The Iris D’Or is the award given to the photographer of the year at the Sony World Photography Awards, and this week it went to photojournalist Alejandro Chaskielberg for a portfolio that documents the lives of indigenous islanders on the Paraná River delta in his native Argentina. The award is well-deserved indeed, both because Chaskielberg spent two years living with his subjects for the project, and because the images themselves are pretty amazing. The work uses strange focal lengths and bold colors to generate a hyper-realistic feel, a sense that’s heightened given that the strange surreal atmosphere seems more suited to the big city than to documenting a traditional way of life that’s fast dying out. See some of our favorites after the jump.
See more of Chaskielberg’s work at his website.