The Center Awards are known for spotting up-and-coming photography talent. Past winners of the Santa Fe non-profit’s top honor include Lori Grinker and Julie Blackmon. This year judges Simon Baker (from Britain’s Tate museum), Alexa Becker (of German book publisher Kehrer Verlag) and Christina Cahill (from Getty Images) chose Hungarian photographer Tamas Dezso from among 700 entries submitted by artists in 31 countries. Dezso’s series Here, Anywhere uses subtle story-telling skills to explore the bittersweet changes in Hungary. “I get a profound sense of place from the images,” says Center’s executive director Laura Pressley. “It was a very clear concept. He’s just showing, not telling. So we as viewers ask questions—we examine the pictures for answers and clues.”

Pressley cautions that mixing portraits and landscape as Dezso does in the series might not ordinarily work, but his unique style and mood, along with his choice of color, bring it together. “The images are layered, rich and thick with detail,” she explains. “They make you want to slow down—that’s what an award-making picture makes you want to do.”

Tamas Dezso’s work will be on view at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe from May 20 until July 10, 2011.

For more of Dezso’s work, visit his website: www.tamas-dezso.com

—Reporting by Deirdre van Dyk, Produced by Alexander Ho