With photographers from 79 countries submitting their work, competition was fierce at this year's 1839 Awards.

But the prestigious International Photographer of the Year title went to Italian photographer Giacomo Marchione, whose mesmerizing underwater series, The Invisible, captures one of the ocean's most extraordinary natural phenomena.

Marchione is no stranger to photography awards. An accomplished underwater and nature photographer, he also works as a doctor and orthopaedic surgeon.

Away from the operating table, he is fascinated by the mysterious world beneath the ocean's surface, exploring its hidden creatures and unusual behaviors.

His award-winning series turns its attention to the vertical migration of plankton – one of nature's largest and least visible daily migrations.

As countless tiny organisms rise towards the ocean surface and descend again into deeper waters, they create a remarkable underwater spectacle that few people ever get to witness.

"The Invisible"

"At night, the sea doesn't sleep," Marchione explains.

"When the sun sets and the sea seems to fall silent, one of nature's most extraordinary spectacles begins: the vertical migration of plankton.

"Millions of organisms rise from the depths to the surface, and in this upward migration."

1839 Awards adds, "Through 'The Invisible', Marchione invites us into a rarely witnessed world beneath the ocean's surface, revealing the extraordinary complexity and beauty of marine life after dark.

"His photographs transform an unseen natural phenomenon into a compelling visual experience.⁠"

The 1839 Awards

The 1839 Awards, named after one of the most formative years in the history of photography, is a contest and platform celebrating the art of photography and all those who continue to explore the medium’s capabilities.

You can see all the 2026 winners on the 1839 Awards website.

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Bangladeshi photographer Pinu Rahman has won the grand prize in the world's richest photography competition – the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA).

Titled 'Under the Same Sky', the photo shows a family of five sleeping side by side within the surviving concrete walls of their home in Dhaka, Bangladesh, after a fire in November 2025 destroyed some 1,500 dwellings.

"[HIPA's] fifteenth edition was themed 'Family', in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, to designate 2026 as the 'Year of the Family', said Ali Bin Thalith, Secretary General of HIPA.

"This initiative aims to strengthen family bonds, support social stability and instil authentic Emirati values in future generations."

With its depiction of family, resilience and the human capacity to endure, Rahman's image resonated strongly with the HIPA jury.

The prize pot of this prestigious international competition is an incredible US$1 million and Rahman will be leaving the UAE with US$200,000 [£148,700 / AU$289,000] for his Grand Prize-winning picture, which was captured on a DJI Mavic 3 Pro camera drone.

The judges, who included award-winning visual editor Kurt Mutchler, landscape photographer Ivan Pedretti, award-winning photojournalist Tara Todras-Whitehill and Sami Alramyan, the Kuwaiti photographer, documentary and humanitarian photography consultant, decided Rahman's photo best met the brief of 2026's edition of HIPA, themed 'Family'.

This season, the Grand Prize could have been chosen from any category; the winner of the 'Family' category, by UAE photographer Hamid Obaid Al Ali, was recognized for capturing a tender moment of parental devotion.

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HIPA held the annual awards ceremony for its fifteenth competition season at Dubai's Museum of the Future, one of the city's many iconic landmarks, and Digital Camera World was there.

Attended by leading figures in the international photography community, the event also bestowed the Photography Appreciation Award on Japanese photographer Kazuyoshi Nomachi, accompanied by a cash prize of US$100,000 [£74,410/A$144,500].

Announcing his award, HIPA said Nomachi's "lifelong catalogue acts as a macro-study of the global human family, capturing the resilient bonds between peoples and their lands."

French photojournalist Véronique De Viguerie received the HIPA Photographer of the Year award. While she has worked in conflict zones for more than 20 years, "… war itself is not her subject," says HIPA.

"What interests her is what survives within it: desire, humour, beauty, absurdity, tenderness, resistance and the rhythms of ordinary life."

De Viguerie won a cash prize of US$80,000 [£59,500/A$115,600].

And the Photography Content Creator Award, conferred by the Jury after a submission and nomination process, went to Dr Ali Mohamad of the Syrian Arab Republic.

"A photographer, documentary filmmaker, educator and entrepreneur whose work is driven by a passion for visual storytelling and the creative industries," Dr Mohamad collected a cash prize of US$50,000 [£37,200/A$72,300].

The 'Family' winners get to share a cut of the competition's staggering US$1,000,000 prize fund – £749,300 / AU$1,456,000.

While other international photo awards might be bigger in terms of the volume of images submitted – more than 1 million photographs have been submitted over 15 seasons – HIPA's prize pot tops them all.

The winners of the Family, Sports Photography, General (Colour), General (Black and White) and Dreams Through AI categories each receive US$40,000 [£29,700/A$58,000].

Reflecting the need to submit 5-10 photographs that tell one story, the Portfolio (Story-Telling) category winner receives US$50,000 [£37,200/A$72,300].

The winners of 'Family' were:

General, Color: Filip Hrebenda (Slovakia)

General, Black and White: Jono Allen (Australia)

Portfolio (Story-telling): Yousef Alzanoon (Palestinian Territory)

Sports Photography: Hongbin Wu (China)

Dreams Through AI: Chi Hui Tang (New Zealand)

Family: Hamid Obaid Al Ali (United Arab Emirates)

Grand prize: Pinu Rahman (Bangladesh)

The winning images of 'Family', the 15th season of HIPA

About HIPA

HIPA offers a wide range of categories for photographers to enter, and submitting images to the competition is free.

Categories include color and black and white (sub-categories of the popular ‘General’ category), Portfolio (story-telling) and Sports.

New for the fifteenth season was Dreams Through Al – the only category where Al-generated images were accepted.

For all other categories, participants were required to submit a written declaration confirming that no artificial intelligence tools or software were used in the creation of the images.

Other award winners announced at the ceremony in Dubai included:

Photography Appreciation Award: Kazuyoshi Nomachi (Japan)

HIPA Photographer of the Year: Véronique De Viguerie (France)

Photography Content Creator Award: Dr Ali Mohamad (Syrian Arab Republic)

See the previous HIPA winners

Erupting volcano photo wins $200,000 grand prize in HIPA 2025

Photo of a wind farm wins $200,000 grand prize in HIPA 2024

Fantastic jellyfish photo wins $120,000 grand prize in HIPA 2023

Malaysian photographer grabs 2019 $120,000 HIPA grand prize

$120,000 photo: bird shot wins big bucks in HIPA 2022

$120,000 grand prize winner announced for HIPA 2018

Winners of world's richest photographic awards 2021

Amazing image of whales $120,000 HIPA 2020 prize

The Close-Up Photographer of the Year (CUPOTY) – the world’s largest competition dedicated to close-up, macro and micro photography – has published its 2026 shortlist, showcasing 59 pictures across all 11 categories.

"Close-up photography has a wonderful way of revealing details and perspectives that often go unnoticed," says competition co-founder Tracy Calder. "This year’s shortlist is a fabulous showcase of imagination, technical expertise and natural curiosity."

The CUPOTY 08 shortlist was selected from 15,388 submissions and is packed with extraordinary images. We've selected five to give you insights into the stories behind the stills and gear, but that's just a taste of what's on offer. Visit the competition's website to explore the full collection.

Highlights: CUPOTY 8 Shortlist

Animals

Joao Pontes captured the image with the Canon EOS R7 and EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens at 15mm and 1/125sec, f/20, and ISO 100.

Insects

Bidyut Kalita explains, "While observing insect activity in an area of Goalpara, Assam, India, I encountered a striking scene – a jewel-toned Solitary Wasp (likely a Spider Wasp) subduing a spider.

"The precision of the attack was remarkable. Instead of killing the spider, the wasp delivered a sting that paralysed it. I watched as the wasp carefully handled its prey, preparing to transport it to its nest.

"The immobilised spider would serve as a living food source for the wasp’s offspring. An egg would be laid on it, and the emerging larva would feed gradually, ensuring the prey remained fresh for as long as possible. This image reflects nature’s raw yet balanced design, where survival is both precise and uncompromising."

Fungi

David Myles worked with the OM System OM-1 Mark II and OM. Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro lens, combined with the M.Zuiko Digital 1.4x teleconverter MC-14, captured the subject at 126mm and 1/13sec, f/9, ISO 200.

Intimate Landscape

Lukas Furlan says, "I was already fascinated by this scene, but rotating the image later revealed an entirely different world, almost like looking through a portal. It’s a reminder of the magic of experimentation and unexpected discoveries in photography."

Animals

Steffen Foerster explains, "A blackish cinclodes or tussock-bird (Cinclodes antarcticus) picks at the nose of a resting southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) on Sea Lion Island, in the Falkland Islands.

"These birds are sensitive to ground predation by introduced cats and rats, so they generally only occur on islands where these predators have been eliminated.

"Their normal diet consists of invertebrates, but they are also known to feed on blood, nasal mucus and damaged tissue of elephant seals. The seals do what they can (which is not much) to discourage the birds from feeding on their wounds."

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How does a pub once shut down by the authorities in 2010 for a string of violent brawls, antisocial behavior and rampant drug activity reopen its doors and, not only that, become the centerpiece of a photo series that goes on to win major photographic recognition?

This is the story of The Bevy – the UK's only community-owned pub located on a housing estate, in Brighton (southern England) – which was photographed, along with its regulars, by Luci Carnall, a photographer and senior lecturer in occupational therapy at the University of Brighton.

Carnall's series, which was created earlier this year, has now won a Danny Wilson Memorial Award at this year's Photo Fringe Festival.

The images capture the community spirit of The Bevy and how this social institution, despite its turbulent past, has become a bedrock of its local community since reopening in 2014.

“Winning the award is felt deeply on many levels, but it's integral to acknowledge that this is a collaborative project,” said Carnall.

“I felt a responsibility to represent the environment and members of the community in an authentic way, built on trust.”

While The Bevy business is community-owned, the building itself currently belongs to the East Brighton Trust.

According to Carnall, photographing the location is a long-term, collaborative project that will document the pub's “developments and challenges” as its managers work to bring the building itself under community ownership, too.

“This can be supported by coming to The Bevy to see the exhibition, have a drink, or a cuppa [cup of tea],” said Carnall, referring to her award-winning photo series, on display at The Bevy until the end of the year.

As the winner of the Professionals' Choice Award, Solo exhibition (In-venue) category, Carnall was awarded £200 (approximately $270 / AU$390).

She also won a suite of professional development prizes, including mentoring sessions with a Photo Fringe team member or industry professional.

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Look closely at this image and you'll see paraglider Pierre Bottero, a tiny speck, soaring through the air against a colossal, jagged landscape.

The frame was captured by French paraglider and photographer Tim Rochas, and has been announced as the winner of the Aerial category at the 2026 Illume Awards – the world's biggest outdoor and adventure photography contests.

“For me, this image is about the contrast between the fragility of a human in flight and the raw power of nature,” Rochas told the competition organizers.

Tim Rochas' gear and settings

• Camera: Nikon Z7 II
• Lens: Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S II
• 1/6400 sec, f/4.5, ISO200

Rochas shot the image at Factory Butte, a massive, flat-topped sandstone and shale monolith located in Utah, US, which stands 6,302 feet / 1,921 meters tall, towering roughly 2,000 feet / 609 meters above the surrounding desert floor.

“We started an incredible flight above this harsh and extraordinary landscape,” Rochas told The Illume.

The photographer explained that finding unusual flying locations and new perspectives is key to his photographic approach, and that years of wind and water erosion had “sculpted” Factory Butte into the perfect location.

“I wanted this picture to capture the incredible scale and character of this unique place,” said Rochas. “The tiny paraglider flying alongside the mountain creates a powerful contrast.”

As the Aerial category winner at the 2026 Illume Awards, Rochas snagged a suite of photographic equipment prizes, including a Leica D-Lux 8 camera. His winning image will also be featured in The Illume Photobook 2026.

Head to The Illume Awards 2026 gallery page to see all the finalists and winning images from this year's contest.

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It might take a moment for you to notice the kayaker in the picture above. What your eye will focus on first will be a vast wall of blue-white ice, running the full width of the frame, with a flat white sky above it and dark, churning water below.

Eventually, though, you'll spot a tiny figure in a boat tipped steeply downward, plummeting down a waterfall that streams through a notch in the glacier's edge.

Chilean photographer Gonzalo Robert Parraguez's photo of kayaker Aniol Serrasolses was taken in Svalbard, Norway, and it won him the Adventure Category at The Illume Awards 2026.

The panorama is breathtaking; the stunt is extraordinary. But what photographers might find even more interesting is what was used to take the picture. Not the pro body and long lens you might expect, but a DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone.

What makes it work

The settings were 1/1000 sec, f/2.8 and ISO100, with a focal length of 24mm. The shutter speed renders the fast-moving subject beautifully sharp, while the low ISO helps preserve the fine texture of the ice.

To my mind, though, it's the viewpoint that's the real winner. Hovering out over the water, the Mavic 3 Pro is able to take in the entire space on the ice wall, with the curve of the undercut sweeping across the frame.

Parraguez keeps his subject small and off-center, to provide a real sense of how tiny a person appears in this vast landscape.

Parraguez describes it as "One of my favourite photos, featuring a great friend.

"We always talk about the photo, but we rarely talk about the athletes, and I dedicate this 100% to him: he was the one who pushed for this whole project to happen, so that we could be taking these incredible photos and videos in the middle of the Arctic, on a glacier in the middle of nowhere."

The judging panel comprised photographer and author Chris Burkard, creative director and photographer Tim Kemple, photographer and filmmaker Savannah Cummins, Sidetracked Magazine founder John Summerton and publisher Christian Bugnon. Digital Camera World's Editor in Chief, James Artaius, was also part of the judging process.

Bugnon praises the photo's "perfect harmony between the raw majesty of the icy landscape, the extraordinary light, and the athlete's total commitment".

Burkard, meanwhile, focuses on timing. "It all came down to a single critical moment," he notes, "which, in my opinion, makes for an epic action shot. It's something where you really get one chance."

The Illume Awards recognises the best adventure and action sports photography. You can view all the 2026 winners in the Illume Gallery.

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It looks like a scene from a stylized, CGI-heavy science fiction movie like Avatar. Delicate mushrooms rise from a fallen log, their slender stalks glowing an electric yellow against the dark forest floor.

It doesn't look real, but it is. Well, kind of. This is basically what happens when you shine ultraviolet light on the right type of fungi.

Titled Shedding Light, this photograph won the Plants and Fungi category of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 – developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London.

It was taken by Greek photographer Agorastos Papatsanis on the lower slopes of Mount Olympus, near the town of Litochoro, and captures a species of mushroom called Mycena renati, commonly referred to as "beautiful bonnet".

We can’t see ultraviolet light ourselves. But certain materials absorb it and return the energy as visible light, a phenomenon called fluorescence. That's what's happening here.

It's pretty, but that's not the main point of the picture. As the contest organizer explains: "Mycologists are harnessing this phenomenon to distinguish closely related species of fungi by the colours and patterns they reveal under UV."

Papatsanis captured the image on a Nikon D810 with a Laowa 15mm f/4 lens. As this lens is so wide and can focus so closely, Papatsanis was able to fill the front of the picture with mushrooms while still showing the forest behind them.

The exposure was 8 secs at f/20 and ISO400. A long exposure was necessary because the glow is faint and the forest was dark. Even at that aperture Papatsanis wouldn't have been able to get everything sharp, so he took six shots – each focused at a different distance – and combined them into one (a technique known as focus stacking).

What I like most about this picture is how well the colors work together: the cool blue-green of the forest making the bright yellow of the stalks stand out all the more. Papatsanis specializes in photographing fungi, and wants to highlight their “aesthetic power, complexity and ecological significance”. With this image, he’s certainly done that.

The winning images are on show at the 62nd Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at London's Natural History Museum in London until July 11 2027. Tickets are available here. Discover more winning images on the Natural History Museum website.

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A runner bends forward on a muddy climb, one hand on her thigh, her face slick with sweat. The crowd is so thick there's barely room for her to pass. One man, inches away, yells support and claps with his phone in his hand.

Spanish photographer Ágata Dominguez's shot of Norwegian trail runner Ida Amelie Robsahm was taken this May during the Zegama-Aizkorri race at Sancti Spiritu, above the town of Zegama in Spain’s Basque Country.

It's just won the Trail Category of The Illume Awards 2026, which would normally be cause for uncomplicated celebration. But on September 19, its subject died after a fall on Norway's Romsdalseggen ridge. She was 30.

"The photo means something different now," reflects Dominguez.

"What stays with me now is how lucky I was to be on that trail that day and to keep this small piece of her story and passion. I don't want to celebrate 'my' photo. I'd rather celebrate her life, the impact she had on so many people, and the way she inspired them."

Getting in on the action

Dominguez, who's lived in the Swiss Alps for the last ten years, had long dreamed of shooting at Sancti Spiritu. She describes this muddy uphill stretch, lined with a huge crowd, as one of the course's most emotional spots.

"As soon as I'd taken [the shot]," she says, "I had a feeling it would end up being one of my favorites."

She captured the scene on a Canon EOS R5 Mark II with a Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM lens, at 1/800 sec, f/4 and ISO400. Those settings kept the moment crisp, but the key decision is where she chose to stand.

She's so far inside the scene that a dark shoulder and outstretched hands intrude on the right of the frame, making us feel like we're part of the crowd too.

The judges for this category were photographer Will Saunders, filmmaker Alexis Berg, photographers Hilary and Billy Yang, and athlete Markus Kröll.

"It grabbed me immediately because of the emotion on her face," says Yang.

"But the longer I looked at it, the more I noticed: the expressions and body language of the spectators, the sense of movement and the way the composition pulls your attention directly toward the runner. It feels both intensely personal and completely communal."

Which is pretty much what Dominguez was aiming for. "I'm not just interested in getting the perfect shot," she explains. "I would like my images to make you feel something and, ideally, make you feel like you were there."

For Dominguez, though, this win belongs to Robsahm. Her account of the photo ends with a dedication: ‘This one is for you. Run free, Ida.’”

Discover more 2026 winners

The Illume Awards recognize the best adventure and action sports photography.

The 2026 winners are impressive. Portuguese photographer Beatriz Ryder, for example, has won the Surf category with an image of professional surfer Shaley Mercado straddling a wave at the dreamy Pacific island nation. "We were in one of the most remote parts of the world," she says.

The Aerial category win goes to French paraglider and photographer Tim Rochas, for his capture of paraglider Pierre Bottero, as he soars through the air against a colossal, jagged landscape. Rochas adds, "This image is about the contrast between the fragility of a human in flight and the raw power of nature."

You can view all the 2026 winners in the Illume Gallery.

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More than 800,000 voters from around the world have chosen the People's Choice winners at the British Photography Awards 2026.

Spanning 20 categories, from Portrait and Landscape to Drone, Documentary, Birdlife and Sports, this year's awards saw engagement double compared to last year.

Take a look at all 20 images below, and visit the British Photography Awards website for more information.

People's Choice Winner highlights – British Photography Awards 2026

Smith highlighted, "Two kestrels hunting at dawn on the Northumberland Fells. I watched them twist and turn as they interacted with each other early on August 08.

"Just as the golden hour was coming to an end I waited patiently, willing them to position themselves against the rising sun to create some stunning backlighting through their plumage.

"Seeing them was a lovely consolation on my way home having been out at 05:00 for barn owls that didn't appear. I used my Sony A1 on a 200-600mm lens handheld, with settings at f/6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO100, at 600mm. Post processing involved some cropping, noise reduction, and some tweaks to contrast, white balance, highlights and shadows."

Ferry explained, "Time is often the greatest luxury in portrait photography, yet it is rarely available. This portrait of Matty Healy was created during a brief photographic sitting, demanding instinct as much as preparation.

"The final image was carefully refined to realise my vision of a timeless portrait, using light, tone and texture to create an atmosphere that feels removed from contemporary publicity photography. My intention was to produce an image where expression and presence take precedence over celebrity."

Baker stated, "On July 10 2026, 22,141 people gathered at Hyde park's BST festival to break the world record for the most amount of people wearing a Bald cap at Pitbulls headline show, so I headed up in a cherry picker to get this where's wally-esque image."

Selagea said, "Two young girls, curious yet shy, peek out from behind the iconic Blood Dragon Trees of Socotra. Their quiet presence contrasts beautifully with the otherworldly landscape, where the ancient, umbrella-shaped trees create a natural backdrop.

"The moment captures a sense of innocence and curiosity, while reflecting the unique character of Socotra, a place that feels almost untouched and far removed from the familiar."

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A colorful underwater macro image captured in Lembeh, Indonesia, has been recognized with a major photography award. "This tiny clownfish nestles among the bulbous tentacles of its anemone," explains the awarded photographer, Nur Tucker.

Tucker's image A World in the Palm of My Hand has won the Water Life category at the prestigious British Photography Awards 2026. Her capture has previously won Silver in Nature / Underwater at the PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris 2026.

Captured with a decade-old DSLR camera and a 105mm macro lens, Tucker also used a Subak Housing and two Inon Z240 strobes to light up the underwater scene.

'A World in the Palm of My Hand'

Tech details
Camera: Nikon D500
Lens: Nikon 105mm macro lens
Accessories: Subal Housing, 2x Inon Z240 strobes

Tucker explained to the British Photography Awards: "The entire scene could fit into the palm of my hand, yet at close range it revealed an extraordinary miniature landscape of colour, pattern and texture.

"I was fascinated by the contrast between the vivid little fish and the repeating forms of the anemone, each tentacle delicately tipped with pink.

"By filling the frame with this tiny underwater world, I wanted to remove any sense of scale and reveal the remarkable beauty and complexity that can exist within just a few centimetres of the ocean."

The British Photography Awards
The British Photography Awards celebrates outstanding photographic talent from across the UK (of any nationality) and British photographers worldwide. Championing creativity and visual storytelling, the awards showcase exceptional work through judging, public voting and exhibitions.

Discover more of this year's honored imagery on the British Photography Awards website.

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When photographer James Barnor first began his career, he became Ghana’s first photojournalist. Now, Barnor has spent eight decades photographing people and their stories – and he is just as well known for his portraits and street photography as for his impact on photojournalism.

Barnor has now received the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award 2027, a major recognition from the Sony World Photography Awards that was previously bestowed on artists from Martin Parr to Joel Meyerowitz. In addition to the honor, more than 50 of his pieces will be part of a gallery in London in April, 2027.

Barnor, who was born in Ghana and grew up in a family of photographers, began his career as the first photographer on staff of the newly launched Daily Graphic in 1950, making him Ghana’s first photojournalist. The 1950s were a time of rapid social change in Ghana, and Barnor’s lens captured the era from the perspective of a Ghanaian among the rallies and street parades.

But while Barnor’s start was in photojournalism, the photographer’s work is just as iconic in the genres of portrait and street photography. In 1953, Barnor opened Ever Young Studio, capturing portraits of the many faces of Ghana, from politicians to students.

While the studio led to recognition for his portraits of public figures, Barnor’s work was never restricted to just a studio, and he often turned his lens to candid moments on the streets, both in Ghana and in London, where he moved in 1959.

After moving to London, Barnor worked as a color printer as color film replaced black-and-white as the mainstream format. At the same time, Barnor continued taking photographs, including work for Drum, a lifestyle magazine recognized for its anti-apartheid reporting.

Barnor would later take that technical knowledge back to Ghana to open the country’s first color-processing film lab before settling back in London in the 1990s, where he remains today.

Barnor’s work spans multiple genres, multiple countries, and both the technical and artistic sides of photography. People, culture, and self-expression are at the heart of his work. His photojournalism and street portraits captured several historic shifts, from Ghana’s independence to the “Singing Sixties” in London.

Barnor is considered by many to be one of the most influential African photographers of all time. As the World Photography Organization writes, his work “became part of a broader visual language of the African continent and its diaspora, serving as vital reference points for readers and inspiring photographers and artists for decades to come.”

Now 96, Barnor first picked up a camera at age 16. He first trained with his cousin, portrait photographer JPD Dodoo, and is often credited with helping to shape the art form for future photographers.

“My camera became my companion, and I have never regretted it,” Barnor said. “Wherever I went, I tried to learn so that I could share what I had learned. Today, that matters more to me than ever. Up-and-coming photographers now have every chance to go even further, and I hope this exhibition will inspire them to stay curious, to tell their own stories, and to pass on what they know.”

His work now spans 80 years of history – and has earned the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award. Barnor’s work will be featured in an exhibition at Somerset House in London in April, 2027. That same month, Barnor will be part of the larger award presentations for the Sony World Photography Awards, presented by the World Photography Organization, on April 15.

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The Solomon Islands: a country perhaps better known for being the location of a brutal World War II battle between the US Marines and the Japanese Imperial Army than for its idyllic beaches.

But to surfers, this tiny sovereign nation – which lies in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 2,000 miles from Australia's northern coast – is a dream destination.

“We were in one of the most remote parts of the world,” said surfer and photographer Beatriz Ryder, speaking to the organizers of The Illume Awards – a major adventure photography contest.

Ryder, a Portuguese creative, has just been announced as the winner of the Surf category at the 2026 edition of the contest, having snapped her winning frame of professional surfer Shaley Mercado straddling a wave at the dreamy Pacific island nation.

“The Solomon Islands felt so remote and untouched – some of the most disconnected, unspoiled places I've ever visited,” she explained.

Beatriz Ryder's gear and settings

• Camera: Nikon Z9
• Lens: Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S
• Focal length: 30mm
• Exposure: 1/4000 sec, f/4, ISO500

Ryder took the photo while on a commercial shoot for surfing brand Rip Curl. “Right in front of where we were staying was this little wave – shallow, fast, and with short, fun runners,” she said.

While the photographer admitted that the crew didn't “score the best waves” in the Solomon Islands, the idyllic location and the group she was part of made it, in her words, “probably my favorite work trip” she'd ever done.

“The trip was also special because it was an all-girls crew, with athletes at different stages of their careers – world champions, new team members, and up-and-coming talents,” the photographer said.

“We had the best time together. Any excuse we had to get some photos, we'd paddle out.”

As the Surf category winner at the 2026 Illume Awards, Ryder took home a suite of surfing and photographic equipment prizes including a Leica D-Lux 8 camera.

Her winning image will also be featured in The Illume Photobook 2026. Head to The Illume Awards 2026 gallery page to see all the finalists and winning images from this year's contest.

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One phone call led to this award-winning sports image. It was a conversation between photographer Louis Garnier and his friend Kevin Rolland, a former world champion and multiple X Games gold medallist.

"I've got an idea with fire. You in?"

The result: An image so vivid you can almost feel the heat, with the skier flying off a pipeline in the dark, smoke billowing around him into the night, his silhouette sharply defined against the flames.

Garnier's image has now been recognized among the world's most prestigious adventure and action sports photography awards, earning the Category Winner – Snow title at The Illume Awards 2026.

The shot was captured in just three attempts, using a Canon full-frame mirrorless camera paired with a 100-500mm telephoto lens in Tignes, France. And while the image practically radiates heat, the actual shooting temperature was a chilly 14°F / -10°C.

"When I got there, I realized how dangerous it could be"

Tech info
Gear: Canon EOS R3 + RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM
Exposure: 1/4000 sec, f/6, ISO160

Image info
Athlete: Kevin Rolland
Location: Tignes, France

The photographer explains…
Garnier says to Illume, "I've been photographing Kevin since we were teenagers. A bit less since he retired, but one evening he called me and said, 'I've got an idea with fire. You in?' I said yes without thinking.

"I had just become a dad, so I drove there and back just for the shoot. I arrived only ten minutes before everything started, with almost no time to prepare.

"Luckily, I could count on Mathias Lopez. He had already prepared all the angles for the video, so I basically just had to stand next to him and press the shutter.

"When I got there, I realized how dangerous it could be.

"It was around -10°C, and our friend JB Merendet and his fire crew Tout en Vrac ["a bit of a mess"] were working with cables and wires, trying to get everything ready.

"Kevin had to fully trust his speed, and we also had to light the take-off and landing so he could see clearly. The energy around the whole project was incredible.

"We only had three attempts with the flames, and it is still my favorite photo I’ve ever made with Kevin."

The world’s most recognized award for adventure and action sports photography

Built on the legacy of Red Bull Illume, The Illume continues to celebrate the people behind the most striking photos – the photographers themselves, while evolving with a renewed focus on human-powered sports and the goal of being the inspiration to preserve the places we are so privileged to play in and capture.

The Category Finalists were revealed earlier this month and can be viewed in The Illume Gallery. Follow @theillumeawards and check in on the-illume.com for the next Category Winner announcement: Surf on November 04.

[For full disclosure, DCW's Editor in Chief, James Artaius, serves as a judge for The Illume.]

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Heads down, bodies bunched together and charging forward: five rhinos at a Kenyan game reserve – and a few very quick-thinking cattle egrets – reminded the Indian wildlife photographer duo of a rugby forward pack. Now this image has won a major international photography award.

In the end, the egrets managed to escape with barely a moment to spare.

Titled The Rugby Players, the black-and-white image was shot by Preeti and Prashant Chacko, also known as @composingthewild. The photograph has won the Epson Digital Art Prize at the 2026 Epson International Pano Awards, which is the world's biggest competition dedicated to panoramic photography.

Epson Digital Art Prize

"Southern white rhinos are, in their normal state, are surprisingly unthreatening - calm grazers who move around at a leisurely pace," explain Preeti and Prashant Chacko.

"One morning at Solio Game Reserve in Kenya we were photographing a group of 8 rhinos with a few cattle egrets walking among them, a rare sighting in most other national parks.

"Something suddenly shifted and five of the rhinos broke into a run."

The duo suddenly understood why a group of rhinos is known as a crash when five of the animals broke into a run.

"Neither of us has ever played rugby, but from the point of view of the egrets this is how we imagine a forward pack must look, heads down and all that weight already committed.

"Seeing these many rhinos together is already rare and seeing them run together at another species is rarer still.

"At Solio Game Reserve, where Kenya's rhino population has been painstakingly rebuilt without any de-horning even an accidental moment of chaos feels like a miracle."

The Epson International Pano Awards

Founded in 2019, the Epson International Pano Awards remain the world's largest competition devoted exclusively to panoramic photography.

The 2026 edition drew thousands of entries across Nature/Landscape, Built Environment, VR/360° and Aerial categories, celebrating both professional and amateur photographers. Explore the 2026 winning gallery by visiting the Pano Awards website.

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Looking for competitions to enter? Here are 10 global photo contests now open for entries from October 2026 to February 2027.

Whether you're a seasoned photographer, a beginner just getting started or someone who loves capturing beautiful moments, submitting your images to photo competitions is one of the best ways to gain exposure and recognition.

Entering contests isn't just about winning – though prizes and publicity are great bonuses! – it's also a chance to dive into your archives, rediscover your best images and refine your personal style. Many photographers say that competitions were the stepping stone that helped them build a name, grow their audience or land their first big feature.

And with so many open calls across all genres, there's something for everyone. So, here's a list of photography competitions with open calls that are accepting submissions from November 2026 until January 2027. It's a small selection to spark inspiration, but there are countless others out there.

Environmental Photography Award

Deadline: November 01

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: Free

Focus: Environmental photography that raises awareness of environmental protection and explores the relationship between humans and nature

Categories: Polar Regions, Forests, Ocean, Changemakers, Human vs Nature

Prizes: €8,000 in total grants; winners and shortlisted photographers will feature in the award's exhibition and book

Exposure One – Nature Photography Contest

Deadline: Early Bird: November 11, Regular: December 8

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: from $15 for a single image and $30 for a series, depending on entry level, with early-bird and regular discounts

Focus: Black-and-white nature photography

Categories: Abstract, Aerial, Animals, Earth's Textures, Humans & Nature, Land, Light & Shadow, Minimalism, Ocean, Pattern & Form, Underwater, Wild Portraits and Other

Prizes: $2,500 in cash prizes, trophy, international press exposure

IAPB World Sight Day Photo Competition

Deadline: November 18

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: Free

Focus: Eye health and the role vision plays in everyday life, as part of IAPB's #LoveYourEyes campaign

Categories: Love Your Eyes, Love Your Child's Eyes, Love Your Eyes at Work, Love Health for All, Making the World See the Value of Vision (new for 2026)

Prize: $1,000 cash prize each for the professional stream winner and the amateur stream winner

World Sports Photography Awards

Deadline: November 23

Fee: Free

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Eligibility: Up to 10 images taken between December 2025 - November 2026

24 categories: American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Combat Sports, Cricket, Cycling, Equestrian, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Motor Sports, Nautical, Other, Racquet Sports, Rugby, Skate, Special, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Urban & Extreme, Venues, Views & Crowds, Winter Sports

Prizes: Prizes are provided by sponsors of the World Sports Photography Awards, details TBA

Sony World Photography Awards

Deadline: November 27 (Student), January 5 (Youth + Single Images), January 12 (Series)

Fee: Free

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Competitions: Series (previously Professional competition), Single Image (previously Open competition), Student, Youth

Categories: up to 10 different categories depending on competition

Prizes: Cash prizes up to $25,000, top-tier Sony equipment, and global exhibition opportunities

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Deadline: December 03

Fee: adult entrants may submit up to 25 images (£35 fee), ages 18–26: free entry (25 images), ages 17 and under: free entry (10 images)

Categories: 13 single-image categories; new category: Positive Action, three multiple-image categories and three Young WPY age groups

Prizes: Cash awards of up to £15,000 for the adult Grand Title winner and £2,00 for the Young WPY winner, plus trophies, certificates, publications in the WPY Portfolio book, invitations or trips to the London awards ceremony and opportunities for professional recognition

Concrete in Life

Deadline: December 04

Fee: Free to enter

Open: Photographers of all levels

Categories: Urban and Infrastructure, Concrete in Daily Life, Concrete Beauty and Design

Prizes: Overall winner will receive a top prize of $10,000, with other prizes of $5,000 and $2,500

The Tideway Prize

Deadline: December 31

Open to: UK photographers of all levels, with three age categories: Open, Youth (16-24), and School Student (ages 11-15)

Fee: Free

Theme: "Standing by the Thames" – photographs capturing the River Thames, including its people, wildlife, recreation, work, industry, architecture, infrastructure, and everyday life

Prizes: Open winner: £2,000 in photography vouchers; Youth winner: £1,000 in photography vouchers and a half-day photography masterclass with Matthew Joseph, and more

Oppo Photography Awards

Deadline: December 31

Open to: Photographers and videographers of all levels, shooting with Oppo, OnePlus or RealMe devices

Fee: Free

Theme: "Super Every Moment"

Categories: Me, Journey, Video, Zoom, Live, Snap

Prizes: $76,500 prize pool across 38 awards

LCE Photographer of the Year

Deadline: January 20

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: Free to enter

Categories: 13 categories, from wildlife, to action and travel. The LCE POTY also features dedicated category for photography students to showcase their developing style.

Prizes: £10,000 prize fund

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It's evening in Mexico City. Crowds fill the streets around the Angel of Independence, lit by a giant screen showing the World Cup. A red billboard nearby spells out “GOOOOOL”. It's a happy, euphoric scene.

Elsewhere in the city, a mother holds up a megaphone. Her green Mexico shirt bears a photo of a young woman and 'Desaparecida', the Spanish word for 'disappeared' or 'missing'.

These two scenes, from the same city during the same tournament, sum up the series by Mexican photographer Iván Macías, who's been chosen as Photographer of the Year at the Budapest International Foto Awards (BIFA) 2026.

The World Cup of the Absent explores what happened in Mexico City as it co-hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup. While millions of people celebrated the national team, mothers marched through the same city to demand answers about loved ones who have disappeared.

“During the 2026 World Cup, Mexico City split into two parallel realities,” Macías writes. His series is an attempt to expose “the cognitive dissonance of an anesthetized nation, juxtaposing mass euphoria with solitary grief”.

Unsettlingly, his pictures move between two worlds. In one, a rain-drenched young fan in a Mexico shirt screams with emotion, surrounded by umbrellas. In another, a fan is thrown into the air through a spray of foam. After the party, a trail of empty cans and bottles drifts through a puddle on the street.

The protest pictures are just as dramatic, but have a different spirit. A masked demonstrator, fist raised, has a message painted on her back: “La pelota vuelve a casa, ¿y nuestros desaparecidos cuándo?” (“The ball comes home, and our disappeared, when?”). Another holds up a sign accusing the government of putting FIFA ahead of local people’s right to move freely around the city.

“Estadio Azteca’s 83,000 seats couldn’t hold the absent,” Macías writes. He argues that the state “facilitates spectacle while sending riot police to those demanding bodies”.

Unusual journey

Macías, who has been named as one of Forbes’ '100 Most Creative Mexicans', has taken an unusual career route into photography. He first trained as an engineer before studying performing arts and science communication.

He then went on to work across urban, architectural, landscape, street, macro and aerial photography before focusing on documentary work. It's no surprise, then, to see a combination of technical precision with visual storytelling in his photography.

“This year’s winning works remind us of photography’s extraordinary ability to make us stop, look closer, and consider perspectives beyond our own,” says Hannah Lillethun, programme director of BIFA.

Elsewhere in the contest, Tiziana Marchetti was named Discovery of the Year for Odisha-Kanke in the amateur and student division. The series documents families who make traditional mud bricks by hand, turning earth, clay, sand and water into building materials through hard physical work.

You can see all the winners on the BIFA website.

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The Camera House group of photo retailers currently has over 50 stores located all around Australia. Established in 1983 by a group of independent photographic retailers, Camera House has grown into the largest speciality photographic and video retail chain in Australia. Most of these stores are individually owned and operated, and have shares in the brand that is Camera House nationally.

The Camera House stores like to hire sales staff who are keen photography enthusiasts which means they have lots of background knowledge and also a better understanding of the products that they’re selling… because they actually use them.

The Camera House Photography Competition is held annually and designed to showcase the photographic talents of Camera House employees from around the country.

This year the competition comprised nine categories – Action, Aerial, Animal, Architecture, Astrophotography, Landscape, People, Street and Macro. The top entries in each of these categories is shown below…

AAP Magazine announced the winners of its #61: Street photography competition. The winning shots were captured in 18 countries across five continents.

Sandrine Hermand-Grisel, Editor-in-Chief of All About Photo. explains that deciding the winners was difficult: "What I particularly appreciated in this edition was the diversity of perspectives and the photographers’ ability to find meaning in unexpected situations. Some images were powerful in their simplicity, others surprised me through their composition, humor, or emotional depth."

The winning street photographs were captured in 18 countries across five continents. Hermand-Grisel adds, "Together, they demonstrate how much can be discovered by simply paying attention to the world around us."

AAP Magazine #61 – Street Winners

First Prize Winner

A man warms himself on a steam grate in Northwest DC on Wednesday January 28, 2026 in Washington, DC. The area was still recovering following winter storm Fern.

McClain explains, "The photo was taken as part of daily news coverage following a winter storm. I was simply walking by when I noticed this scene. This was part of a series I did throughout 2026 called America: Red, White and Blue that centered on the 250th anniversary of the United States."

Competition highlights

Marchamalo says, "One day I decided to escape boring real life and dedicate myself to chasing light. I immediately became addicted to it, and that changed everything. This addiction has allowed me to decipher a much more exciting and irrational reality."

Torrei explains, "In a suburb of Rabat, I came across a playing field where the blue ground, the wall and the sky formed a continuous expanse. I noticed how the children moved through this vast space, their small figures like notes on a musical score. Their gestures, the distances between them and the moments of stillness created a constantly changing rhythm. Rabat, Morocco 2024."

Sunye says, "I moved to Istanbul, where my street photography turned to colour, inspired by the stylised warmth of Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain and the liveliness of that city and its people. When I moved back to Paris however, I instinctively returned to black and white mostly."

Grether explains, "Life is full of unexpected moments, often hidden in the most ordinary situations. Through my street photography, I am drawn to unusual gestures, subtle humor, and surprising connections between people and their surroundings."

Marmer says, "I took this photo during a ferry ride from Vancouver to Nanaimo. It was a typical, grey Pacific Northwest winter day. A young couple tied a bright red hammock on the deck and climbed inside for the entire ride. The only thing that remained visible was a pair of hands holding a smartphone"

Visit the AAP Magazine website to discover more images and the stories behind the frames.

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Wildlife photography has exploded since Instagram took off, and you see so many amazing animal frames these days that sometimes they all blur into one. However, this Grand Prix-winning image at the 74th Nikkor Photo Contest truly stands out.

The frame depicts a northern gannet in action in the moment of capturing its fish prey. Entitled “The Struggle for Survival Beneath the Surface,” it was taken by Mayumi Takeuchi, who reportedly clicked the shutter while treading water and using a large housing fitted with a strobe. She told the competition judges that it was “truly miraculous” to have captured that moment.

Takeuchi’s image was selected from over 23,000 entries to this year’s edition of the photography competition, which first ran in 1953 and promotes photographers from Japan across print and, since last year, the web too. As the overall winner, she took home a Nikon Z8 camera body and ¥500,000 (approximately $3,100 / £2,300).

Mayumi Takeuchi's gear and settings

• Camera: Nikon D5
• Lens: 8.0-15.0 mm f/3.5-4.5
• Focal Length: 15.00 mm (in 35mm: 15 mm)
• Exposure: 1/250 sec | f/22 | ISO 400

There was a particularly interesting winning image (Gold Award) in the “Web Freedom” category, too. Toru Shinohara’s “Inside the Soda Water” captured a surfer riding a barreling wave, although the interplay of light and the translucent wave created the illusion of the surfer being inside the wave rather than on its surface.

Over on the print side of the competition, the Gold Award went to Sanae Ono’s “Secret Base,” which depicted four cousins who gathered at their family home over Golden Week (a major Japanese holiday period). The photographer told Nikon that the cousins had turned the living room into a “secret base” for conjuring up plans – memories I’m sure we all have.

In fact, I think all of these winning images have something unique to them. Be it lighting, a quirky composition, or a scene rarely captured, they are standouts for sure. To see all the commended images at this year’s Nikkor Photo Contest, head to the official competition webpage.

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Most photographers spend their lives protecting film from light. Lotus L. Kang does the opposite.

In her installation, shown above, long sheets of photographic film hang unfixed from steel beams. As light and humidity reach them, they slowly change color, and develop “bruises, blood and bile-like hues”.

It’s one of four projects shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2027, which rewards artists for an exhibition or book in Europe that's made a significant contribution to photography. In their different ways, they all show how far the discipline has come from simply pointing a camera and pressing a button.

Beyond the veil

Iranian-born Hoda Afshar is shortlisted for her exhibition Performing the Invisible, which draws on the archive of the French psychiatrist Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault.

In the early 20th century, the latter took thousands of photographs of veiled women in Morocco to explore his psychoanalytic ideas around covering and fantasy. Now, in the 21st century, Afshar uses mirrors, video and sound to reverse the focus. Instead of the veiled women in the original pictures, the subject becomes the act of looking itself.

Loss and destruction

Toronto-born Lotus L. Kang’s installation, The face of desire is loss, explores how bodies change over time, what we remember and what gets lost along the way. Alongside her lengths of unfixed photographic film, there are sculptures of tatami mats, cast objects of crying birds, a film of tidal mudflats and 49 bottles of spirits. (Why 49? In Buddhism, it's the number of days a soul spends between death and rebirth. So now you know.)

Ukrainian artist Sasha Kurmaz is shortlisted for her book, Red Horse. An 800-page visual diary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it combines documentary photographs with notes, drawings, newspaper cuttings and found objects that capture his experiences and those of the people around him. On one page, a handwritten note records the 15m width of a bomb crater beside a residential building.

Finally, Italian artist Salvatore Vitale is shortlisted for SABOTAGE. Made in collaboration with South African freelancers, it looks at the hidden human labor behind the digital economy, from surveillance to algorithmic control.

Bringing together film, photography and sculptural installations, its images include a man smashing a laptop on a rocky hillside.

“From century-old photographic archives to radical contemporary experiments, the 2027 shortlist proves how urgently photography speaks to our times,” says Anne-Marie Beckmann, director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation.

The winner, who'll be announced in April, will get £30,000 ($40k), and each of the other three will get £5,000 ($6,665).

Work by all four artists will be shown at The Photographers’ Gallery in London from March 10 - June 6 2027, and then at the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Eschborn, near Frankfurt, from June 19 to September 26.

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You need to see this year’s shortlist from the Royal Meteorological Society’s (RMetS) Weather Photographer of the Year to truly understand how spectacular, phenomenal, and downright jaw-dropping the elements can be!

And when admiring them, why not cast your vote for your favorite of the 30 finalists? The public vote is now open until November 5, 2026 (23:59 GMT), with the winner announced on November 17.

Looking at the shortlist, which the competition organizers said was selected from over 5,500 entries from nations worldwide, a few jump out. I particularly like Lisa Kuhn’s frame of Mount Shasta, a prominent, glacier-clad stratovolcano rising to 14,179 feet (4,322 meters) in the Cascade Range, Northern California.

Kuhn told the Meteorological Society that she’d already been out to shoot the volcano that day but returned for a better view. “I was surprised to see the lovely outcome of the photo with the smooth layers on the front of the cloud,” she shared.

While it’s hard to choose individual images from the shortlist, another that catches my eye is “Fire” by Erfan Samanfar. The Iranian photographer’s striking frame depicts a farmer trying to protect their land as fire ravages all around. It takes a moment to notice the farmer, shrouded in thick, blue-gray smoke in the bottom corner of the frame.

The wider shortlist features scenes of fascinating cloud formations, heart-stopping lightning strikes, and crashing glaciers. Be sure to spend some time appreciating these fantastic images and casting your vote.

Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the RMetS, said: “Our judging panel had an incredibly tough task in shortlisting the images and deciding on the winning images, and we are now delighted to hand over to the public to vote for their favorite.”

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Spanish astrophotographer Mikel Iraeta managed to capture not one, but two beautiful arcs of our galaxy above the world-famous Milford Sound fiord in New Zealand – although it rains an average of 300 days a year here.

Iraeta's Double arch in Milford Sound was announced as the Open Nature/Landscape category winner at the 2026 Epson International Pano Awards, the leading global competition dedicated to panoramic photography.

The final image was assembled from 107 photographs (!) and required very specific conditions: no rain, clouds, or moonlight. Iraeta told the awards how he managed to capture a scene that he describes as "a unique photo, one that I have not seen anywhere else and that I think would be very difficult for anyone else to replicate. "

Category Winner: Open Nature/Landscape

Iraeta explains, "This is what I consider an almost impossible photo because you need some very specific conditions to pull it out.

"In fact, the day before I visited, the access road was closed due to snow avalanche danger. I ventured there without any expectations, with the sole intention of enjoying the place, aware of the improbability of the task.

"It is very difficult to have an entire clear night with no rain, no clouds, no moon, and for all of this to coincide at the end of September when it is possible to capture the double arc of the Milky Way. But I thought what if..."

The photographer continues, "I still remember feeling excited under the stars, aware of what I was witnessing."

Iraeta's shot required a bit of luck, a chain of coincidences and technical skill, both behind the camera and in the editing process.

He says, "The sky is composed of two separate tracked panoramas, each comprising eight panels, with each panel in turn consisting of a stack of four 45-second exposures.

"The first panorama is taken after sunset to capture the spiral arm containing the galactic core. The second contains both Magellanic Clouds, Gum, and the Orion Nebula, captured between 2 and 4am.

"It is important to time the shots so that both panoramas are at approximately at the same height above the horizon.

"Finally, the ground needs to be captured for which the moving tides need to be considered. For this foreground I used a 14-panel 360º panorama, where each panel is created from a bracketing of three photographs, plus an additional photograph to include myself. The final image is therefore the result of combining 107 different photographs."

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A now 18-year-old photographer has turned a misty morning and a lake full of swans into an award-winning wildlife image – using a Nikon DSLR that's been around for a decade. Szymon Bartold's Swan lake captures the birds gliding through glowing orange hues at sunrise, their silhouettes reflected in the water's surface to create an almost mystical scene. As mute swans rose majestically from the mist, bathed in golden light, he pressed the shutter.

Previously, Bartold'simage won Silver at the Bird Photographer of the Year competition. Now it won the top prize at one of Europe's major wildlife photography contests, the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, in the 14- 17-year Youth Category.

Founded in 2001, the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year has grown into a global benchmark for contemporary nature photography, celebrating work that is innovative and strong in storytelling. The German Society for Nature Photography (GDT) selects the best images and awards the overall winner, the Fritz Pölking Prize, and the Rewilding Europe Award.

Winner: Youth Category | 14-17 years

Image info
Title: Swan lake

Tech details
Camera: Nikon D5
Lens: 150-600mm f/5-6.3
Exposure: 1/6400sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000

Story behind the still
Szymon explains, "Out walking, I came across a lake with a large number of waterbirds, and decided to return before dawn the next morning.

"Well hidden, I watched as mute swans (Cygnus olor) rose majestically out of the mist in a scene bathed in gold light.

"One perfect moment, one frame – and a feeling of pure joy I'll never forget."

Discover all winning images on the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year website.

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A young photographer from Germany has captured the fleeting magic of a winter sunset in an award-winning image that transforms the last rays of sunshine into a golden spectacle.

Marla Schwarze's image, Winter Gold, shows the reeds along Dortmund's Lake Phoenix glowing in the evening light and sparking water. The image earned Marla top honors in the Youth Category (ages 14 and under) of the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, selected by the German Society for Nature Photography.

Captured with a Nikon Z6 and a 70-300mm lens, Marla captured the sun just before it disappeared. As she explains, the challenge was to capture the atmosphere of the winter evening and the flickering play of light as the sun illuminated the swaying reeds.

Winner: Youth Category | Ages 14 and under

Image info
Title: Winter gold
Location: Lake Phoenix, Dortmund, Germany

Tech details
Camera: Nikon Z6
Lens: 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6
Exposure: 1/500sec, f/5.6, ISO400

Story behind the still
Marla explains, "I wanted to hold onto that one second, that fleeting instant.

"The image shows the low evening sun, the swaying reeds flooded with light, set against the sparkling water, with the rays refracting inside the lens.

"I made a particular effort to capture exactly this special winter atmosphere and the flickering play of light in that one moment."

Discover all winning images on the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year website.

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Think "spider" and most people don't think "adorable"; quite the opposite in fact. But the image from German photographer John-Oliver Dum might make you reconsider that prejudice.

With two huge, black eyes and a face fringed with fluffy white scales, this cute critter looks like something Pixar or Disney would draw for their next kids' film. No wonder the picture has taken second place in this year's Nikon Small World 2026 Photomicrography Competition.

So what exactly are we looking at? Meet Salticus scenicus: a jumping spider common across Europe that typically measures 5mm to 9mm long: that's smaller than the nail on your little finger.

In Dum's prize-winning photograph, it's been magnified 20 times, which turns grains of pollen – which are too small to see with the naked eye – into what look a little like jewels. Perhaps I'm being fanciful, but to me the grains clustered on top look like a crown, while another sits perfectly between the two main eyes, like a pendant. Overall, it's a surprisingly regal effect.

How it was shot

At this level of magnification, depth of field is highly limited, so only a sliver of your subject will be sharp. To solve this puzzle, Dum used focus stacking, a technique he specialises in.

This means that what looks like a single image is actually built from dozens (or sometimes more than 100) individual frames, shot at slightly different focus distances, then merged so everything is pin-sharp.

Based in Bendorf, Germany, Dum typically works at magnifications from 1x to 100x. His kit includes a Sony Alpha 1, an MJKZZ macro rail for making precise, tiny focus steps, and microscope optics from Mitutoyo, Nikon, Olympus and Carl Zeiss Jena. His work has been shown at venues including the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum and ARTIS-Micropia in Amsterdam.

For me, it's the level of detail in this picture that's the most impressive. Despite the spider being smaller than a fingernail, you can see the individual scales on its face, the fine hairs on its legs and the texture of every pollen grain clearly.

Photography often shows us the world we're used to seeing from a different perspective. This photograph, though, shows us an entirely different world, that we can't see with the naked eye at all, which in my book makes it special indeed.

Nikon Small World showcases the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope via photography and video, and is open to anyone with an interest in microscopy.

This year’s overall winner was Ole Bielfeldt’s never-before-seen view of an inkjet printer at work. You can view all the winning images on the Nikon Small World website.

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Let’s face it, we photographers are incredibly self-critical and can easily get caught up comparing our images with those of way more experienced creatives. However, this year, a major photography awards contest wants to help nip imposter syndrome in the bud for first-time entrants.

Announced by the World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Tenderstem® Bimi® (WFPA), the 2027 edition of the contest will allow first-time entrants to enter their own category. According to WFPA, the “Newcomer Prize” has been created to make entering photography competitions “less daunting” and calm the nerves of beginner competitors.

Caroline Kenyon, founder of the WFPA, said: “Since the Awards began in 2011, it’s been really important to us to support and encourage photographers, whether professional or amateur, young or old.” Kenyon went on to explain that entrants have often told WFPA that being shortlisted “gave them the confidence to turn professional.”

Alongside the “Newcomer Award”, the 2027 WFPA will also feature a suite of prizes aimed at boosting winners’ creative skills and professional experience.

This includes a four-week residency at the Hugo Burge Foundation in Scotland, plus a £1,400 stipend (approximately $1,800 / AU$2,600), for the winner of the “Award for Innovation”. And for the winner of the “Food Portraiture” category, it also includes a one-to-one virtual portfolio review with James Davies, art direction and image lead at Waitrose.

David Loftus, chair of WFPA judges, said: “I’m delighted to see the Awards taking this positive step forward. I really hope photographers feel that these opportunities are valuable, meaningful, and genuinely supportive of them and their work.”

The 2027 WFPA welcomes professional and amateur photographers to submit images across a broad range of categories and styles featuring food, including travel, street, documentary, still life, and portraiture. For further information and to enter, visit the contest’s official website. Entries close February 7, 2027.

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Glance at this image without context, and you might imagine a forest of trees on an alien planet. In fact, you’re looking at the neurons inside a mouse’s brain.

This stunning image, by Kaelin Wulf and Rachel Flannery of the Allen Institute in Seattle, took third place in the Nikon Small World 2026 Photomicrography Competition. And the way they captured it is utterly remarkable.

Neurons, aka nerve cells, are the fundamental working units of the brain and nervous system. They use chemical and electrical signals to receive, process and transmit information around our minds and bodies.

Neurons in an expanded mouse brain

As you can imagine, neurons are very tiny indeed, and the branches connecting them are tinier still. So small they’re hard to separate even with a conventional light microscope.

To photograph them, then, the team at the Allen Institute – a non-profit that carries out large-scale research into the brain, cells and the immune system – couldn't just rely on magnification alone.

Instead, they used a technique called expansion microscopy. Quite simply, this means physically enlarging the tissue by embedding a sample of the brain in a special gel that makes it swell like a balloon.

Wulf and Flannery also used two other techniques.

The first was fluorescence, which makes the labelled neurons glow, so they stand out vividly against the dark. The second was light sheet imaging, which involves scanning the sample with a thin plane of light, and building up a sharp, 3D picture slice by slice.

By combining all these techniques, the image could then be photographed using a modest 5X objective lens. The resulting image? Both scientifically useful and stunningly beautiful.

Nikon Small World showcases the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope via photography and video, and is open to anyone with an interest in microscopy.

This year’s overall winner was Ole Bielfeldt’s never-before-seen view of an inkjet printer at work. You can view all the winning images on the Nikon Small World website.

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The extraordinary image titled Hidden Worlds has earned multi-award-winning photographer Imre Potyó the coveted title of European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026, selected by the German Society for Nature Photography.

For 13 years, Potyó has captured hibernating bats in Hungary's Börzsöny Mountains, taking his camera to protected and mine tunnels that have restricted access. "This image speaks to a larger truth about the natural world: much of life exists beyond our immediate awareness, in places we seldom visit and among organisms we rarely notice," says Tom Gilks on behalf of the jury.

Potyó is not only a nature photographer but a scientist and environmental expert. He has won many prestigious international awards, including Hungary's Nature Photographer of the Year, the Grand Prix of Hungarian Nature Photography, the UK's Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and HIPA, the international photography competition from Dubai.

'Hidden Worlds' – GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Tech info
Gear: Nikon D7200 + Tamron AF 60mm f/2 Di II Macro
Exposure: 41secs, f/25, ISO 320

The story behind the still
Potyó explains: "A key characteristic of the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) is that, during hibernating it occasionally wakes and leaves its roost to hunt flying insects.

"In doing so, the bat leaves behind droppings that gradually accumulate into a continuous dark layer.

"In the beam of a torch, a whitish coating can be seen on the guano - a small pin mould thriving in this unusual habitat.

"Using a macro lens, I captured the mould in the foreground with the hibernating bats visible in the background.

"The photograph, a long exposure incorporating a focus shift, was taken during a controlled bat count and without disturbing the animals."

Discover all winning images on the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year website.

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A never-before-seen microscopic view of an inkjet printer printing words on paper has won the prestigious Nikon Small World 2026 Photomicrography Competition.

Young German photographer Ole Bielfeldt captured the image using a microscope objective in an unconventional way. Getting the shot right took some experimentation, as the printer's quick movements and tiny ink droplets were challenging to photograph sharply.

His award-winning image began with a simple question: how does a printer place ink onto paper with such precision? "I think it was super interesting because I didn’t know how it really worked," Bielfeldt said. "It’s like it was magic, and I didn’t understand it, but now I do."

How he captured the award-winning image

Capturing the ink droplets in motion was difficult. Bielfeldt's first attempts ran into two problems: the printhead moved too quickly to keep a small area in focus, while the droplets themselves were travelling too fast to be frozen by the camera's shutter speed.

"I thought I would need some expensive equipment. But it turned out I already had everything I needed," he said.

Bielfeldt modified the printer's setup so that the paper moved beneath a stationary printhead, making it easier to keep the area he wanted to photograph in focus.

He used a self-built imaging rig fitted with a microscope objective, and worked in a dark room, using a flash to freeze the ink droplets mid-air.

Why the image stood out

"Ole Bielfeldt’s winning image embodies what makes Nikon Small World so powerful: the intersection of microscope imaging, ingenuity, and artistry," said Eric Flem, senior manager, communications and CRM at Nikon Instruments.

"By using a microscope objective in a different way, he transformed a familiar object into something altogether new and previously unseen.

"It is a reminder that the microscope is not only a scientific tool but also a creative one, capable of expanding how we see and imagine the world around us."

The full list of winners can be found on the official competition website.

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Arriving at Mautohe Cathedral Cove, on New Zealand’s North Island, at sunrise, astrophotographer Evan McKay was “stunned by the beauty of the light.” Noticing the composition with Te Hoho Rock as the centerpiece, framed by the natural curvature of the beach, he planned his return for a night shoot, as explained on his website.

“I knew the Moon would be rising early in the night, leaving no time to photograph the scene under true starlight. Still, I hoped the landscape might look just as magical as it had at sunrise,” said McKay.

But nature had other ideas, with unanticipated solar activity producing beyond-magical conditions. “The Milky Way and the rising Moon were the elements I'd planned for, but the beautiful, radiant green airglow was an unexpected paid actor in the scene,” the photographer said.

Evan McKay's gear and settings

• Multilayer, 24-panel mosaic
• Exposure: Full-color sky: f/2, ISO 1600, 15 sec. Duoband: f/2, ISO 1600, 120 sec
• Equipment: Nikon Z6a, Sigma 40mm, Optolong L-Para filter
• Location: Cathedral Cove, New Zealand

The photographer explained that the vibrant airglow seemed to channel toward the rising Moon, “tying the whole scene together.” And the judges at this year’s Astrophotography Prize (AstroPrize) agreed, naming McKay the AstroPrize Photographer of the Year 2026.

The judges praised McKay’s image for its “exceptional detail and depth,” along with its strong sense of atmosphere and place, with McKay taking home 3,000(approximately£2,200/AU4,200) in winnings.

While McKay took the overall contest prize as well as the “Astro Landscape” category, winners were announced across three more categories. Polish photographer Marzena Rogozińska won the “Deep Space” category for her shot of intricate streams of interstellar dust within the Chameleon Dark Clouds of the constellation Chamaeleon.

Meanwhile, Jason Perry (US) placed first in the “Aurora” category with his frame of the Aurora Borealis dancing above the mountains of Å in Norway’s Lofoten Islands.

Last but certainly not least, Chinese astrophotographer Alpha Zang was named the winner of the “Remote Imaging” category for his scene of Galileo’s Finger (LBN 420), a finger-shaped cloud of cosmic dust located in the constellation Lacerta (the Lizard), at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.

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LCE Photographer of the Year 2027 is open for entries, and it’s free to enter, so you’ve no excuse not to throw your lens hood into the ring. The competition, run by popular UK-based camera retailer London Camera Exchange, runs from October 12, 2026 to January 20, 2027 and is open to anyone aged 18 or over, with prizes limited to residents of the UK.

What I’ve always liked about this competition is that it’s designed to be as accessible as possible. Not only is it free to enter, but it’s also not bogged down by endless restrictions. Images can be taken anywhere in the world, on almost any camera device (including smartphones and drones), and as you’d expect, AI-generated imagery is strictly prohibited.

Entrants are invited to submit one image per category, of which there are 14, ensuring that all major genres are catered for. This will once again include Emerging Talent and ‘People’s Choice’ categories, with the former dedicated to photography students studying in the UK, and the latter open to the voting public to crown their winner.

LCE POTY 2027: Categories...

• Action
• After Dark
• Birds
• Creative
• Emerging Talent
• Events
• Landscape
• Macro
• People’s Choice
• Pets
• Portrait
• Street
• Travel
• Wildlife

Prizes and judging panel

A total prize kitty worth £10,000 ($13,400)is up for grabs. Each category winner will receive £500 ($670) in LCE vouchers as well as a trophy, while the Emerging Talent winner’s place of study will also receive a further £500. The overall LCE Photographer of the Year will receive an additional £2,500 in LCE vouchers.

Entries can be submitted online or, thanks to a particularly charming quirk of the competition, in-person at any of LCE’s 26 stores. Finalists will be invited to the LCE Photographer of the Year awards ceremony at next year’s Photography & Video Show, taking place at ExCeL London from March 13 to 16, 2027. Their work will also be displayed in an exhibition at the show’s entrance.

The judging panel consists of four industry experts: SheClicks founder Angela Nicholson, award-winning pro and YouTuber Jimmy Cheng, acclaimed street photographer Peter Dench, and Digital Camera World’s very own content director and Bokeh Face: The Digital Camera World Podcast regular, Chris George.

According to the managing director of LCE, Lee Harasyn: “London Camera Exchange is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2026, so we are aiming for this year’s competition to be our biggest and best yet.”

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Whether you're a seasoned photographer, a beginner just getting started or someone who loves capturing beautiful moments, submitting your images to photo competitions is one of the best ways to gain exposure and recognition.

Entering contests isn't just about winning – though prizes and publicity are great bonuses! – it's also a chance to dive into your archives, rediscover your best images and refine your personal style. Many photographers say that competitions were the stepping stone that helped them build a name, grow their audience or land their first big feature.

And with so many open calls across all genres, there's something for everyone. So, here's a list of photography competitions with open calls that are accepting submissions from October 2026 until January 2027. It's a small selection to spark inspiration, but there are countless others out there.

Insta360 Global Awards

Deadline: October 30

Fee: Free

Open to: Photographers and videographers of all levels

Requirement: Entries must be shot on Insta360 or Antigravity products

Format: Videos: 30sec-3min MP4/MOV, single image only under 20MB

Categories: Street, Travel, Life, Portrait, Sports, Night

Prizes: $150,000+ prize pool with over 100 winners to be announced

Environmental Photography Award

Deadline: November 01

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: Free

Focus: Environmental photography that raises awareness of environmental protection and explores the relationship between humans and nature

Categories: Polar Regions, Forests, Ocean, Changemakers, Human vs Nature

Prizes: €8,000 in total grants; winners and shortlisted photographers will feature in the award's exhibition and book

IAPB World Sight Day Photo Competition

Deadline: November 18

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: Free

Focus: Eye health and the role vision plays in everyday life, as part of IAPB's #LoveYourEyes campaign

Categories: Love Your Eyes, Love Your Child's Eyes, Love Your Eyes at Work, Love Health for All, Making the World See the Value of Vision (new for 2026)

Prize: $1,000 cash prize each for the professional stream winner and the amateur stream winner

World Sports Photography Awards

Deadline: November 23

Fee: Free

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Eligibility: Up to 10 images taken between December 2025 - November 2026

24 categories: American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Combat Sports, Cricket, Cycling, Equestrian, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Motor Sports, Nautical, Other, Racquet Sports, Rugby, Skate, Special, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Urban & Extreme, Venues, Views & Crowds, Winter Sports

Prizes: Prizes are provided by sponsors of the World Sports Photography Awards, details TBA

Sony World Photography Awards

Deadline: November 27 (Student), January 5 (Youth + Single Images), January 12 (Series)

Fee: Free

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Competitions: Series (previously Professional competition), Single Image (previously Open competition), Student, Youth

Categories: up to 10 different categories depending on competition

Prizes: Cash prizes up to $25,000, top-tier Sony equipment, and global exhibition opportunities

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Deadline: December 03

Fee: adult entrants may submit up to 25 images (£35 fee), ages 18–26: free entry (25 images), ages 17 and under: free entry (10 images)

Categories: 13 single-image categories; new category: Positive Action, three multiple-image categories and three Young WPY age groups

Prizes: Cash awards of up to £15,000 for the adult Grand Title winner and £2,00 for the Young WPY winner, plus trophies, certificates, publications in the WPY Portfolio book, invitations or trips to the London awards ceremony and opportunities for professional recognition

Concrete in Life

Deadline: December 04

Fee: Free to enter

Open: Photographers of all levels

Categories: Urban and Infrastructure, Concrete in Daily Life, Concrete Beauty and Design

Prizes: Overall winner will receive a top prize of $10,000, with other prizes of $5,000 and $2,500

The Tideway Prize

Deadline: December 31

Open to: UK photographers of all levels, with three age categories: Open, Youth (16-24), and School Student (ages 11-15)

Fee: Free

Theme: "Standing by the Thames" – photographs capturing the River Thames, including its people, wildlife, recreation, work, industry, architecture, infrastructure, and everyday life

Prizes: Open winner: £2,000 in photography vouchers; Youth winner: £1,000 in photography vouchers and a half-day photography masterclass with Matthew Joseph, and more

Oppo Photography Awards

Deadline: December 31

Open to: Photographers and videographers of all levels, shooting with Oppo, OnePlus or RealMe devices

Fee: Free

Theme: "Super Every Moment"

Categories: Me, Journey, Video, Zoom, Live, Snap

Prizes: $76,500 prize pool across 38 awards

LCE Photographer of the Year

Deadline: January 20

Open to: Photographers of all levels

Fee: Free to enter

Categories: 13 categories, from wildlife, to action and travel. The LCE POTY also features dedicated category for photography students to showcase their developing style.

Prizes: £10,000 prize fund

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The Center of the Cosmos is an ultra-wide panorama of one of the world's most photographed places: Times Square in New York. Photographer Xuecheng Liu captured the iconic intersection from an unusual aerial perspective, with illuminated streets and buildings radiating outwards in a galaxy-like pattern.

His image won the Open Built Environment / Architecture category at the world's largest competition dedicated to panoramic photography – Epson International Pano Awards.

Lui is known for his unique attempt to make the familiar look unfamiliar. His work received international recognition, for example, at the Sony World Photography Awards. He was also awarded the Weibo Landscape Photographer of the Year title. Now Lui adds another prestigious honor to his growing list of awards.

The award-winning image 'Center of the Cosmos'

Liu explain, "Times Square is one of the most photographed places in the world, so my challenge was to find a perspective that could make such a familiar place feel unfamiliar again.

"From above, the dense architecture, streets, and illuminated billboards seem to radiate around the square.

"I stitched together 25 frames to create an ultra-wide aerial panorama, revealing the scale and density of the skyscrapers surrounding Times Square.

"I wanted the panorama to immerse the viewer in the vast expanse of the city, with countless points of light resembling stars surrounding the centre of a galaxy."

The Epson International Pano Awards

Founded in 2019, the Epson International Pano Awards remain the world's largest competition devoted exclusively to panoramic photography.

The 2026 edition drew thousands of entries across Nature/Landscape, Built Environment, VR/360° and Aerial categories, celebrating both professional and amateur photographers. Explore the 2026 winning gallery by visiting the Pano Awards website.

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The World's largest competition dedicated to panoramic photography – Epson International Pano Awards – has announced its winners, with Spanish photographer Daniel Viñé Garcia taking home the Open Photographer of the Year title.

His winning image, The Sleeping Giant, captures a spectacular sunset over Chile's Parinacota Volcano, neighbouring Pomerape and the surrounding high-altitude lakes, all bathed in atmospheric purple and orange hues,

But capturing this extraordinary scene was no easy feat. Garcia spent three days and three nights at high altitude, waiting for the right conditions to photograph the landscape. His patience paid off when he caught one of the final bursts of sunlight illuminating the volcanic peaks.

Open Photographer of the Year

The Sleeping Giant is a 360-degree aerial panorama assembled from 33 individual exposures. Garcia carefully refined the framing to focus the final composition on what mattered most: the volcanoes, the light and the landscape's shapes.

He explains, "Parinacota Volcano was one of the main photographic goals of my trip to Chile.

"Rising to more than 6,300 metres, its distinctive snow-covered cone has an almost perfect symmetry that immediately reminded me of volcanoes such as Mount Fuji.

"Beside it stands Pomerape, another giant reaching more than 6,200 metres, together forming one of the most impressive landscapes I encountered during the journey.

"After allowing time for proper acclimatisation, I spent three days and three nights at around 4,500 metres above sea level, giving myself the best possible chance of photographing the area under ideal conditions."

The Epson International Pano Awards

Founded in 2019, the Epson International Pano Awards remain the world's largest competition devoted exclusively to panoramic photography.

The 2026 edition drew thousands of entries across Nature/Landscape, Built Environment, VR/360° and Aerial categories, celebrating both professional and amateur photographers. Explore the 2026 winning gallery by visiting the Pano Awards website.

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In wildlife photography, we often see photos depicting the photographer’s or a hunting animal’s perspective. But this unique image of a hungry polar bear, captured from a seal’s perspective, is nothing short of a nightmarish scene.

The frame was created by Norwegian photographer Audun Rikardsen, who rigged a Canon EOS 6D DSLR directly beneath a seal’s breathing hole on Arctic drift ice, with a motion sensor also set up to fire the shutter.

A few hours later, a hungry polar bear stuck its head in, searching for its next meal, capturing what can only be described as the last thing a seal would ever want to see.

Rikardsen's gear and settings

• Canon EOS 6D
• Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM
• f/9

Rikardsen’s image, aptly titled A Seal’s Nightmare, was recently crowned Image of the Year at the Our Nature Photo & Video Award 2026.

The photographer told the contest organizers that having already waited eight hours for the bear to arrive and trigger the motion sensor, the animal then bedded down next to the hole for a nine-hour kip. This left Rikardsen no choice but to wait for the polar bear to awaken from its slumber to retrieve his camera.

At the 2026 Our Nature Awards, winners were announced across a range of wildlife photography categories.

In the “Stories or Portfolio” category, Belgian photojournalist Alain Schroeder took first place. His series documented daily life at a clinic operated by the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), Indonesia, where workers help rehabilitate and prepare rescued, injured, and formerly captive orangutans for return to the wild.

The photographer explained that expansion of palm oil and rubber plantations, logging, road construction, mining and hunting are forcing increasing numbers of orangutans out of their natural environment.

And in the “Our Nature – Air” category, Czech photographer Jan Pokluda placed first with a frame depicting a great spotted woodpecker feeding its chick in what he told the contest organizers was an “unusually low” nesting cavity in the trunk of an old oak tree.

All of the winners from this year’s Our Nature Photo & Video Award 2026 can be seen on the contest’s official website. Speaking about his winning image, Audun Rikardsen said: “When I finally saw the image, I knew I had captured the polar bear photograph I had dreamed of for years.”

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Two consumer cameras sit among Japan’s Good Design Award top rankings, as the Nikon ZR and Kodak Charmera earn a spot in the competition’s top 100 designs. But for the eighth year in a row, the brand with the most accolades from the international product design competition is a camera company: Fujifilm.

The Good Design Award gives out a badge to every entry that passes a quality and value screening, which means the list of 2026 winners has more than 1,400 entries, giving about 29 percent of the entries honors. A dizzying number of those awards have gone to cameras, from the unusual gimbal design of the DJI Pocket 4 series to the tiny Instax Pal 2.

While the program gives badges to every entry that meets its design standards, the program also gives out top-tier awards and a Top 100 designation. Two consumer cameras sit in the Top 100 for 2026, the mirrorless Nikon ZR and the viral keychain camera, the Kodak Charmera.

The Nikon ZR takes the Z6 III and crams it into a smaller body built for filmmakers – but also adds RED color science. The result is a camera that has now earned several accolades – including a TIME Best Invention as well as awards from EISA, TIPPA, Red Dot and iF. Digital Camera World gave the camera a 4.5-star rating, calling it “a true videographer's dream.”

The Kodak Charmera also sits among the top 100. The Charmera’s initial launch was so popular it sold out in 24 hours. The camera’s popularity is not due to what’s inside – it’s just 1.6MP – but rather stems from a tiny, retro blind box design at $35 / £35.

The brand that appears the most on the Good Design Awards list for 2026 is Fujifilm, which has 35 products earning honors, making it the eighth year in a row that Fujifilm has been the most-awarded company for the Good Design Awards.

Awarded Fujifilm cameras include the entry-level mirrorless X-T30 III and medium-format GFX100RF Fragment Edition. Instax swept even more awards with the Instax Pal 2, Instax Mini Evo Cinema, Instax Mini 13, Instax Mini 99 in silver, Instax Wide 400, Instax Link Wide 2, and Instax Mini Link+.

Fujifilm’s first disposable camera preloaded with black-and-white film, the Quicksnap Black and White, also earned an award along with the XC13-33mm f/3.5-6.3 OIS lens and several broadcast and cinema lenses.

Additional notable award winners among the entries include the Panasonic Lumix L10, the Canon EOS C50, and the DJI Pocket 4 series. The MyFirst Instant Print camera made for kids also won an award. (A Panasonic HyperSpectral Camera also sits in the top 100, but it’s an industry camera, not a consumer camera.)

Several lenses also won honors, including the Canon RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM. Canon’s entire f/1.4 L VCM series and Nikon’s entire second-generation Z f/2.8 zoom lens series also earned recognition.

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Award-winning wildlife photographer Tom Way captured a heartwarming moment between a newborn giraffe calf and its mother. The beautiful black-and-white image shows the tiny calf standing beneath its mother's legs – a fleeting moment that may soon become a thing of the past.

Way explains, "This young giraffe was no more than a few hours old when we first found both the mother and infant in a small thicket close to the open plains of Kenya's famous Mara North Conservancy."

The touching scene was captured with a professional full-frame DSLR camera and a fast telephoto lens. Nikon has now announced the image as the winner of the prestigious Remembering Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.

'Under Mother's Guidance'

Tech info
Camera: Canon EOS 1D X
Lens: Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM
Accessories: Canon Extender EF 1.4x III
Exposure: 1/640sec, f/4, ISO 640

The story behind the still
Way says, "We watched at a distance as the young giraffe suckled, still wobbly on its legs before coming forwards towards us perfectly framed between the mother's legs."

He continues, "Although newly born, an average infant giraffe still measures 6ft in height, taller than the average human and, by growing around an inch a day, it will not be too long before this young giraffe would not be able to fit under its mother at all.

"At this age, newborns are extremely vulnerable and it requires a vigilant mother to raise their infant to adulthood."

Remembering Wildlife
Among more than 70 images, Way's photo is featured in the 11th book in the Remembering Wildlife series titled Remembering Giraffes.

All book profits are donated to conservation projects, with this year's proceeds supporting essential giraffe conservation. To date, the series has raised more than £1.28 million for conservation, supporting 86 projects across 36 countries.

As a proud sponsor, Nikon gifts Way a Nikon Z8 and a Nikon Z 180-600mmm f/5.6-6.3 VR. Discover all winning images; visit the Remembering Wildlife website.

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Three extraordinary street photographs from Rome, London and Hong Kong have taken the top three spots in the Street Photography category at the 2026 Siena International Photo Awards, celebrating the art of capturing those fleeting moments that most people would simply walk past. Announced during the Siena Awards Photo Festival in Italy, the winning images offer three very different perspectives on everyday life, but they all have something rather wonderful in common: an extraordinary eye for composition, timing and storytelling.

Taking first place is Italian photographer Luca Paccusse with Urban puzzle, a brilliantly observed photograph captured at a bus stop in Rome. Against the chaos of passing traffic and the warm evening light, a face on an advertising poster becomes part of a wonderfully complicated composition, with the gazes of strangers appearing to intersect and overlap. It's the sort of photograph that makes you look twice, and what I particularly love about it is the patience involved. Paccusse recognised the potential in an otherwise ordinary scene, waited for the elements to fall into place, and produced an image that perfectly demonstrates why observation is one of the most important skills in street photography.

"Amid the chaos of Roman traffic and the warm glow of the sunset, Luca is struck by a face on a poster at the bus stop. After a few minutes of waiting, he manages to compose this interlocking of gazes, which intertwine and overlap, capturing the layers and complexity of a city where diverse identities merge and blur, like tiles in an ever-shifting urban mosaic."

Second place went to Olesia Kim for The fan out, a wonderfully colourful and energetic photograph captured during London's famous Notting Hill Carnival. While the event itself offers an almost endless supply of photographic opportunities, Kim has chosen to concentrate on something much smaller, capturing three figures partially concealed behind decorative fans against a graffiti-covered urban backdrop. The contrast between the elaborate fans and the raw surroundings is particularly striking, while the positioning of the figures gives the photograph an almost choreographed appearance. It's playful, full of character, and another fantastic example of how an everyday gesture can become something genuinely special when viewed through a photographer's lens.

"During the Notting Hill Carnival, London’s West End transforms into a whirlwind of steel pans, booming sound systems, and vibrant masquerade bands. This event, Europe’s largest street festival celebrating Caribbean culture since 1966, attracts millions of visitors each year. Under the sweltering August sun, attendees from all over the world cool themselves with bright fans, becoming part of the living performance. In this intimate frame, three figures hide behind ornate fans. Their rhythmic waving, set against a backdrop of raw urban graffiti, adds a sophisticated, fluttering layer to the carnival’s famous kaleidoscope of colors, turning a simple gesture of cooling down into an exuberant choreography."

Rounding out the top three is Paul Mckenzie with A family affair, an intimate and rather fascinating photograph captured at the Wah Fu housing complex in Hong Kong. Here, Mckenzie has used framing and shadow to tell a much bigger story than the photograph initially suggests. A child bends down to retrieve a toy, a father is represented only by his shadow, and a woman's striking gold high heel makes an unexpected appearance within the composition. It's an unusual combination of details, but that's precisely what makes the image so compelling. There's a wonderful sense of humour and humanity to the scene, with the contrast between the glamorous footwear and the weathered surroundings creating a photograph that feels almost theatrical, despite being rooted in an ordinary family moment.

"In the densely populated Wah Fu housing complex, worn by time and life, and home to an economically disadvantaged working-class community, a father plays with his child as the mother casually walks into the frame, like an unexpected apparition in an intimate fragment of daily life. The scene highlights the contrast between the mother’s perceived glamour and her humble surroundings: as the child bends down to pick up a toy, only the mother’s leg and a foot in an eccentric golden high heel are visible. The father remains just outside the frame, present only through his shadow playing with the child."

The Siena Awards were established with the ambition of transforming the historic Italian city into an international centre for photography, bringing together established professionals, emerging photographers, amateurs and enthusiasts through a series of competitions, exhibitions and cultural events. The project celebrates photography as a universal language, connecting people and cultures through powerful visual storytelling. This year's winning photographs form part of the Siena Awards Festival, with exhibitions running until November 29, 2026.

What makes these three photographs particularly special, at least in my eyes, is that none relies on an extraordinary event to make an extraordinary picture. Instead, they demonstrate the real beauty of street photography: finding order in chaos, recognising the unexpected, and having the patience to wait for everything to come together. From the reflections of a Roman bus stop to the energy of Notting Hill Carnival and an intimate family moment in Hong Kong, these images are a wonderful reminder that some of the best photographic stories are happening right in front of us. Sometimes, all it takes is someone with a camera who knows when to press the shutter.

Exposure One has announced the winners of its Photographer of the Year Awards 2026, bringing to an end the latest edition of one of the world’s major celebrations of black-and-white photography.

This year, the competition crowned an International Photographer of the Year from its professional entrants and an International Discovery of the Year from its amateur entrants.

Snagging the professional accolade was Joshua YeheNara, with a series of 8x10 large-format film frames of rocks seemingly floating through the air. The New York City-based photographer told Exposure One that he used “some specialized equipment and techniques” to create the illusionary effects.

In fact, YeheNara is an ultraspecialist photographer who not only shoots with, but restores and even modifies, classic, rare Deardorff large-format studio cameras.

“I am currently the only known photographer to own both an 8×20-inch and an 11×28-inch panoramic Deardorff studio camera,” he told the event organizers. “Fewer than 350 of these cameras were ever manufactured.”

Another New York State-based photographer, Ed Healy, took the overall amateur accolade at this year’s contest. Healy’s winning frame depicted a snowy, moody, yet endearing scene following a blizzard in Buffalo on Christmas Eve 2022.

Exposure One also announced “Gold” winners across 20 categories – again differentiating between professionals and amateurs.

In the “Aerial” category, Cristina Ford (US/professional) snapped a beautiful scene of waves retreating from a black-sand beach, while Francesco Calarota (Germany/amateur) captured a large ship resting alone in dark waters, held to the rocky shore by a single fragile line.

There were also noteworthy winners in the Event category. Los Angeles-based Scarlett Freund captured the joy of the Pride Festival in her city, winning the professional award.

Swiss photographer Nady Rizk took the amateur accolade, snapping a creative frame of a performer at the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada, rendered on the LCD screen of another festival-goer’s camera.

According to Exposure One, the jury was made up of photography and arts professionals affiliated with institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), Leica Gallery Los Angeles, Aperture, and the Art Gallery of Alberta.

To see all the winning images for this year’s Photographer of the Year Awards, head to the Exposure One website.

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14-year-old photographer Oscar Whitfield has won the prestigious Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award with a striking black-and-white close-up image of a determined dung beetle rolling a ball of dung, with a swarm of flies nearby.

The award-winning image, Labour of Love, was taken with a full-frame mirrorless camera and telephoto lens during a family game drive in Zimbabwe, where the British photographer lives. The photo has earned Oscar one of the biggest honors in wildlife photography.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year, developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, announced him as the winner of the 11–14 Years category and the competition’s Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Grand Title.

The Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026

Tech info
Camera: Canon EOS R6 Mark II
Lens: Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C
Exposure: 1/1250 sec, f/6.5, ISO 3200

"This is exceptionally well done. Photographing such a small, constantly moving subject is challenging, yet the image feels so intentional. The composition reveals an entire story and by doing so the photograph quietly reveals how life cycles depend on what we often overlook or dismiss," explains Jury Member Jasper Doest.

Oscar is a Stonyhurst College pupil, where students have access to state-of-the-art facilities to help them explore and develop their skills in photography.

"We hope his success will inspire other young people to explore their own creative interests and discover the extraordinary opportunities that photography can offer," explains Sarah Joseph, Deputy Head Academic.

She also highlights the technical skill and creativity behind Oscar's award-winning image, as well as "the patience, curiosity and attention to detail required to capture something truly special."

See the winning images

The sixty-second Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will be on display from October 16, 2026 until July 11, 2027 at the Natural History Museum in London. Tickets are available here. Discover more winning images on the Natural History Museum website.

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The AOP Emerging Talent Award winners were just announced. Austin Bradley (UK graduate, 2025) wins Gold with photographs shedding light on a shrinking glacier in Iceland. The Silver award goes to Ritchie Elder, who documented the final day of the term at the Ukrainian Saturday School at Leith Academy in Scotland – the first-of-its-kind.

"This year’s prevailing genre shining through both still and moving image submissions is undoubtedly human-focused, even where the human imprint is on places and animals.

"It's an impressive selection of work, chosen by our expert panel of judges, for our 2026 Emerging Talent finalists, and I’m looking forward to seeing their career development with anticipation," says Isabelle Doran, CEO of the Association of Photographers.

'57 Metres: Iceland’s Shrinking Glacier' wins Gold

AOP states that "Bradley wanted to find a way to visually communicate glacial retreat" making viewers understand the significance and impact of climate change through photography.

He rigged a 57-metre highline across Sólheimajökull Glacier in Iceland, "with the length of the line representing approximately how far the glacier retreats each year due to a warming climate."

Bradley spent several carbon offset days working with highliners, a small film crew and a glaciologist to capture the process on camera, with the footage set to feature in an upcoming documentary.

'Saturday School' receives Silver

Ritchie Elder documented the final day of the school term at the Ukrainian Saturday School at Leith Academy in Scotland – a first of its kind. Established more than three years ago, the school gives Ukrainian children displaced by war the chance to still be connected to their heritage, learning the language, culture and history.

Titled Saturday School, the series forms part of a wider documentary project developed in collaboration with the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain.

See the award-winnig works

Sponsored by BUILDHOLLYWOOD, the Gold-winning work by Austin Bradley will be exhibited from October 19th–25th, 2026 across selected BUILDHOLLYWOOD digital sites throughout London, creating a street gallery for the work across the city.

In addition, co-sponsor Wex Photo Video will exhibit all finalists’ work onsite at their Putney store location in London.

Discover the 15 finalists' works here. For more information about the winners and exhibition, visit the AOP Awards website.

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The Wildlife Photographer of the Year, developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, has just announced its winners. The prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year title goes to Italian photographer Federico Veronesi, who captured a female elephant carrying a deceased calf in Huab River Valley, Damaraland, Namibia.

The heartbreaking image, The Aftermath, is a powerful black-and-white photograph that, as researchers suggest, could show us how elephants understand death. This behaviour has been observed in Asia and Africa; researchers also say it could be interpreted as a sign of grief.

"This photograph works on so many levels. Emotionally it's a gut punch, heartbreakingly poignant. Intellectually it's proof that animals have cognition. This photograph says it all!" says Kathy Moran, Chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Jury.

Tech details
Gear: Nikon Z8 + Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S
Exposure: 1/1000sec, f/2.8, ISO 72

The story behind the still
When Veronesi was photographing elephants in Namibia, an unusual trail of drag marks across the dry riverbed caught his attention. Soon he followed up with the family group. Then he witnessed the female emerge with the calf, its leg wedged between her tusk and trunk.

See the winning images
The sixty-second Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will be on display from October 16, 2026 until July 11, 2027 at the Natural History Museum in London.

Tickets are available here. Discover more winning images on the Natural History Museum website.

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According to the United Nations, the number of people over the age of 60 will more than double to 2.1 billion by 2050. And as populations continue to age, there are concerns that there won’t be enough young people in the workforce to meet the growing needs of health services.

In 2019, Ukrainian photojournalist Dmitry Kostyukov captured what seemed like a novel scene of an elderly woman interacting with a robot at a nursing facility in Jouarre, on the outskirts of Paris, where decision-makers were considering these challenges.

But Zora, the robot, was anything but a “futuristic marvel,” the photographer explained in an Instagram post. It was, in fact, “at the center” of an experiment in France to change care for elderly patients, Kostyukov explained.

Under the control of a nurse, the 58cm-tall robot can provide entertainment, support communication, and even lead exercise sessions.

“When Zora arrived at this nursing facility, a strange thing began happening,” Kostyukov said. “Many patients developed an emotional attachment, treating it like a baby, holding and cooing, giving it kisses on the head.”

While Zora Bots, the company behind Zora, believes its technology will help take pressure off staff by offering alternative ways of caring for an aging population, others think differently.

Some healthcare professionals and researchers say that replacing human carers with robots could risk further isolating vulnerable individuals or, at the very least, lead to infantilization, where elderly patients are treated like children.

Amusing, intriguing, or dystopian – however you view Kostyukov’s picture – the image went on to win the “Medicine in Focus” category at the 2019 Wellcome Photography Prize, a major photography exploring the intersection of science and society.

Now, the organizers of the contest are making a final call for entries to the 2027 edition, for a chance to win £10,000 (approximately $13,000 / AU$19,000). You can make yours at the official event webpage before 11:59 GMT on October 21.

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The image Power Play has won several awards this year. Now, the split-second capture of a female puma caught in a dramatic hunting attempt in Chile has earned its third photography prize, winning the Animals in their Environment category at the prestigious Siena International Photo Awards.

Retired tech executive Kevin Shi, who decided to pick up a camera and become a photographer, captured the scene at 1/2000sec. He described the moment as a "rare treat" and said that, in the end, the guanaco managed to escape.

"For days, Kevin had been following the predator, a mother of two cubs who depended on her for food. At dawn, after observing the guanaco for a long time, the puma cautiously approaches and launches her attack, repeatedly trying to pull it down and bite into its neck to suffocate it," states Siena International Photo Awards.

Animals in their Environment category winner

Image info
Title: Power Play
Location: Torres del Paine National Park, Magallanes, Chile

Tech info
Gear: Canon EOS R5 + 600mm lens
Exposure: 1/2000sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000

The wildlife photo was previously recognized as a winner at the Travel Photographer of the Year competition, the Chromatic Awards, and received a Merit Medal from HIPA.

The Siena International Photography Awards

The Siena International Photo Awards launched in 2015 in Siena, Italy and is part of the broader Siena Awards and Festival. The competition welcomes entries from professionals, amateurs and students across nine categories.

To get more information and to see all winning images, visit the award's website.

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Keeping your ISO as low as possible seems to be a fixed mantra for many photographers, but what if you don’t have the time or the light to adjust your exposure? Do you skip the shot or risk ungodly grain and motion blur?

“It’s the picture that counts,” not the settings, says wildlife tour leader and multi-award-winning British photographer Andy Rouse, who was recently named the Honorary Award winner of this year’s MontPhoto Contest, despite using what many would call sacrilegious settings.

Rouse captured his winning frame of a black leopard named Giza at Laikipia, a high-altitude, biodiverse plain in central Kenya, shooting at ISO 51200 and a 1/15-second shutter speed.

According to the photographer, there are “thousands and thousands” of images of Giza and, as he wanted to take “something different,” he cranked the ISO right up, initially planning to capture a portrait of the feline illuminated by a nocturnal lamp.

Andy Rouse’s gear and settings

• Sony A1 II
• Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II
• Focal length: 122 mm
• Exposure: 1/15 sec | f/22 | ISO 51200

Watch: Andy Rouse tells the full story behind capturing his award-winning frame of Giza the black leopard

“When I saw it [Giza] walking, I didn’t have time to change it [the ISO], so I just left it where it was,” said Rouse. “If I’d done it again, obviously I’d have taken the ISO down,” he continued, adding that with the animal now on the move, he had to act quickly.

“You know what, though, it’s high ISO, but I took it out of DxO (post-processing software) and it (the image) won a major award,” said Rouse, adding that his frame “should stop everyone in their tracks” who worries about high ISO.

Rouse said that images you enter into a competition need to be “something special” and believes that by using the settings he chose, he was able to capture a “different take” on a much-photographed subject, impressing the MontPhoto judges.

You can see more of Andy Rouse’s work at his Instagram and access exclusive content on his Patreon page.

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I love the whole debate around using a sophisticated mirrorless or DSLR camera versus a smartphone, and this contest-winning image is yet again proof that cameraphones can stand up to professional rigs.

Taken by photographer Dianne Slotten in Catalina State Park, Arizona, on an iPhone 16 Pro, the image went on to win the Grand Prize at the 2026 America’s State Parks Photo Contest – a whopping $10,000 (approximately £7,500/AU$14,300). Not bad for a smartphone image…

Slotten’s photo, which ReserveAmerica, the contest co-host, said captured the “moody and mystical” atmosphere of a drizzly November morning in the Sonoran Desert, even pipped two other photographers who were both shooting with a Nikon Z8.

Sometimes called the “baby Z9,” the Z8 features the same powerhouse 45.7MP CMOS sensor as the flagship Nikon Z9, not to mention the solid autofocus made up of 493 phase-detect and contrast-detect points.

Chris Dahl's gear

• Nikon Z8
• Nikkor Z 24–120mm f/4 lens

The two Z8 photographers, great artists in their own rights, were Chris Dahl and Angie Precure. Dahl placed first in the “Shores & Waterways” category for what the contest co-hosts called a “quiet, deeply reflective composition” of a waterway in Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina.

Precure, meanwhile, won the “Peaks & Plains” category with a landscape shot of Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site, Washington, which depicted clouds during a “dramatic transition.”

Angie Precure's gear

• Nikon Z8
• Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8

The America’s State Parks Photo Contest is an annual national photography competition hosted by America’s State Parks in partnership with the National Association of State Park Directors (NASPD) and ReserveAmerica/Aspira.

Visitors submit photos to showcase the natural beauty, wildlife, and outdoor recreation found across state parks in all 50 U.S. states. To see all of this year’s contest-winning images and hear from the winners themselves, watch the winners video below…

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A photo of a steam train festooned with disco lights won the Christmas Parties and Seasonal Events category at the 12th annual Event Photography Awards.

It was taken by leading railways and British royal family photographer Jack Boskett, one of 250 guests who attended the ceremony at the Central Hall Westminster in London, UK.

The Event Photography Awards (EPA) is a not-for-profit competition founded to highlight the importance of great photography to the international events industry.

Over 2,300 images of events held all around the world, from photographers in over 20 countries, were entered in 2026's competition.

The EPAs comprise 18 core categories, plus a new Black & White Award – sponsored by Digital Camera magazine – introduced for 2026.

Also new is the Event Photographer of the Year accolade, bestowed in conjunction with the Best Portfolio award.

View the current and past winners of the Event Photography Awards here.

We caught up with Jack Boskett after the ceremony and asked him to illuminate us about his colorful capture…

"It was an absolute shock and I was delighted to win," Boskett said. "I think this is the fourth year running that I have won an award at the EPAs.

"Winning makes all the hard work of being a photographer worthwhile, and it's even harder for photographers to stand out these days because of AI.

"So when genuine photography wins awards – I'm not just saying me, but everyone else who has won this evening and everybody who was shortlisted – it's absolutely fantastic to see so many stunning, genuine photographs."

Boskett's photo was taken during an event on the Severn Valley Railway in England, UK, called the Boogie Lights Express.

A bespoke sound and light show, "thousands of coloured LED lights make the steam train look magical inside and out," says the SVR website.

A family-oriented event, passengers are given colored LED wristbands, and get to enjoy a disco on the two-way 70-minute journey between Kidderminster and Highley stations.

Photographing 'The Boogie Lights Express'

"It was a hard shot to take," Boskett adds. "The locomotive is doing about 25 miles an hour in the dark, and you've got to focus on having the right camera settings.

"I cranked up the ISO quite high, but the shutter speed was very low – 1/50 sec. It was literally pitch black and there was no light around me.

"When the locomotive came through the cutting, through the trees, it just shone and lit up everything around me and looked better than I expected.

"I wasn't expecting 'The Boogie Lights Express' to win tonight. There were some very, very good photographs in the category, so it was a really nice surprise to come out on top."

Camera used: Nikon Z 9 and Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S at 70mm. Settings: 1/50 sec at f/3.2, ISO 2000.

Click here to see more of Jack Boskett's photography.

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In the pitch darkness of night, a lifesaving rescue takes place on a Mexican beach. Under the fiery red light of a nocturnal lamp, conservation worker Isreal Oblea helps an olive ridley sea turtle move her newly laid eggs farther up to beach from the shoreline.

The mother turtle is exhausted, having made the long pilgrimage to El Suspiro in Baja California, and has nested too close to the water. With the rising tide comes the risk of her eggs being swept away, but Oblea’s actions mean that the offspring will get a chance at life.

The shot was taken by Spanish photographer Miguel Serrano Ruiz (Miguel SR) and is a part of a series that recently won the “Portfolio” category at the 2026 Ocean Photographer of the Year Awards (Ocean POTY).

Miguel SR's gear and settings

• Sony A7 III
• Sigma 24-70mm DG DN Art
• 1/100 / f/3.5 / ISO 3200

An independent documentary photographer and filmmaker, Miguel SR’s work focuses on social and environmental stories. He told the Ocean POTY organizers that he’d initially gone to the conservation camp in El Suspiro to document the olive ridley turtle nesting season (July-December).

But the photographer explained that living among the conservationists for a month shed light on how they “dedicated their lives” to ensure the survival of this turtle species, which is included on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Miguel SR also photographed Deira Gordillo, who, like Isreal Oblea, was captured burning the midnight lamp. Only Gordillo’s essential work that night was to record nesting and hatching data for Mexican environmental authorities. According to Miguel SR, Gordillo’s team patrols the beach every night from 2:30 a.m. until sunrise to observe nests.

Sometimes, however, the conservationists find that a turtle has died and are tasked with digging graves for it in the sand to prevent the spread of bacteria and disease, Miguel SR explained. This is a sad reality of the work, despite the paradisiacal setting.

As the “Portfolio” category winner, Miguel SR took home £1,000 (approx. $1,300 / AU$1,900), along with being featured in this year’s competition winners book. The overall Ocean POTY winner for 2026 was Julien Anton for his paternal scene of a father seahorse with his offspring.

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'Slayer Fans' was crowned best photo in the Music Events – Audiences category in the Event Photography Awards 2026.

It was taken by events and wedding photographer Brian Robinson at a Slayer concert in London in 2025.

A not-for-profit competition, the Event Photography Awards (EPA) was established to highlight the importance of great photography to the international events industry.

Some 2,300 images of events from around the world, taken by photographers in over 20 countries, were entered in 2026's competition.

18 core categories form the EPAs, and a new Black & White Award – sponsored by Digital Camera magazine – was introduced for 2026.

Also taking a bow this year was the Event Photographer of the Year accolade, bestowed in conjunction with the Best Portfolio award.

View the current and past winners of the Event Photography Awards here.

After the ceremony at the Central Hall Westminster in London, UK, attended by more than 250 guests, we caught up with Robinson to discover more about his winning image…

"I was photographing the Slayer show at Finsbury Park in 2025, working with film director Ryan McFall," Robinson recalls, "and was shooting behind-the-scenes photos for the film crew filming Slayer.

"While I was photographing the crew, the band and literally everything to do with the show, I clocked the fan in the middle of the shot who was absolutely loving it.

"As most photographers would have done, I took a quick gauge of my settings, turned around, burst off a few frames and went back to work, photographing the crew and the band."

"When editing it later I noticed how much passion was on the faces of everybody else, and also the legs that were flying across the top – at that moment, I knew it had to be a black and white picture."

Robinson is a Slayer fan himself, so photographing the band was a dream come true for him.

"I've been that guy on the front row, so I felt how he was feeling and hope I've captured that."

Photographing music and live events is Robinson's passion. Collaborating regularly with film director McFall has opened doors to working at big concerts like Slayer's.

"Event photography is not just about the band – it's more about shooting [what goes on] behind the scenes.

"I've only entered a few competitions before, for weddings, which I occasionally shoot, but this is the first award I've won.

"It was definitely worth making the long journey from Cornwall [in south-west England] to London!"

Camera and lens used: Canon EOS R6 and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM at 46mm. Exposure: 1/500 sec at f/3.2, ISO 800.

Click here to see more of Brian Robinson's photography.

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German music photographer Afra Gethoeffer Gruetz took two wins at the Event Photography Awards 2026 – bagging the best black and white image, plus sharing top spot in one of the categories for music.

The Event Photography Awards (EPA) is a not-for-profit competition, founded to highlight the importance of high quality photography to the international events industry.

Over 2,300 images captured at events around the world were entered in 2026's competition, submitted by photographers in more than 20 countries.

Gethoeffer Gruetz's 'Black Ink' shot was crowned best photo in the inaugural Black & White Award category – sponsored by Digital Camera magazine – while 'Deep Growl', a shot of Yukina from the band Hanabie headbanging during a show, placed joint first in the Music Events – Performers category.

The EPAs comprises 18 core categories, and the Black & White Award was introduced for 2026, alongside the Event Photographer of the Year accolade, bestowed in conjunction with the Best Portfolio award.

View the current and past winners of the Event Photography Awards here.

Gethoeffer Gruetz was unable to attend the ceremony at the Central Hall Westminster in London, UK, so we caught up her afterwards so she could tell us the story behind 'Black Ink'…

Based in Munich in southern Germany, Gethoeffer Gruetz has a PhD in art history and her photography journey started in 2015, shooting photos of live gigs for the online magazine metal1.info.

Since then, she has mostly photographed metal and punk shows, specializing in low-light photography.

So it must be very satisfying to have won a prestigious international award for 'Black Ink', her photo of Evan Seinfeld from the American hardcore band Biohazard.

It was taken at the Backstage Werk, the most important club for live music in Munich, which is a significant venue for the city's subculture.

"The photo was taken with a Nikon Z 6II and the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8," she says. "The settings were 1/400sec at f/2.8, ISO 1800, which is pretty typical for me at a hardcore show.

Concert photography is all seeing a picture and reacting in a moment, and fortunately Gethoeffer Gruetz was in the right position to place Seinfeld under the halo above him.

"The options for changing my position were pretty limited; it was more like realizing how cool the halo looked from the position I was already in.

"All you can do is adjust your position by bending your knees or taking a little step to the left or the right.

"In concert photography, at least at shows with fast lights and lots of movement by the musicians, I don't plan my shots – I react to what I get.

The photo was shot in landscape orientation, then cropped to portrait to remove distracting elements.

"I actually had the musician from the hips up, including the mic stand and the neck of his bass guitar, but to get rid of all that, cropping it to portrait format was the only option."

The challenges for this type of photography are well-known – crowded photo pits and being able to photograph a limited number of songs (usually the first three, and hardcore songs tend to be quite short) – plus only being able to work with the lighting in the venue.

"For this photo, low light wasn't the problem; it was pretty bright, but mostly backlight which can be challenging as well."

Gethoeffer Gruetz says the decision to convert the photo to black and white came at the editing stage – she never thinks about editing while shooting.

"For me, editing is always a process during which I find out what the best edit will be for each individual photo – I never use presets.

"In this case the tattoos need hard contrast and color would have been distracting, but that was something I discovered at the editing stage."

And the judges on Digital Camera magazine were suitably impressed, awarding Gethoeffer Gruetz the Black and White category award.

"It's definitely one of my favorite pictures of 2025 and one of my all-time black and white favorites," she says.

"I don't actually edit a lot in black and white, only if I think it will give the photo an extra dimension. I guess in this photo it worked out perfectly, and I am really happy the judges thought so as well."

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