Photo gallery of portrait finalists
A Spanish photojournalist has won first prize in the Head On Photo Festival's portrait competition for his image of a young Malian refugee rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in 2016.
Cesar Dezfuli's image of 16-year-old Amadou Sumaila, who was on board a crowded rubber boat drifting off the coast of Libya, was one of 118 refugees he photographed within minutes of their rescue.
"Their faces, their looks, the marks on their body, their clothes or the absence of it ... reflects the mood and physical state ... in a moment that has already marked their lives forever," Dezfuli wrote on his website.
"Documenting it can serve to bring this migration reality closer to those who only observe it from a distance."
The winner in the festival's mobile division also had a refugee theme, with Demetris Koilalous' The Tempest capturing the sea passage between Greece and Turkey which is often referred to by migrants as the "death passage".
Other winners include Todd Kennedy in the landscape category for Lit from above, an image of a rock formation at Lake Mungo which is lit by pure white LEDs from a drone.
The Head On Photo Festival winners were announced on Saturday May 6. The 40 portrait prize finalists are on display at the Museum of Sydney until July 9. Other festival events run until May 28. headon.com.au