Getty Images, in collaboration with Instagram, has announced the recipients of the Getty Images Instagram Grant, which rewards photographers who use the photo-sharing app to document stories from under-represented communities around the world. The three recipients were chosen from 1,200 entries from 109 countries. Judges focused on quality of imagery, photographic technique and storytelling ability.

Russian photographer Dmitry Markov (@dcim.ru) focuses on documenting the social issues close to his heart. His Instagram account features powerful portraits of the people he encounters everyday in places like railway stations and street markets. He says: "I live in Pskov, a small ancient town in north-west Russia. Here, I volunteer and work with charitable organisations for children with disabilities, including the Russian Children's Fund. My hope is that my photographs will help tell their stories and inspire others to volunteer as well. My goal is to help these orphaned children, who are oftentimes forgotten, and shine a spotlight on their plight and encourage society to look at the problems of such children in a humane way.

"Two years ago I started an Instagram account, using only my phone to document what I see not only in the charities I volunteer with, but in my everyday life in Pskov. Instagram has enabled me to share my photographs instantly, exposing under-told stories and exposing situations others, including city administrations, often turn a blind eye to."

Bangladeshi documentary photographer Ismail Ferdous (@afterranaplaza) has always been fascinated by the stories of people living in under-represented communities. His Instagram account aims to spread awareness about the fashion industry and its negative effects on workers in Bangladesh.

He says: "Rana Plaza was the world's largest industrial tragedy. Many of the international clothing companies responsible have yet to compensate victims who not only suffered the loss of loved ones, but also the ability to work due to injuries, namely the loss of limbs. I don't want their stories to be forgotten. As I continued to photograph those affected by the collapse, I understood how important it was to not just to take a picture, but to engage myself in this issue to best represent it. I want to explore how their lives have changed and what challenges they continue to face. The varying realities will be featured within the context of the post-Rana Plaza garment industry conditions."

He combines still imagery with the voices of the victims and those affected by the tragedy, bringing their voices to life through the use of Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Repost from @GettyImages: #GettyImagesInstagramGrant Takeover: Ismail Ferdous (@ismailferdous @afterranaplaza), a Bangladeshi documentary photographer using @Instagram to cover social humanitarian issues, received a grant for his project titled “After Rana Plaza,” which centers around the surviving relatives of those killed in the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory. “’After Rana Plaza’ is the successor of the documentary project ‘The Cost of Fashion.’ This project came from a very personal place, as I live among those affected by the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh's garment industry. Seeing the workers every day, coming and going, is a constant reminder of the collapse and its effects still linger more than two years later.” -@afterranaplaza @ismailferdous

A post shared by After Rana Plaza (@afterranaplaza) on

View this post on Instagram

Audio Subtitles: “I started leaving the floor. After that I can’t remember anything. I worked as a helper in Newstar New BD on 7th floor. My daughter worked there too. She lives in Hemayetpur. I went to work after my daughter. She was slightly injured and found after 2 days.”- Momota is sharing her current state of existence as a victim of Rana Plaza Incident. Mosammat Momota Khatun came to Dhaka from Rangpur, northern part of Bangladesh. She came to Dhaka for earning his livelihood and takes care of her daughters. She is thirty five years old now and lost her ability to work. It was not happen because of her (any kind of) illness. She was a normal working class person just befor Rana Palza incident happened. She got trapped there and that was a turning point of her life. Nothing has same after that. While interviewer asked her to tell the story of that day, she replied –“I can’t explain everything as I didn’t have sense on that time. I worked as a helper in Newstar New BD on seventh floor.” So, interviewer asked her again about those very earlier moments of the incident. In reaction she said- “That day we stopped working at 10 am according to PM Sir’s decision and he ordered us to vacant the floor. But he didn’t inform us what happed there. He told us that we would have been marked absent if we didn’t join the work.” After lunch Momota with other colleagues went to work and saw the door was locked. Then she returned back to her home. She was afraid about being counted absent in the factory because authority said if they don’t come they will count them as an absent. Some of her well-wisher and closed relatives warned her no to go to work. By the way, one of her daughter also worked in Rana Plaza building as a garments worker. She decides to join the work if other co-workers will join. Momota went to her floor and saw everybody is on their duty except ten to twelve people were still in downstairs and arguing, denying to join to work due to the news of crack in the building. (read more on website) Photo: @ismailferdous #afterranaplaza

A post shared by After Rana Plaza (@afterranaplaza) on

Freelance documentary photographer Adriana (@) was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil and has been based in Mexico City for the past 10 years. She has covered issues related to the Mexican drug war, migration and religion.

She says: "By official records, 23,605 people have been victims of forced disappearance in Mexico. In 2014 alone it reached 6,000, a record. It is estimated that the real number is much higher; many cases go unreported for fear of retaliation and because of distrust in the local and government authorities.

"Working closely with the families of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers School who went missing last September in Iguala, after being ambushed by the local police and supposedly handed over to a narco group, one thing became clear to me: not only had these people been stolen from their future, but a memory of their past was also doomed to disappear. Apart from a few mugshots and cellphone images, very few of the family members had pictures of their disappeared loved ones."

View this post on Instagram

"Family Portrait After Church” , Tixtla, Guerrero, Mexico. I’ve always been fascinated by family portraits and how much of our identity they represent: maybe through them we try to assert that, in a world of constant change and inevitable loss, there are things that time has no right to destroy. Perhaps our need for these pictures is rooted in our spiritual beliefs, in our conviction that life isn’t simply a series of physical impulses that cease to have any meaning the instant they stop. A person photographed has achieved a moment of redemption: the image captured has been rendered eternal, saved from the fate of being forever forgotten. #mexico #guerrero #photography #portrait #family #documentary #onassignment #photojournalism #life #longtermproject #iphone #latergram #fotoistanbul2015 @fotoistanbultr

A post shared by Adriana Zehbrauskas (@adrianazehbrauskas) on

Each of the three winners will receive a grant of $10,000 (£6,490) and mentorship from one of Getty Images' award-winning photojournalists. Their work is being exhibited at Photoville in New York until 20 September 2015. In addition to the three grant recipients, the judges elected to recognise the work of an additional five photographers: Tasneem Asultan (@tasneemalsultan) of Dubai, UAE; Kevin Cook (@kevincookphoto) of Philadelphia, USA; Igor Pisuk (@igorpisuk) of Stockholm, Sweden; Cassandra Giraldo (@afterschoolproject) of New York, USA and Ako Salemi (@f64s125) of Tehran, Iran. These photographers will receive a personal mentorship from a member of the Getty Instagram Grant judging panel.

More about Getty Images and Instagram
Instagram