Two Romanian photographers made it to the final of the Sony World Photography Awards, the largest photo competition in the world.

Cosmin Bumbut is among the finalists of the Architecture section in the competition dedicated to professional photographers. He submitted a portfolio of images taken in 35 Romanian prisons (one of them is the opening photo of this article).

Daniel Necula made it on the shortlist of the Enhanced Open section, one of the categories dedicated to amateur photographers. His photo, called Wrong Way, shows a woman riding a bike. The interesting detail is that her shadow is backwards.

The two Romanians got selected from a record total 173,444 photographers who entered the competition. The number of competitors was 24% higher than last year.

The competition has 15 categories for professional photographers, 10 categories for amateurs (Open), 3 for students (Youth) and one for photos taken with the mobile phone.

The finalists’ photos will be on display in the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition, in the Somerset House in London.

The Open and Youth category winners will be announced on March 31, 2015. The Professional, Open, Student and Youth Photographer of the Year will be announced on April 23, 2015 along with the Professional category winners.

The winner of the L’Iris d’Or award for best professional photographer in the world will get USD 25,000. The winner of the Open competition will get USD 5,000.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Opening photo: Cosmin Bumbut, Photo inside article: Daniel Necula)