The 2015 Sony World Photography Awards
Hopefully the judges of this year’s Sony World Photography Awards didn’t have any major plans for the month of February (or the foreseeable future); they have over 173,000 photos to review. People from 171 countries submitted their shots to the World Photography Organisation, with subjects ranging from political protest to mountain peaks to West Africa’s Ebola outbreak. WPO has been kind enough to release its short list of potential winners, which you can view here.
Inside Japan’s “Naked Festival”
When we think of festivals that involve excessive amounts of skin, people and generally bad decisions, Mardi Gras immediately comes to mind. But Okayama’s Naked Festival gives Mardi Gras a run for its money. Each year, 10,000 men gather before the Saidaiji Temple and wait for priests to drop “lucky” talismans into the crowd, which these men will fight to find. Searching for sacred objects in a massive crowd isn’t nearly as fun if you’re wearing clothes, so naturally these men are only wearing loincloths. Oh, and cards which list their name, blood type and emergency contacts in the likely event that they’re hurt. See more specs of the festival at The Atlantic.
Behind The Scenes Portraits From The Vanity Fair Oscars Party
The Oscars aired last Sunday, but most of us peons were not able to see what happened after Sean Penn made an off-color joke and the screen faded to black. Luckily for us, photographer Mark Seliger sated our voyeurism in his excellent series of celebrity portraits just after the ceremony finished and right before they hit the after parties. Our personal favorite is of Alejandro González Iñarrítu, but you can see the rest at Bored Panda.