilson

An Rong Xu

All images used with permission and provided by PDN.

2018 award images nsfw PDN PDN 30 photographer
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.