Pictures of the Year

The winners of the 2006 Pictures of the Year International (POYi) competition have been announced. Magazine Photographer of the Year is the Hungarian freelancer Tamas Dezso with his photo set “Romania – On Europe’s Eastern Edge”.

Tamas Dezso was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1978. He is one of the best Hungarian photographs with many awards in his portfolio. His photos capture people from small village and their relationship with nature and the land.

Boys kickboxing on the main street of Buzescu. The gypsy community created a bizarre cityscape here: they erect pompous buildings to show off their wealth, many of which stand uninhabited afterwards.

Couple standing in front of their home which the floods made uninhabitable in Nanov village near Alexandria.

Car approaching a village through the riverbed after the floods washed away the bridge of the only road leading to the village. A string of floods hit some two-thirds of Romania’s territory in 2005.

Traditional funeral ceremony in Barca on a winter afternoon.

Woman returns home with goose under arm in Sapoca village. Bird flu threatening fowls and humans is a serious concern.

Orthodox priest Constantin Milos blesses a seminarist in the town Bocsa.

Locals at the village Calvini feast in the tent put up in the rectory’s garden on the day of St Nicholas, the major patron saint of the Orthodox Church.

Man about to descend from the top of a haystack near Savinesti. The centuries-old method of drying hay guarantees ample food for animals in the winter. With the lack of machinery, most farming work is carried out in the traditional way.

Old couple sit in their unheated living room in Vedea village, close to the southern border.

Early on a winter morning, a young boy is off to work to saw firewood for locals in Odobesti and nearby villages.

Pictures and descriptions from the POYi website.
More info about Tamas Dezso on his website.