If you follow D-Photo, you are no doubt familiar with the beautiful black-and-white portrait that graces the cover of issue 84. The image, taken by photographer Ilan Wittenberg in his Auckland studio, won the Portrait category at the 2018 Sony Alpha Awards, and went on to take out the Grand Prize.

The competition invited professional and enthusiast photographers alike to submit photographs captured with Sony Alpha cameras and lenses across seven categories. Each category winner received Sony Alpha gear valued at $2000, with Grand Prize winner Ilan receiving a trip to Tanzania and $3,000 of Sony Alpha Gear. Take a look at the winners and finalists over at the Sony Alpha Awards website.

Ilan came up with the idea for the winning image along with model, Alicia, covering her face and torso with a clay-paste mask. Ilan shot the image against a basic background to emphasize her form and her facial expression. “I love Alicia’s eyes,” says Ilan. “She looks so fragile and vulnerable.”

In issue 84 we talk to Ilan about how he captured his striking monochrome portraits on his latest overseas trip to Morocco. The way in which he captures the essence of the places he visits primarily through portraiture makes him relatively unique as a travel photographer, so we’re very excited to see what he comes up with on his trip to Tanzania.