10 Shortlisted Photos For The ‘Oscars Of Photography’, The AOP Awards

Celebrating its fortieth anniversary and “the Best in Established Contemporary Photographic Talent,” the Association Of Photographers (AOP) has introduced the pictures shortlisted in its annual photograph competitors.

Known because the ‘Oscars’ of the pictures world, the AOP Photography Awards “celebrate professional excellence in the creative photography and image-making industry,” based on the group. “From advertising to publishing, fashion, brands, charities, and broadcast, our members have captured the zeitgeist of the past four decades influencing visual commercial culture and society.”

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“More than ever recognizing the worth {of professional} image-making expertise, actual pictures and genuine human endeavor is paramount in at this time’s world.”

The Gold and Silver winners for 10 particular person topic classes and extra Awards for Best Commissioned, Best Personal and Best Moving work shall be introduced on the AOP Annual Showcase occasion in London on October 9.

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From a Mongolian contortionist to intimate portraits and wild landscapes, the 2025 shortlist spans 10 classes: Documentary, Environment, Fashion & Beauty, Food & Drink, Lifestyle, Portrait, Spaces, Sport, Still Life & Object and Project.

The photograph above reveals Tsetseglen Odgerel, 35, certainly one of Mongolia’s most well-known contortionists. She captured the eye of photographer Tom Parker on Instagram, balancing on one arm, the wrong way up on a shifting walkway in Ulaanbatar airport. “I am never scared,” she instructed Parker. “When I am contorting it feels like the world belongs to me.”

Contortionism, generally known as “Uran Nugaralt” in Mongolian, interprets as ‘creative bending’. Its origins date again to a Twelfth-century Mongolian people dance known as ‘BiyelgeeIt’ and have become a distinguished characteristic in Buddhist Tsam dances.

“Tsetseglen and I both wanted to capture her in her home city, but not in a typical performance environment. She’s always surprising. When I turned up for the shoot, she had unexpectedly dyed her hair red. Her subversive spirit was something I found amongst many of the people I shot in Mongolia.”

The awards competitors is open to all AOP accredited and helping photographer members, and the winners and chosen finalists shall be featured within the official fortieth AOP Photography Awards Book to be issued on the showcase occasion.

“Given the plethora of photography awards across our industry today, it’s even more special that the AOP Photography Awards has stood the test of time, celebrating 40 years of professional practice, in which we have seen many photographic styles and trends come and go over four decades,” Isabelle Doran, CEO of the Association of Photographers, says. “It’s both positive and rewarding to see the continuation of visual rigor from this year’s finalists’ entries, from profound realism to highly conceptual imagery, each sharing a multitude of facets spanning the lives humans lead, whether captured in the format of stills or moving images.”

The AOP is a not-for-profit commerce affiliation and one of many main organizations for photographers within the industrial photographic trade. Founded in 1968 because the Association of Fashion and Advertising Photographers, it goals “to protect, promote and inspire the worth and standing of its members within the commercial photographic industry.”

AOP members’ work has appeared in world promoting campaigns, books, newspapers, magazines, exhibitions and cultural occasions world wide.

Abandoned waste from the fishing trade, generally known as Ghost Gear, lies derelict on our seashores and pollutes our oceans. It continues for many years to entangle and doubtlessly kill marine life and smother pure habitats.

This photograph and the one under seem amongst ‘The North Revisited’, a year-long documentary mission which builds on the work of photographer John Bulmer, whose evocative pictures of the north of England turned a cornerstone of British documentary pictures.

Once synonymous with heavy trade, northern British cities and cities are embracing their wealthy industrial heritage and creating new communities and identities. The mission’s ambition is to seize the evolving and modern identification of ‘The North’ via the distinctive imaginative and prescient of a single photographer.

Fish fingers, crinkle chips and beans tumble askew on (and off) a damaged plate.

Artist Margot McDaid behind a portrait at her Margate Gallery and Ramsgate Studio.

A lonely surfer in Venice Beach, California.

Portrait of Moroccan horseman driving alongside the Atlantic shoreline.

A home sits in shut proximity to the cooling towers of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Coal energy station positioned in in Nottinghamshire, U.Ok. The energy station was decommissioned in late 2024.

Finalist galleries for every class of the fortieth AOP Photography Awards might be seen here.

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