Sarika Dandona, of India, won One Silver and Seven Bronze Awards in the Amateur Awards for Abstract/Illustrative category and is ranked 28th in the Top 50 Category winners. These awards are for pictures recognized by the judges as high quality images worthy of recognition in the competition.

Noida, Uttar Pradesh, December 25, 2009  –  The 2009 International Aperture Awards (IAA), Australia is one of the world’s most prestigious international online photography competitions. The competition was open for all professional and non professional photographers with a combined prize pool of US $88,000.00 in cash and prizes. The Open Awards for both professionals and non professionals were spread across 8 categories: People & Portrait, Sport, Landscape, Science & Nature, Commercial, Advertising & Fashion, Abstract/Illustrative, PhotoJournalism and Wedding Photography while the Amateur Awards were across three categories: People & Portrait, Landscape and Abstract/Illustrative.

IAA is juried by top international members from the professional photography industry spanning across Australia, New Zealand, Russia, USA, South Africa, United Kingdom, Canada and Hong Kong. Peter Eastway, Publisher of Better Photography and co-publisher of Better Digital and Better Photoshop Techniques, Australia’s three leading photography magazines acted as the Head Judge. He is also a Grand Master of Photography, one of only five in the world and earned from a career spanning nearly 30 years.

About the Winner: Sarika Dandona, is a biotechnologist, an ex-journalist and an entrepreneur working in the space of healthcare and life sciences market strategy and integrated communications for last 10 years.

Since 2007, she has been on a constant exploratory journey of the sheer concoction of colors, shapes, contours, textures, interplay of light, shadows and silhouettes. These have stimulated her latent creativity as an evolving, self-taught photographer. She takes an intuitive approach to composition and lighting without the aid of professional lighting, improvising with common light sources around her.

“My experience as a scientist and a journalist has helped me in developing my observation skills. The much needed ‘eye’ for the hidden facets in everyday objects, comes from there! The Fine Art of Abstracts and Macros have intrigued and empowered my work with a unique form of expression that helps me challenge my boundaries and break the confines of the so called mundane.” Her primary body of work serves as a catalyst to explore ideas, to provoke and challenge perceptions and first impressions, transforming objects through a unique perspective.

Other Awards and Recognition

In July 2009, Sarika Dandona, won an Honorable Mention in the Amateur Category of Prix de la Photographie, Paris (2009), the biggest photography competition in Europe out of over 6000 entries from 85 countries. She was earlier featured as an upcoming photographer in November 2008, in Smart Photography, one of India’s leading photography and imaging magazines.