Check out these creative ways to use shapes in photography! These photo competition highlights are truly inspiring

This milestone 50th edition of All About Photo Magazine invited creatives to submit photographs that reveal how geometry, balance and abstraction transform everyday scenes into extraordinary images. The winners have been announced, showcasing powerful ways to use shapes to capture attention, alienate the subject and underline visual storytelling.

Selected from hundreds of submissions across eleven countries and four continents, this collection highlights a wide variety of approaches – from minimalism and architectural details to bold, inventive perspectives. They really demonstrate how shape can be both an anchor and disrupt composition, pushing the boundaries of creativity.

Through these striking images, the ordinary becomes captivating, inviting us to look deeper and appreciate the language of shape. If you want to discover all 25 winners, visit the AAP Magazine's website.

Winner Gallery

First Place
Series The Illusion of Poppies by Julie Wang

"In this photograph from the series The Illusion of Poppies, the fragile forms drift between presence and shadow. Seed pods linger like echoes of blossoms once in bloom, their outlines fading as if memory itself were dissolving into silence.

"What remains is neither beginning nor end, but a quiet trace of time’s passing – tender, elusive, and ungraspable."

Second Place
Series Tangled in Blue by JP Terlizzi

"As an artist with red-green color blindness, my work investigates the complexities of color perception – how those with this condition experience, interpret, and understand color.

"It examines the differences between what we see, what we believe we see, and how we learn to recognize and understand color. When paired with colorblind eyewear, the work also enables individuals with the same color deficiency to perceive a broader spectrum of hues."

Third Place
Series Vacuum World by Jingyi Zhang

"In my work, Emei Mountain, I depict a figure journeying toward nothingness and a dreamscape—the distant temple appears both realistic and like a mirage.

"In the chaotic material world, vacuum represents a state approaching the limit– an existence that is invisible and often overlooked. Within a vacuum, all sound and substance are stripped away, leaving only the faintest fluctuations."

Merit Award Gallery

Merit Award
Series In the city by Ralf Dreier

"The image Chimneys was created in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. At the end of a photo excursion, on the way to the car, I passed this scene. The image literally demanded to be photographed.

"The project In the city shows minimalist views of the city. Mostly buildings are shown, or rather only parts of them. The main focus is on graphic elements, forms, structures and textures. "

Merit Award
Series Symbolic Shapes by Florian Kriechbaume

"A purpose-built villa community on the outskirts of Dubai utilizing identical designs for the houses, with a two-color pattern and a rectangular access street system. The result is a visually striking but eerily uniform grid."

Merit Award
3 Windows by Cristiano Bartoli

"The image was taken on the winter beach of Riccione (Italy). I entered a children's play structure, hiding in its shelter, to see the world of adults through their eyes."

You might also like...

Browse the best professional cameras. And if you think about entering a competition, here are 10 global photo competitions, open from September until January, that are just waiting to explore your work.