The Good News

FILIPINO photographer Enrique Frio won three honorable mention awards at The International Photography Awards (IPA) in Los Angeles.

The Bangkok based lensman said that it meant a lot to win the awards for him as a professional and for his country. He beat more than 18,000 entries from 104 countries worldwide in various categories, winning in three out of the four categories he entered.

World-class international judges from the BBC, National Geographic, Aperture, Chicago Tribune Magazine, etc. thoroughly skimmed through all the works, as the competition is based on meritocracy and technical skills only (judging of anonymous entries were done for all entries).

IPA is also called the Lucie Awards, produced by the Lucie Foundation, a non-profit, charitable foundation. It salutes the achievements of the world’s finest photographers, discover emerging talent through the International Photography Awards and promote the appreciation of photography worldwide.

Hossein Farmani, founder of the Lucie Awards commented, “We are absolutely delighted that the International Photography Awards have been able to grow and attract such a vast number of quality submissions. We’ve seen such stellar creative work from so many photographers around the world.”

“The high level of interest in each and every category has been outstanding. The IPA is excited to promote the winning work from this year’s competition and expose the photography industry to new and exciting work every year,” Farmani added.

Frio got started with his photography career in 2004 with an Olympus point and shoot, and bought his first dSLR (Canon 20d), at that time one of the more advanced semipro models. He then upgraded his unit to the Canon 1Ds Mark 2 a few years ago and never looked back, having done portraits, weddings, and travel photography since then.

Photography is a hobby but his day job is an adjunct instructor (life sciences) for the University of Maryland’s face to face (Bangkok, Thailand) and distance education programs. He said students are US military personnel and their dependents stationed in Asia and sometimes Europe and the Middle East.

Frio said he joined the competition because “it is perhaps the most prestigious photography award that is open to all international photographers. I believed my photos would be able to qualify and win. I also believe in honoring our country and countrymen by being a representative of Filipino talent and passion in photography. I also believe in glorifying God through my talents.”

This is Frio’s first major acclaim, and he wants to win more of them.

Read more good news on GoodNews Pilipinas

Related links:
http://photoawards.com/en/Pages/Gallery/hmentionNON.php
http://photoawards.com/en/Pages/Gallery/zoomwin.php?eid=8-7531-09&uid=&code=Deeper%20Perspective09&uid=&code=Deeper%20Perspective
http://photoawards.com/en/Pages/Gallery/zoomwin.php?eid=8-10503-09&uid=&code=War/Conflict09&uid=&code=War/Conflict