Landscape / Seascape 1st place winner

“The Veils of Eden” is a collection of the iconic waterfalls and emblematic beauty that flows out of every part of Iceland. As traditional and long exposure photographs, each image is a fusion of physical perception and autobiographical and metaphorical insight where the how and what of taking a photograph becomes secondary to why we make the photograph the way we do to better understand our motivations as artists. Each image represents a parallel world of feeling that you are immersed in something that is intellectually and imaginatively beautiful and embracing the paradox that reality is both negotiable and essential to fine art photography. As an inspiration, I wanted to capture a fluidity and dynamism in each composition by creating a symmetry-asymmetry between elements and forming an equilibrium between the luminosity and shadow in the photograph to create a phenomenological presence, as if the viewer is experiencing the moment with me, and a palpable absence to the viewer to fill in their own blanks. These principles help shape my photographic vision.

John Kosmopoulos is a Canadian art photographer who has received multiple (FAPA, PX3-Paris, IPA, B&W Awards, ND Awards, etc.) for his breadth of work. His images have been featured in galleries throughout the world, including the , on , and in several national and international publications. His photography is also featured in a new cinematic essay entitled “Greece Year Zero” (2016).

Always in pursuit of an exquisite enlightenment with the practice of an insightful imagination to fulfill his artistic imperatives, John embodies an “Eclectic Aesthetic Fine Art” (EAFA) philosophy of photography where he exemplifies a specialist-generalist approach. His intent is to capture the complexity of beauty across multiple subjects and translate them back to the viewer with a felt aesthetic and sensory sophistication that is thematic, symbolic and cinematic.