Winners 2020 – Single Pictures

Harry Giglio (USA) – Approaching Storm

What I like about this photograph is the sense of disconnection. A man—perhaps a cobbler in front of his shop—calmly reads his newspaper on a quintessentially American street, while a shaft of lightning streaks across the sky in the background. Once can’t help but think: “How can this man be utterly unaware of the drama behind him?”
This photo also embraces a fundamental characteristic of photography: the medium’s innate ability to bring together disparate elements—seemingly contradictory notions—within a single frame.
Alex Webb / URBAN 2020 Jury President