The Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage H E Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs H E Mohammed Al Rumaihi with the recipients of Al Thani Photography Awards during the awards ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel yesterday. Shaival Dalal
by Raynald c Rivera
DOHA: Scottish landscape photographer Robert Fulton is the winner of the prestigious Al Thani Grand Prix at the 2013 Al Thani Award Photography, besting over 25,000 from around the world with his photo “Winter Trees.”
“I’m stunned, overwhelmed. I don’t know how to express it. I’m grateful to the organisers for giving me probably one of the most memorable nights in my life,” Fulton told the media after the awards night yesterday at Sheraton Doha.
Although he started rather late in photography, he was catapulted to fame with his breathtaking shots of nature especially in his home country.
In 2011, he was declared the UK’s Landscape Photographer of the Year for the photo “Winter Field” taken in Scotland.
Incidentally, his Al Thani winning photo was also an awesome wintry sight but this time taken from Yellowstone National Park, known to experience one of the harshest winters in the globe.
“This was taken in Yellowstone almost a year today, and tomorrow I’m going back to Yellowstone,” he explained of the winning photo of frost covered trees resplendent in the snow blanketed immaculately white landscape.
As the grand winner, Fulton is taking home $30,000 cash, a limited edition Leica M6 Camera and a PSA gold medal.
The theme of the 13th edition of the world’s largest annual salon of international photographic art was “Discover the World” and a total of $80,000 was given away to more than 70 winners. Seven awards worth $7,000 were introduced this year. The new special awards consisted of jury award and the Chairman award which all honour individual creativity.
The very first recipient of the Chairman Personal Award was Doha-based Dino Palazzi for his photo “Modifying the blueprint”.
Chris Hinterobermaier, chairman of the organizing team, lauded the quality of photography in Qatar and the region since the Award was opened internationally in 2005.
“The standard here is now at the same level internationally. In fact three years ago, a Kuwaiti won the Al Thani Grand Prix,” he said.
Indonesia came as a very strong contender this edition dominating the International Awards winning three out of six awards both in themed and general categories. The Middle East Awards on the other hand were won by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. Winners of the major awards received cash and medals from the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP).
Other awards given were Qatar Awards, Al Thani Gold Medals Worldwide, Al Thani Gold Medals for Qatar Entries, Special Awards for Arabia and the Middle East, Author with Highest Points, Medals for Top 10 Photo Clubs and Al Thani Honour Gold Medal Award.
The awards ceremony which was attended by the Minister of Culture, Arts, and Heritage Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, also featured a 45-minute video featuring some of the best entries in the competition. All the winning photos were also displayed at the venue.
Non-winners will all receive a limited edition book containing some of the best photos in the contest. The Peninsula
