Whalebone Photo Contest: Human

Humans are pretty great. Apparently, there are others that feel the same and that brings us joy.

But this is the HUMAN category, not the JOY category. We’ll get to that in a bit. But apparently a few of those other humans that feel the same are great at capturing their fellow humans in certain moments. For this category, it left us feeling very human to see how human the world tends to be.

Svetlin Yosifov | Woman Mursi | @picsvet_photography

“The African tribe of Mursi people is isolated in Omo Valley, South Ethiopia near the border with Sudan. Their lives being a combination of brutal reality and amazing beauty. Suffering from extreme drought in the past few years has made their lives cruel and sometimes dangerous, but has not left a single mark on their traditions. What was really appealing to me as a photographer, was to capture and recreate the perplexing nature of their culture and way of life. Living among them gave the sense of extreme authenticity and at the same time felt like an illusion. Their faces filled my passion for capturing pure, untouched souls of a culture on the brink of extinction.”

Azim Khan Ronnie | Incense Workers | @azimronnie

“Vietnamese workers sits surrounded by thousands of incense sticks in Quang Phu Can, a village in Hanoi, Vietnam, where the sticks have been traditionally made for hundreds of years. Incense plays an important role in the spiritual lives of Vietnamese people. People use incense in all worship activities. The bamboo bundles are arranged on the ground on sunny days so as to dry them. To make the incense sticks the bamboo is first split in two, cleaned and dusted and then a third of the stick is coloured red, purple or yellow. To dry them the sticks are laid out on the ground or road-side for about one day. After they have dried, the sticks are collected and put into bunches of about ten and these are fastened together. They are then sold around the provinces.”

Zay Yar Lin | Suri Girl | @zayyarlin84

“She is 25 years old, not yet married, and still guarded by her family. She is still waiting for her unknown husband. A man in Suri Tribe can only marry a girl when he has sixty cattle which are presented to the girl’s family for a price of marriage.”