The Resilience of Travelers |The Global Rescue 2021 Photo Contest | Carter-Kelsey Gallery
October 7-November 5, 2022
AVA Gallery and Art Center is pleased to present a collection of photographs from around the globe, an exhibition featuring the annual Global Rescue photo contest, The Resilience of Travelers |The Global Rescue 2021 Photo Contest. The photo contest began in 2013 to showcase the amazing expeditions and journeys of travelers. After more than a year of extraordinary travel due to the pandemic, the 2021 Photo Contest — focusing on the theme of “resilience” — broke all prior submission records. Over the course of a month, amateur photographers submitted nearly 500 images. While all were outstanding, the images on display in the Carter-Kelsey Gallery at AVA serve as the most moving testaments to traveler tenacity during the pandemic.
“Everyone was impacted by the pandemic, some more severely than others. Travelers were, and are, eager to fight back to regain their family vacations, adventure travels and business trips,” said Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue. “The flexibility and toughness demonstrated by travelers and the travel and tourism industry can only be defined as resilient.”
The judges’ panel included: Mark Edward Harris, who has visited and photographed in more than 100 countries; Lydia Schrandt, who serves as the first chair of the Editors Council of the Society of American Travel Writers; Paul Shoul, photographer for GoNomad.com; and Bakos-Kallgren. “Amateur and professional photographers from all over the world submitted nearly 500 images for consideration in the 2021 Photo Contest. While all were outstanding, the 24 images on display serve as the most moving testaments to traveler tenacity during the pandemic,” said Chelsea Bakos-Kallgren, an award-winning graphic designer and design head for Global Rescue.
The contest featured four categories: togetherness, landscape, outdoor activity and animal travel companions.
- The grand prize winner and first place winner of the Togetherness category was Mithail Afrige Chowdhury for his photograph COVID-Negative Celebration – a Bangladeshi birthday celebration for a 12-year-old girl who had just beaten her battle with coronavirus.
- Skier and photographer Chuck Evans sacrificed a ski run to capture his winning image in the Landscape category. Pure Bliss captured Evans’ friend and professional skier, Ricky Ceccant, during an April 2021 heli-ski trip to Haines, Alaska.
- In the Outdoor Action category, first place was awarded to Har Rai Khalsa, an Oregon native who grew up snowboarding, windsurfing and surfing and later fell in love with photography in high school. His photograph – Immersed in Brazil – depicts a submerged Italian windsurfer, Greta Marchegger.
- Best Friends by Joshua Tobey – a wildlife sculptor whose work is on display in four states – won the Animal Travel Companion category. During a September 2021 family trip in Wyoming’s Green Mountain, Indy – a Parson Russell terrier – climbed up and perched on the shoulder of a family member who was tracking elk using binoculars.
For more information about the Global Rescue Travel Photo Contest Winners click here.
About Global Rescue
Global Rescue is the world’s leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments, and individuals. Founded in 2004, Global Rescue has exclusive relationships with the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Division of Special Operations and Elite Medical Group. Global Rescue provides best-in-class services that identify, monitor, and respond to client medical and security crises. Global Rescue has provided medical and security support to its clients, including Fortune 500 companies, governments, and academic institutions, during every globally significant crisis of the last two decades, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Exhibition is Generously Sponsored by GlobalRescue.com
Image credit: left, COVID-Negative Celebration, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Mithail Afrige Chowdhury; Right, The Boatmen, Chittagong, Bangladesh, Ata Mohammad Adnan
