Open to photographers from all across the globe, our most entered competition yet brought an influx of new talent and technique from our international community.  Needless to say, the response to this month’s ‘Faces’ photography challenge has been exceptional.

Not only have the judges been impressed with the quality of photography, but also the expressive detail shown in the variety of faces we’ve seen in this competition.  With a brief like ‘Faces’ we expected to see many styles of portrait photography but the entrants surprised us by being almost unconventional, capturing every aspect of human emotion in true candid moments.

We’ve been watching closely this week as the votes piled in for our shortlisted finalists and we’ve been having many a debate about which is our favourite in the office. As always the deliberation process is a tricky one but the judging panel ultimately came to a unanimous decision.

So without further ado, we’re delighted to announce the winner of our Faces photography competition is Anurag Kumar! Anurag has been commended all around the world for his work, so it is no surprise he is the winner of our judge’s choice award. The HIPA Award winner’s shot entitled ‘Symbol of Hindusim’ really caught the eye of the judges, with the intense gaze of the subject clashing beautifully with deep orange and yellows that almost wrestle for your attention. We’ll be rewarding Anurag for his efforts with a $500 Amazon Gift voucher, which will be with you very soon.

Our first place Voter’s Choice award goes to Yana Levine with close to 100 votes – a very impressive score. Yana’s beautiful shot entitled ‘My daughter’ really embodies that parental pride so familiar to many of us, no matter where we are on the planet. Her use of focus and perspective drives this home and makes the photo appear almost like what would imagine a memory must look. Yana will be receiving a $250 Amazon gift voucher for her great photo.

Next up, and in 2^nd place in the voting, we have Raj Mayukh Dam and his in-action shot ‘Smile’; a wonderfully uplifting photo that really captures the vibrancy of a street festival. Raj will be rewarded for his entry with a $150 Amazon gift voucher.

The last of our winners, Monica Lloyd, who came third in the voting wins a $100 Amazon gift voucher for her aptly titled ‘Faces’ shot. The almost haunting expression in the subject’s face in Monica’s shot is mirrored beautifully by pastel colouring that features throughout the photo: a wonderful shot.

So, that’s it from us for this competition. Thank you again to every one that entered this month’s contest and congratulations to the winners, we’ve loved taking a look at the faces from around the world.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Instagram for all the latest CoinaPhoto news, a new competition is just around the corner.

Happy snapping!