Can Dagarslani, 31, from Istanbul, Turkey. Winner of the 'Portraitist of the year' category for 2016.

The results of 2016 EyeEm photography awards have been announced and I must say I really like the winning images in most of the categories. To check them out click here.

One of my friends called up in the middle of night to say sorry that I didn't win as she had been up to wait for the results but I didn't feel bad at all. It just felt like a kick in the butt to do better, the winner of photographer of the year, Zacharie Rabehi is a friend of mine from Facebook and seeing his video feature reminded me what it's all about, to just go out there and shoot, the exploration and not to worry if the images will come out good or not, just acting on the instincts. It reconnected me to the feeling which I had when I started out, to just have fun and risking to sound too modest, some things shouldn't come too soon, it would just make you complacent.

Checkout the 100 finalists from different categories that were selected out of 2,70,000 applicants. I was nominated in the photojournalist section for the photo below, you can checkout the other nominees of the category by clicking here.

My nominated entry in the photojournalism category.

All in all it was a great collection of images from the 100 nominees. below are my favorites across the categories. It thrills me to the bones that I have been placed among these amazing artists and a brilliant collection of images and that my work was selected and exhibited by some top notch people of the industry..

Chris Layton, 30, from Carmel, NY, United States

Mankichi Shinshi, 32, from Nagoya, Japan

Isara Pittayasiri, 28, from Bangkok, Thailand

What a surprise it would be, this August while heading before the month long trip to Goa and Mumbai, I discovered a new photography app called EyeEm, a clean interface, Instagram like portal which officially conducts competitions in partnership with other photography giants to discover new talents in the photography industry. I happened to post some pictures on it and forgot about it. This December I received an email stating that maybe I haven't checked but I have won a photography contest held by EyeEm and Light Co. The theme of the contest was "Capture the moment". Check out the link below to view my winning entry.

Click on the picture to view the contest res… — Click on the picture to view the contest results.

I was zapped after reading the mail because I hadn't won any photography competition before and winning the top prize, that too a camera worth rupees over a lakh was too much. More than the prize it was the recognition that boosted my happiness because I considered this photo an important achievement in my portfolio. The picture was taken during the month ofMuharram in Lucknow, India and as a personal project I was covering it in the various areas of the city. I was doing that for a week spending the nights out in the city. On the last day of the month when 'Tazia" of each area is taken to the local burying grounds named Karbala I was lazying around my house and procrastinating going out when I got a call from my father that a processing was heading out not too far from our house. Immediately I went there and started clicking.I was a little apprehensive first in getting too close to the people assuming it might offend them as it's a mourning after all but one of the men recognized me from our childhood days and and runs a Chaat cart called me in to display the Tazia of their locality and many of them happily posed. Once I got comfortable, I started following them and observed the procession for the first time in life properly while taking the pictures.

What particularly caught my fancy was the presence of children because we generally keep children out of bloodshed, nicks and bruises but here they were breaking light tubes on their head and blowing fire out of their mouth. This scene affected me and it became a sub subject of my series and has kept me to capture more this year too.

I remember that I was looking for a particular picture which I visualized in my mind and started chasing that, in some time I got the perfect timing and grabbed this one happily. I spent my day chasing other processions too but I think this one will remain a special one because it got me my first recognition at an international platform.

The equally exciting part of this win is the L16 camera which is quite revolutionary in its technology. Imagine your phone with 16 sensors and lenses on its back and that you can change the exposure, depth of field and focal point AFTER taking the picture, that's L16 for you. It would be actually useful for me as many a places I have to shoot discreetly and I hope it would be much better than taking out a big DSLR and making everyone around cautious. If you are intrigued about the camera, do click at the picture below and it will take you to it's detailed description.

Mayank Gautam

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2016 EyeEm photography awards result.

My first surprise win. An L16 Camera.