The British Photography Awards 2025 has unveiled its winners, showcasing an exceptional collection of photographs from artists around the world. This year's competition demonstrates the remarkable diversity and technical excellence of contemporary photography, spanning categories from breathtaking landscapes and dynamic street photography to intimate portraits, wildlife encounters, and conceptual fine art.
Both the official winners and People's Choice selections highlight the imagination, patience, and vision that define today's leading photographic talent. The awards feature comprehensive categories including Landscape, Street, Low Light Photography, Birdlife, Drone, Event, Fashion, Pets & Domesticated Animals, Water Life, Documentary, Wedding, Commercial Product, Architecture, Portrait, Land Animal, Self Portrait, Macro, Sports, Fine Art, and Food & Drink.
In the Landscape category, Ridhima Singh claimed the top prize with "Blushing Lake," capturing the ethereal beauty of first light at Lake Caddo, Texas, using a Canon R5 with a Canon RF 70-200mm lens. The image portrays autumn trees ablaze in rich colors, delicate mist hovering over the water, and a sky blushing in soft pastels. The People's Choice winner, Graham Niven's "Emerald Jewel," depicts a majestic autumn evening among Caledonian pine trees in the Scottish Highlands, shot with a Nikon D850 and 28-300mm lens during meticulously planned sunset conditions.
Street photography winners demonstrated the power of spontaneous moments in urban settings. Andrew Golubev's winning image "Summer Construction in London" was captured on Great Portland Street using a Sony a7 III and 85mm f/1.8 lens, transforming an ordinary construction site during lunch break into compelling visual narrative. The People's Choice, Fatma Demir's "wrapped in love," showcased a tender moment of a mother cradling her baby while traveling on London's Jubilee line, photographed with a Canon 6D Mark II.
The Low Light Photography category featured spectacular astrophotography work. Winner Abby Moule's "Between Earth and Stars" presents a seven-panel panorama of La Palma's caldera, combining long exposures and stacked images with a Sony a7 III and 24mm lens to capture the Milky Way above a sea of clouds. Michael Steven Harris earned People's Choice recognition for "Milky Way over the West Pier," photographing Brighton's iconic structure with a Nikon D780 and Tamron 24-70mm G2 lens, achieving incredible clarity despite city light pollution through careful exposure stacking techniques.
Wildlife categories showcased both technical skill and conservation awareness. In Birdlife, Jayne Bond's "Bad Hair Day" captured a Dalmatian Pelican with ruffled feathers using a Canon EOS R5, while Hang Ross documented the Iberian Imperial Eagle, a species recovering from near extinction, with a Canon R5 Mark II and RF 200-800mm lens. The Land Animal category featured Andy Rouse's dramatic "Fighting tigers," showing two young tigers sparring, photographed with a Sony a1 and 200-600mm telephoto lens.
Drone photography revealed unique aerial perspectives, with Christopher Harrison's winning image capturing Bronze Age barrows in Oxfordshire during magical sunrise conditions using a DJI Air 2S. Thomas Lamont's People's Choice "Crown of Light" presented the National Wallace Monument from above, shot with a DJI Mavic 3 Pro during dawn fog conditions that created ethereal golden lighting effects.
Documentary photography addressed contemporary social issues with powerful visual storytelling. Jamie Bellinger's "Face Off" documented a pro-Palestinian protest confrontation using a Canon 700D with flash, while Harvey Tomlinson's "You" portrayed a far-right supporter in Nottingham, capturing the dynamics of modern political extremism with a Nikon Z5.
The competition's technical categories demonstrated exceptional craftsmanship. In Macro photography, Adam Ferry's "Pink Elephant" required focus stacking 82 shots to capture an Elephant Hawk Moth on an orange rose using an Olympus E-M1 II with 90mm macro lens. Barry Webb's "Glistening Slime mould" involved a 56-image focus stack to reveal the hidden beauty of Comatricha nigra organisms using an OM System OM-1 with 60mm macro lens and extension tubes.
Portrait and self-portrait categories explored human connection and introspection. Mark Harrison's portrait of author Lee Child, creator of the Jack Reacher novels, was captured with a Canon 5D IV and 70-200mm lens, revealing the person behind the celebrity persona. Self-portrait winner Monika Drzewicz used a Nikon D7000 to explore identity themes in "Handle With Care," while Margaret Jaszowska's "Between Me and Myself" employed creative techniques with water glass magnification using a Nikon D800.
Commercial and fashion photography demonstrated creative marketing applications. Celso Marrero's "Pop Pressure" explored the tension between elegance and edge using a Nikon Z8, while Dominic Beaven's "Voltage" combined futuristic fashion with the Nonotak Eclipse exhibition setting, shot with a Sony a7 III and Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Art lens.
The British Photography Awards 2025 ultimately celebrates photography's power to connect, inspire, and transform across cultural and linguistic boundaries. From meticulous macro compositions revealing microscopic worlds to sweeping landscape grandeur, the competition demonstrates photography's role as a bridge between humanity and nature, imagination and reality, and the fleeting present with enduring memory. These winning images invite viewers to pause, reflect, and experience the world through diverse artistic perspectives, honoring both extraordinary moments and everyday beauty that surrounds us.
