Inaugural Getty Images Instagram Grant programme winners announced

Social media platforms, such as Instagram, have provided the world with a variety of windows into the environment and community that we live in. It is this insightful communication that Getty Images and Instagram focused on when forming the inaugural Getty Images Instagram Grant programme, which aimed to reward photographers who were using Instagram to document stories from under-represented communities around the world.

The winners of this edition of the programme were selected from more than 1200 entries from across 109 countries, and the winners have been announced as Ismail Ferdous, a documentary photographer from Bangladesh, Adriana Zehbrauskas, a Brazilian-born photographer, and Dmitry Markov from Russia. Each grant recipient will receive US$10,000 (nearly NZ$16,000) as well as mentorship from one of Getty Images’ award-winning photographers, including John Moore, Chris McGrath, and Andrew Burton. The winners’ work is also currently on display at New York City’s Photoville, which will run until September 20.

Ferdous carried out a year-long project focusing on the surviving relatives of those who were killed in the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory. Zehbrauskas focused on covering topics such as climate change and documenting the everyday lives of Latin Americans. Markov spotlighted the plight of orphaned children.

Below you will find a gallery of the winners’ images and you can see more of their work by following them on Instagram; Ferdous at @afterranaplaza, Zehbrauskas at @adrianazehbrauskas, and Markov at @dcim.ru.