EISA Maestro 2022 photo prize: French photographer Jean-Baptiste Pellerin winner!

The EISA Maestro award is one of the most coveted photo competitions for photographers. It offers a unique opportunity to be published in major photo magazines in Europe and even around the world. Each member country of the EISA association has the possibility of presenting one candidate per country. This year, it’s the theme of joy (happy) which motivated the photographers and it was our “colt” Jean-Baptiste Pellerin, also known as Backtothestreet, representing France, who won the first prize. Congratulations to him!

Maestro 2022 – Jean-Baptiste Pellerin (France)

Independent professional photographer and documentary filmmaker, Jean-Baptiste Pellerin has worked for various magazines. For more than twenty years, he practiced what is called the “stolen picture” in Paris, but also during his travels. After a photographic break and the making of two documentary films, he returned to his box to meet the refugees who were camping close to his home, under the La Chapelle metro station in Paris. In the camp, there was no question of photographing people without their knowledge, so he had to learn to compose with the posed photo. After the evacuation of the camp, in June 2015, it was only natural that he headed for the “street portrait“.

→https://backtothestreet.com
→Instagram

2nd – Caroline Allington (UK)

Caroline Allington started photography a long time ago, when she was a childcare worker. She photographed the children’s daily adventures so their parents could see what they had been up to while they were at work. It wasn’t until after the birth of her fourth child that she really learned to use a camera properly. Today, she photographs both for her pleasure, but also captures for other people a special moment that they would like to immortalize and which they would like to remember. She likes to photograph what gives her joy. It can be quite impulsive, if for example the light is particularly beautiful that evening. This is usually the deciding factor, if the light is good you can’t go wrong.

→ https://www.carolineallingtonphotography.com

3rd – Happy Mukherjee (India)

Happy Mukherjee worked as an economics teacher for over ten years before devoting herself to photography full time. His work has been awarded and exhibited in more than sixty countries. She was also voted best photographer in sixteen different national and international photography competitions. She has received over 450 awards for her work worldwide and her images have appeared in magazines Chiiz, Smart Photography, Viewfinder, asian photographythe newspaper The Times (UK) and many more.

Audience Award – Conny Müller (Germany)

For many years, Conny Müller has had a close relationship with the German traveling circus Probst. As part of her day job as a marketing manager, she has collaborated with this circus several times in the past. This is how this 67-year-old amateur photographer from Essen witnessed the closure of this family business for a year and a half during the Covid-19 crisis in Germany. This year, she learned that the circus hosted 15 performers from Ukraine, who fled their country at the start of the war. These refugees are now part of their team, working and traveling with the troupe and performing in front of Conny Müller’s camera. After all, that smile you’ll see on their faces isn’t just for onlookers. It is above all an expression of joy, due to the fact that these artists can finally perform again.

See you next year for the 2023 edition of the EISA Maestro Award.