Picture of 'weary resilience' wins Life at Sea 2024 photography competition

World Maritime Day saw the winners of this year's ITF Seafarers' Trust Life at Sea photography competition announced. Fatigue –  a key safety and criminalisation issue for seafarers – took pride of place.

This year's first prize of £1,000 was awarded to Jericho P. Mifania for his photo Echoing Sigh-lence of Relief inside Cargo Hold. His image was chosen from what the Trust described as 'a once-again spectacular response from seafarers', with just short of 2,000 submissions and a notable increase in overall quality giving judges a serious challenge in selecting winners.

Since its inception in 2020, this photography project has been bringing the unique perspective of seafarers to a wider audience through exhibitions and presentations around the world, helping roll back 'sea blindness' among the public. Previous winning photos from the Life at Sea project are currently on display at the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, the venue of the bi-annual International Congress of Maritime Museums and project now boasts a collection of some 10,000 digital images and captions.

With this year's theme for World Maritime Day – 'Navigating the future: safety first!’, the Trust said it was 'a fitting coincidence that the winning image highlights one of the most important maritime safety issues: fatigue.'

First prize winner Jericho P. Mifania said of his photo that it was 'a tableau of weary resilience after  arduous hours working. The sea may seem majestically infinite, but our sights are often confined to these walls, resolutely enduring the relentless waves of fatigue, the gnawing loneliness, and the constant pressure to deliver. It is in moments like this that we realize we are bound together by a shared sigh of relief echoing the unspoken battles we keep.'

The panel of judges included curators Irene Jacobs from the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, and Sara Keijzer from the National Maritime Museum Amsterdam, alongside The Guardian's Joe Plimmer and last year's winner, Robert Maraño.

Ms Keijzer said: 'In this photo you really see the fatigue of the seafarer. It is not posed; he is really resting after a hard day's work. They are working in the dark with his flashlight, nearly blinded by the light.'

Mr Robert Maraño added: 'It was a very genuine photo. The more I look to it, the more I am immersed into it. The composition of the photo was great and the light hitting their faces really highlights their emotion.'

By contrast, second prize winner Waseem Abbas was awarded for his stunning photo Ships in Clouds, an almost optical illusion of 'flying ships' – which, according to Irene Jacobs was ‘a beautiful photo, and one you can only see when you are a seafarer.’

The third prize, awarded to Kenji F. Rabie for Blasting Bows: Shipyard Renewal in Action takes the viewer to the drydock where the bows of two vessels are blasted clean. This image impressed all judges with its abstract aesthetic. Joe Plimmer, a professional photographer, noted it was : 'A highly accomplished image with hidden depths and a unique perspective.'

In celebration of the fifth anniversary of the competition this year, the judges recognised five further photographs as highly commended: Life of a seafarer behind the scenes by Mark Joseph Bureros; Barbershop onboard by Dwi Kartini; A three man job by Jairus Jan Ricafranca; The dream is within reach by John Prieto; and Embracing the beauty of our ship, from a different perspective by Malcom Resolme Serrano.

'We are enormously grateful to all the seafarers who have embraced the opportunity to share their experiences with us and help raise the profile of the men and women powering the global movement of goods and people by sea,' said the Trust.

The winning photographs can be found here.