The best photos of the prestigious photo contest

The World Organization of Photographers has announced the list of finalists of the Sony World Photography Awards 2014 — one of the most prestigious photo contests in the world. This year, photographers from 166 countries sent almost 140,000 of their works, which became a record in the history of the competition.  The works of all the shortlisted photographers, along with the works of the winners of the competition, will be exhibited from May 1 to May 18 at the Somerset House Cultural Center in London.

We present to your attention the finalists of the contest in the categories "Free Photography" and "Professional".

(36 photos in total)

1. Category "Free Travel photography": Mongol. (©Simon Morris/UK/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

2. The winners of the open categories will be announced on March 18. The winners of the category "Professional", as well as the special award "Photographer of the Year" will be announced at a ceremony in London on April 30.

Photo: "Smile: Yellow guy". A boy during the celebration of the Indian festival of colors Holi. (©Anurag Kumar/India/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

3. All these photos will go to Somerset House, London, for the exhibition "2014 Sony World Photography Awards". A ticket for it can already be purchased. The works of the winners will also be presented in the book "2014 Sony World Photography Awards".

Category: Nature and animals — What are you staring at? Baby orangutan in the arms of his mother. (©Chin Boon Leng/Singapore/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

4. Category: Smile – "Dirty smile". (©Alpay Erdem/Turkey/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

5. Category: Fraction of a second – untitled. Emotional "breakthrough" of the bride on the way to the wedding ceremony. (©Yao Wang Chong/Taiwan/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

6. Art and Culture: untitled photo. Hooke Festival. (© Vuk Adzic/Serbia/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

7. People: Young people from the Kara tribe, Omo, Ethiopia (taken with an infrared filter). (©Louise Porter/USA/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

8. Journey: Pilgrims and believers at Kumbha Mela, the largest spiritual festival on the planet. (©Wolfgang Weinhardt/Germany/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

9. Nature and animals: Zeybeki (a reference to Turkish folk dance). (©Hasan BagÌlar/Cyprus/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

10. Dim lighting: Rejoice even in dark times. (Samantha Fortenberry/USA/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

11. Art and Culture: Beer Festival in Munich. (©Li Hao/China/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

12. Split second: home. Homeless children in Chittagong, Bangladesh. (©Ata Mohammad Adnan/Bangladesh/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

13. People: untitled. Miners at the gold mines in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. (©Guillermo Barquero/Costa Rica/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

14. Panorama: Vakil bathhouse. Panoramic photo of four "stitched" pictures in the style of "fisheye". Vakil Bath is a very popular historical place in Shiraz, Iran. (©Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji/Iran/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

15. Architecture: the calm before the storm. (©Sean Batten/UK/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

Then there are photos in the "Professional" category.

16. Landscape: untitled. Skiers in snowy Poland. (©Kacper Kowalski/Poland/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

17. Pressing matters: the price of slavery. The collapse of the Rana Plaza sewing factory. (© K. M. Asad/Bangladesh/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

18. Architecture: neighbors. (© Herman Van Den Boom/Belgium/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

19. Campaign: big cat, little cat – advertising campaign of cat food "Whiskas". (©George Logan/UK/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

20. Art and culture: Shine, baby. The project "Shine Baby" explores the culture of girls in Australia within the framework of such phenomena as beauty contests, especially for young people. (© Chloe Bartram/Australia/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

21. Art and culture: Rakher Upobash. An elderly Indian woman with lights (prodip) prays to God in front of the Ashram temple during the Rakhher Upobash festival in Barodi, Bangladesh. (© Suvra Kanti Das/Bangladesh/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

22. Architecture: a historical gift. The Zhongyi Temple is a 13–storey pagoda with an overlay of the historical image of the same place. (© Sungseok AHN/Republic of Korea/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

23. Landscape: a series of aerial shots. Iceland. (© Emmanuel Coupe-Kalomiris/Greece/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

24. Landscape: urban landscapes of Shanghai. (© Arjen Schmitz/Netherlands/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

25. Pressing matters: what is missing? A dealer with a gun in the area of Naples Forcella. (© Esposito Salvatore/Italy/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

26. Pressing matters: There is no more Moore. Within 39 minutes on May 20, 2013, the strongest tornado with winds reaching 337 km per hour swept along a 27-kilometer path. The city of Moore, Oklahoma, took the brunt of the blow. 13-year-old Destiny Pirman collects things from her destroyed bedroom. She and her mother were most afraid that the house would be leveled to the ground, but, fortunately for them, it survived, even though it was destroyed. The main concern of the whole family – medicines and medications for Destiny's epilepsy patient – were where they left them. (© Melissa Golden/USA/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

27. Sport: Fighter, father. (© Nikolai Linares/Denmark/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

28. Travel: Italy. (© Sharon Derhy/Italy/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

29. Sport: untitled. (© YongSheng Zheng/China/ 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

30. Portrait: Crazy couples. Portraits of representatives of the British subculture of mods. (© Carlotta Cardana/UK/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

31. Portraits: Wet Dog. (© Sophie Gamand/USA/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

32. Portraits: Wax system. Portrait of a wax figure in Madame Tussauds Museum. (© Fabrizio Cestari/Italy/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

33. People: Mother and Son. (© Denis Dailleux//2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

34. Journey: Polar bear in Svalbard, Norway. (© Wilfred Berthelsen/Norway/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

35. Still Life: Forever. (© Kai-Uwe Gundlach/Germany/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

36. Portraits: Survivors. Victims of acid crimes in Bangladesh. (© Ken Hermann/Denmark/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)