Top Photographers Win $130,000 Worth of Grants

4 minute read

Getty has awarded a total of $130,000 in grants to photographers and non-profit organizations, with five of the winners picking up $10,000 grants to help them expand their already-existing editorial work. The five editorial winners include William Daniels, who shot powerful images for Central African Republic for TIME and other publications this year and Giulio Di Sturco, whose inside look at Madagascar’s cocoa war featured on LightBox in May.

Photographer William Daniels won a grant for his often disturbing work from Central African Republic, where groups of vigilantes called anti-balaka — comprised of Christians, animists and former troops loyal to the toppled government — have battled with the country’s Muslims. The conflict, Daniels says, is vastly underrepresented in most media and he plans to use the grant to help him probe more deeply into “the background of what’s going on.” He hopes the grant will help him answer questions like “what makes a boy into an anti-balaka?” he adds. “Photography has a key role to play in places where people are suffering on a big scale,” Daniels says.

Giulio Di Sturco‘s look at the the Ganges river earned him his grant. The work, which is oddly beautiful and sometimes unnerving, looks at the evolution of the river along which about 8 percent of the world’s population live. The river faces “new environmental challenges,” Di Sturco tells TIME, with the Ganges basin the river being one of the most polluted in the world. The grant, he says, will allow him to “finish the last chapter of the project” and to put out both a book and an exhibition.

Krisanne Johnson‘s win came on the back of her frenetic, moving project, documenting the lives of what she calls the “post-apartheid generation” in South Africa. “They are grappling with many issues,” she says, “struggling with access to education, gang violence and HIV to name just a few.” In South Africa, more than half of the nation’s 18-25 year olds are unemployed.

Juan Arredondo‘s powerful work looking at the experience of current and former child combatants in Colombia caught judges eyes. Human Right Watch estimates that approximately 11,000 children have been used as combatants in the country, and about 3,500 former child combatants have been reunited with their families by the government. By the time they are thirteen, HRW adds, most child recruits have been trained in the use of automatic weapons, grenades, mortars and explosives. “This story needs visibility,” Arredondo says, “to bring forth a public discussion of a crisis long ignored in Colombia.”

Quiet, striking work documenting of the lives of Mennonite communities in Bolivia saw Jordi Busqué win a grant. Mennonites are Christians who follow a way of life that has not changed since the 16th century. Living in rural isolation, they are fiercely protective of their privacy.

Laura Boushnak wins a grant called the Getty Images and Lean In Editorial Grant, which focuses on those documenting important but under-told stories about women. Her project, I Read I Write, is a broad, continuing project about education and women in the Arab world.

Announced at Visa pour l’Image, a widely-attended yearly photojournalism festival held in Perpignan, France, the grants—first established in 2004—aim to help photographers undertake “projects of personal and journalistic significance.” This year’s judges included The New York Times International Picture Editor David Furst, National Geographic Magazine Director of Photography Sarah Leen and Francois Leroy, Director General of Visa pour l’Image, among others.

Getty also awarded a $10,000 portrait photography grant and three creative grants of $20,000, one of which went to Robin Hammond. The creative awards aim to help non profits work with photographers.


Richard Conway is reporter/producer for TIME LightBox


An alter boy prepares for a mass at a church where the priest offered sanctuary to a large group of Muslims who were the target of Anti-Balaka forces in Central African Republic.William Daniels—Panos
A man arrested by MISCA (Mission Internationale de Soutien a la Centrafrique Sous Conduite Africaine) soldiers lies on the ground with his wrists tied. He was found with a grenade in a pocket. Bangui, Central African Republic. William Daniels—Panos
A Christian man is destroying burn out cars in rage, next to a looted mosque that was set on fire earlier, in the Central African Republic's capital Bangui. William Daniels—Panos
Army soldiers mourn the death of a colleague, who was killed by members of the Seleka rebel group. Bangui, Central African Republic. William Daniels—Panos
Demonstrators gather on a street in Bangui, the capital, to call for the resignation of interim president Michel Djotodia following the murder of Judge Modeste Martineau Bria by members of the Seleka. Bangui, Central African Republic.William Daniels—Panos
A woman poses for a picture at the entrance to the Sundarbans forest area in Bangladesh, April 2014.Giulio Di Sturco
A large 'tent city' prepared for the Kumbh Mela - a Hindu pilgrimage - is seen in Allahabad, India 2008Giulio Di Sturco
A Hindu man performs a religious ritual in the waters near Varanasi, India, 2008.Giulio Di Sturco
A makeshift laundry area for nearby hotels is seen along the Yamuna river, a tributary of the Ganges, Feb, 2014.Giulio Di Sturco
Hindu devotees are seen near the Ganges during the Kumbh Mela.Giulio Di Sturco
A young man walks around a housing complex called "Extension 4" in the Eldorado Park neighborhood of Johannesburg. Many residents refer to their block as "Sin City" due to drugs, fighting and poverty.Krisanne Johnson
Ndumiso Gaga, 19, practices rugby with classmates at Iqhayiya Senior Secondary School, in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. “It’s hard to grow up here, because there are many things that are bad,” says Gaga. Krisanne Johnson
Lisa Nene, 22, looks out at the houses marked for destruction near her home in Inanda, outside Durban. Nene lost both of her parents to the AIDS epidemic before she was twelve, and has since tended to her family's estate. Krisanne Johnson
Nkosinathi Dodi, 18, from Khayelitsha, at the Muizenberg water park during a field trip with the Beth Uriel home for disadvantaged young men, in Cape Town. His stay at the home was brief. "He lives in an old abandoned building now, but I see him at church," says the program director Lindsay Henley. Krisanne Johnson
From right: Thabsile Brightness Sishi, 25 leads the funeral procession for her aunt Thembi Veze, along with her brother, Bongumenzi Knowledge Sishi, 15. Thabsile and Bongumenzi have been living with their aunt and her three children in the Richmond Farm Transit Camp near Durban, South Africa, 2009. Krisanne Johnson
A group of displaced children at an elementary school in the city of Quibdo. The school became a shelter for families from the village of Tagui after four of their leaders were killed by by the 26 front faction of FARC. Quibdo, Colombia. Dec. 22, 2010.Juan Arredondo
Mariana Ordoes holds a picture of her son, Julian Ordoes, who after deserting the FARC was later taken by the group and sentenced to death. Noanama, Colombia. Feb. 19, 2014. Juan Arredondo
Members of the ELN - The National Liberation Army, a left wing armed group active since the 1960s - are seen during formation drills at their camp. The front is formed by teenagers as young as 12. Chocó, Colombia. Feb. 17, 2014. Juan Arredondo
A boy runs through the center of the town of Bella Vista. The town was rebuild in 2010 after it was sieged by clashes between the 36 front faction of FARC and paramilitaries. Bella Vista, Colombia. July 18, 2013.Juan Arredondo
From left: Angel (14) and Daniel (16) members of the ELN front pose for a picture at their camp. Chocó, Colombia. Feb. 17, 2014.Juan Arredondo
A prayer starts the classes in the professor Franz Petters's school. Girls and boys seat at opposite sides of the classroom.Jordi Busque
A young boy called Chaco is seen at the Colonia El Breal. School in Colonia El Breal. Bolivia. Jordi Busque
A Mennonite family are seen front of their house, Durango colony, Bolivia. Jordi Busque
Margarita Wall is seen playing the accordion next to her daughter in Colonia Sommerfeld, Bolivia. Jordi Busque
Mennonite girls going to school at 6:30 a.m in Swift Current colony, Bolivia.Jordi Busque
Yemeni students sit on a bench at a class in a public school in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2012.Laura Boushnak
A Jordanian student shows off her engagement ring at the Social Support Center, an NGO which provides classes for dropout students, in Amman May 2012. Laura Boushnak
A teacher helps a student at a public school in Sanaa, Dec. 2012. More women in Yemen are now being trained as teachers, because many parents, especially the deeply religious ones, will only allow their daughters to be taught by women.Laura Boushnak
Hanan looks after a herd of sheep in the backyard of her house in Sanaa, Dec. 2012. She is in her first year studying law at university. She’s the only female student among twenty-two male classmates. Her parents supported her education despite opposition from some relatives.Laura Boushnak
Jordanian women attend a literacy class in Amman, Jordan, May 2012. Laura Boushnak

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