LONDON, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The Sony World Photography Awards were handed out Friday in London with two of the most striking images among the winners coming from China and Chinese photographers.
Chinese photographer Guan Ming Hui, from Guangzhou, won the Open Smile Category, open to amateur photographers across the world.
The photo is of several young children smiling and laughing as they play in a Jeepney, a popular form of communal transport in the Philippines, where the photo was taken.
Guan, a 29-year-old software engineer, told Xinhua that he took the winning photo on a holiday trip to the Philippines, "I was just walking through a slum area in Cebu with my camera. Children here were so curious about me, a foreigner, and his camera. They just wanted to be a part of it."
Guan added, "They played hard and laughed; life there is so pure and simple, smiles should be the best language for people from different regions, ages and color. There will be no limits to our knowledge of each other with smiles."
Guan said he got his first camera in 2009, when he went on a trip to Guilin, an area of China renowned for its beautiful landscape.
Another winner in the competition also has a strong Chinese connection.
Beijing resident Matjaz Tancic won the 3D photograph award for his photo 'Timekeeper', which shows an old widow in a Hui-style living room in an old village house in Yixian in central China. The room is full of old-fashioned Chinese furniture and decorations.
The 3D elements of the picture allow the viewer to experience it more intimately than the traditional 2D technology does.
Tancic, a professional fashion photographer, told Xinhua, "I was visiting Anhui province for one week and drove around the area. This photo is just one of the photos I used in 12 diptychs."
He added, "It is an interesting area; there are these old houses, about 300 to 400 years old, with courtyards. They are made of wood and they are like palaces. People living in them had been very rich merchants in the past, but the present residents are normal people."
He added, "The winning photo is an old widow living alone in this enormous, crazy palace. She is visited once a year at Spring Festival by her son and daughter."
Both the old woman and the building are striking, and Tancic said he had only once before in his life come across similar buildings in Havana, capital of Cuba.
"There they have these enormous mansions which have a faded glory and a great deal of character. For visitors it is easy to appreciate, but for the people who live there, they would appreciate a smaller place inside the city," said Tancic.
Tancic, who first visited China two years ago, said he had now chosen to live and work there.
The winning photos are on display at Somerset House in central London until May 12 as part of the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition.
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