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Purification

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João Coelho - 2024 Black & White Photo Contest |  2nd Place Winner | Non-Professional

João Coelho

Angola

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These young men risk their lives every day in this ship graveyard. They dive to pull iron plates out of sunken ships, using only their hands. Even when exhausted, they must find the strength to fight the waves and currents and carry the heavy pieces to the beach, where they are weighed and sold

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Honorable Mention

Exhaustion

They need each other, and each one needs everyone else in a titanic struggle to pull a huge piece of iron from a sunken ship from the bottom of the sea. Unity is strength and can move mountains. At the end of the day, the real victory will be feeding the families who are eagerly waiting for them

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Nominee

One for all, all for one

It all begins at the bottom of this bay—a dark world where humans are not welcome. In this realm, filled with sharp iron, a group of youths take immense risks salvaging iron to sell. It's a titanic effort that only ends on the beach when they load the heavy pieces onto motorcycles for weighing

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From the bottom of the ocean

A dismembered toy they luckily find at the dump is enough to make them children again. They have learned from an early age to be adults in this sad, gray world in order to survive, but they also know that they have to help each other because they are friends forever.

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Always children, always friends

On a deserted beach, a group of believers meet with their Pastor to free themselves from the evil spirits that have taken hold of them. The liberation is only complete when they dive into the sea, lovingly led by the Pastor as he invokes God's presence to witness their purification

They risk their lives every day in this ship graveyard, diving to remove iron sheets from the sunken carcasses of ships, using only their hands and the strength of their arms. Exhausted, they have to find the strength to fight the waves and currents and bring the heavy pieces to shore

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Bronze

Madalena is still a child, but she has to look after her little sister while her parents work. It's always been like this, her mother and grandmother also had to suffer the same fate of being premature mothers. But her gaze, vacant and sad, doesn't lie! It was too soon!

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Gold

Too soon

No, she's not comfortably listening to her favorite songs. Her headphones are just an old headband she found in the trash. She doesn't even know that those shiny records contain melodies that would make her dream.  In her world, the only sound she can hear is the sound of silence

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The sound of silence

It all begins at the bottom of this bay, a dark and gloomy world where a group of fearless young men brave immense risks to salvage iron from sunken ships. It's a titanic effort that only ends on the beach when they manage to get the heavy pieces onto motorcycles to be weighed down

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Indifferent to an army enraged by the invasion of his territory, this man competes with flies for scraps of food. It sounds like a post-apocalyptic scenario, but this is the real life of many who survive every day on what others throw away and who have no idea that this kingdom of flies exists.

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The kingdom of flies

A dismembered toy they luckily find at the dump is enough to make them children again. They have learned from an early age to be adults in this sad, gray world in order to survive, but they also know that they have to help each other because they are friends forever

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Silver

Friends forever

He was born and lives in a dump, a gloomy world where toys have to be invented with the right amount of imagination. A bike rim and a simple stick are enough to give birth to something new and exciting, reminding us that children can be children even in the worst places in the world to live

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How to be a real child

They are considered outcasts, having fled their parents' homes and the institutions where they have always been abused. They help each other escape the onslaught of police and malaria in the ruins of the city. They have all chosen to live on the wrong side of freedom

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Discovery of the Year

The wrong side of freedom

All they need to have fun is the welcoming waters of the sea. They run wildly towards the waves and dive awkwardly, in a pure and natural joy like the water, air and earth around them, and not even the roar of the waves can mute the sound of fun

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The sound of fun

The prolonged drought has exhausted the land, everything he planted is now turned to dust. Every day he looks up at the sky, as if he wanted to see beyond the clouds, begging for rain from a God who has ignored him

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Begging for rain

She seems to be comfortably listening to her favorite songs. But what look like headphones are just an old hairband she found in the dump. She doesn't even know that those shiny records contain melodies that would make her dream. All she can hear in her world is silence and the buzzing of flies

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The food scraps were once fought over by animals during the day. Now, even the vultures and hungry dogs aren't interested in the smoking debris. It's the last hope for other scavengers, men who scavenge the still burning embers in search of pieces of metal and glass that have survived the fire

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Scavengers

This series depicts the conditions in which a group of young people work in a ship graveyard in Angola. After removing pieces weighing hundreds of kilos using only their hands and the strength of their arms, they have to carry them to the beach, fighting against the waves and currents of the sea

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The iron quest

It all starts under the sea, where giants lie sleeping. Fearless men dare to wake them up to tame them and take them to the beach, where the carcass is placed on a fragile bike. A titanic struggle that only ends when the scales tell them how much they weigh and what they'll gain

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Taming a giant

On a deserted beach, a group of believers meet their pastor to be freed from the evil spirits that have taken hold of them. The liberation ends with Purification, with a dive into the sea. On that day, the beach witnessed a merciless battle against evil that no human science can explain

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