Lunar New Year dim sum image by Chinese photographer wins global food photo contest

Hanging Up Persimmons by Zhonghua Yang won the Moments of Joy category in the 2023 Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year contest. Photo: Zhonghua Yang/Pink Lady

• An image of a woman in Zhejiang, China preparing red bean paste balls for a festive meal wins Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2024

The 36 winners of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2024, a long-running competition that celebrates food photography and film around the world, were announced this week.

The overall winner was Red Bean Paste Balls by Chinese photographer Zhonghua Yang, a photograph of steamed dim sum being prepared for Lunar New Year celebrations in a rural part of China's eastern Zhejiang province.

Yang's photograph also took first place in the contest's Champagne Taittinger Food for Celebration category.

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It shows a woman holding a tray of piping hot red bean paste balls being prepared for the holiday celebration, which traditionally also includes dishes such as dumplings and glutinous rice, in Xiangshan, Zhejiang.

The image is an ode to the scale of the festival - the most important holiday on the Chinese lunar calendar - and the dedication that goes into preparing food for the celebrations.

"This wonderful, perfectly balanced image is full of light, shadow, mystery and poignancy," says Caroline Kenyon, founder of the competition.

"It is clear a celebratory feast is being prepared. The food is exquisitely made, its circular shapes contrasting with the angularity of the fretwork screens, through which the light pours.

"Meanwhile, the woman who has made the food, weary, carries in yet another tray. Her role is to labour and to serve, while the guests party and enjoy."

The competition, now in its 13th year, is open to professionals and amateurs alike, who can enter work that tells stories about food under more than 25 categories.

This is not Yang's first victory in the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year competition - in 2023's edition, he won in three categories.

Anchang Sugar Dance Artist, which shows a man from Zhejiang working masterfully with sugar, won the Philip Harben Award for Food in Action and in the China category. Hanging Up Persimmons, taken in Shanxi province in autumn, won the vote in the Moments of Joy category.

Like Red Bean Paste Balls, both images have a rawness and immediacy to them. His photos offer snapshots of intimate interactions with food in different parts of China.

Yang's triumphs in the competition shine a global spotlight on Chinese food and its important place in Chinese culture.

Yang is a member of the Chinese Photographers Association, the director of the Ningbo Photographers Association, and honorary chairman of the Xiangshan Photographers Association.

Among the other winning images this year are Let Them Eat Cake! by Scottish photographer Lynne Kennedy, which depicts an unconventional wedding celebration on the island of Skye in Scotland and took first place in the Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer category.

B.L.T Contemplation, which won the Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers, shows a woman looking yearningly out of her window while eating a sandwich.

The awards were first held in 2011 and celebrate food and diversity around the world through photography.

"Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year continues to tell important food stories from across the globe through the very best photography," said Phil Turnbull, chief executive of APAL, owner of the Pink Lady apple brand and headline sponsor of the competition.

"Each year, the remarkable photographs serve as a reminder of the fundamental role of food in every culture and every people around the world."

This year's competition attracted thousands of entries from more than 65 countries. The finalists' entries will be on display in the Mall Galleries in London until June 9.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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