Photo of Woman Glued to Her Phone Wins the 2014 National Geographic Photo Contest
This photograph of a woman glued to her smartphone has been selected as the Grand Prize winner of the 2014 National Geographic Photography Contest. It was captured by photographer Brian Yen of Hong Kong.
I feel a certain contradiction when I look at the picture. On the one hand, I feel the liberating gift of technology. On the other hand, I feel people don’t even try to be neighborly anymore, because they don’t have to. The picture is also a reflective one. I also feel a bit guilty, more and more, that I’m just like that lady in the middle of the train, lost in her own world.
He snapped a photograph of the scene and titled the photo, “A Node Glows in the Dark.” Here’s his description:
In the last 10 years, mobile data, smart phones and social networks have forever changed our existence. Although this woman stood at the center of a jam packed train, but the warm glow from her phone tells the strangers around her that she’s not really here. She managed to slip away from here, for a short moment, she’s a node flickering on the social web, roaming the earth, free as a butterfly. Our existence is no longer stuck to the physical here, we’re free to run away, and run we will.
As part of the award, Yen has won $10,000 and a trip to the National Geographic headquarters for an exclusive photography seminar.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes video that offers a glimpse into how the judges decided on the winning photos:
9,289 photographs were submitted this year by photographers from 150 countries. You can find some of the other winning photographs over on the contest’s page.