Saying our World Photography Day Contest 2025 Winners

World Photography Day festivities recap 

This 12 months we made World Photography Day a month-long celebration and our mates from Oboz Footwear joined us for the celebration. We kicked issues off with a PhotoHike, on the Lands End Trail within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Stories had been shared, digital camera ideas had been swapped, and limitless lovely pictures captured. If you missed this superior occasion, take a look at our video to see some highlights!

Full of inspiration from our PhotoHike, we had been prepared for our fundamental occasion, the annual World Photography Day Contest. Oboz Footwear offered unimaginable footwear prizes for our winners, and we gotta say, the competitors was robust. Our WPD contest group topped out at 12,658 members, and we obtained over 34.3K entries. After cautious deliberation, our judges selected the profitable images and we CAN’T WAIT to share them with you! 

The winners are…….

Earth Unfiltered – Nature Category

Michael Zheng with Factory Butte

Meet the photographer: Texas based mostly photographer Michael Zheng is a full-time banking govt, however when he’s not at work, he escapes to nature together with his digital camera in tow. “When I’m not immersed in numbers and meetings, I find my escape in the vast beauty of nature. I love exploring hidden gems across the American landscape—especially the raw, untouched corners of the Southwest. Through my lens, I aim to capture the quiet moments, dramatic skies, and timeless textures that only nature can offer.” Zheng’s profitable photograph, Factory Butte, incorporates a beautiful mesa situated close to the city of Hanksville in central Utah. 

Wild at Heart – People Category

Leanne Boulton with Stranger 93/100 ‘Widad’

Meet the photographer: Glasgow-based Leanne Boulton finds function in her pictures. With a concentrate on avenue and social documentary pictures, previous to the pandemic Leanne shot professionally and held common avenue pictures workshops. Our judges agreed that Leanne’s photograph Stranger 93/100 ‘Widad’ deserved the highest spot within the People class for this 12 months’s WPD contest. 

In capturing this second, Leanne says, “ I first captured a candid shot of Widad, which led to a brief conversation and her being thrilled when I asked if she wanted a portrait. Widad was working at the time and could spare only a minute or two. Once she removed her employer branded clothing, I took a couple of shots in situ and kept the encounter as brief as possible so as not to cause any trouble for her while at work. I loved the framing from the out-of-focus buildings in the street and desaturated the background just a touch to avoid any bright colours pulling attention away from her. I captured the shot with natural light and processed the shot first in Lightroom, and then with a light frequency separation edit in Photoshop.” 

Animal Kingdom – Animals Category

Kim Peterson with Hummingbird within the Coneflowers II

Meet the photographer: Photographer Kim Peterson is retired and lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado together with her husband Rob and their canine Gus. “We live near our 3 children and 9 grandchildren, so our lives are full of fun and chaos most days. When I am not hanging out with all the kiddos, I love to relax in our gardens and shoot nature. This hummingbird photo was captured as one of a series of the hummingbirds in our coneflowers. I had a vision to capture one sipping deep in the middle of the blooms. In order to catch them in the act, I set myself up in the right spot that will give me the best background as well as the right light to best showcase the bird and the flowers.” 

A variety of endurance and ready for the precise second was concerned in capturing this second however Kim has no complaints about this a part of the method since she loves spending time in nature out in her backyard. As for the gear used to seize this shot, she says, “I use my Canon R5 with the Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM in electronic shutter mode. I keep my shutter speed at or above 1/1000, my aperture between f4.5 and 7.1 depending on my focal length and then set my ISO to achieve a good exposure.”

Built Environment – Urban Category

Marcus Kunzmann with Vulcan von Le Havre

Meet the photographer: Marcus Kunzmann relies in southern Germany, within the lovely state of Baden-Württemberg. His love for pictures attracts him out of his workplace job to areas just like the one the place this prize-winning photograph was taken. His photograph, Vulcan von Le Havre, was taken within the metropolis of Le Havre, France whereas roaming the streets of Le Havre. Marcus was impressed by the distinctive, volcanic traits of the town’s structure towards the softer cloud stuffed sky within the background. He captured this shot together with his Sony a77 II.

Off the Map – Open Category 

Aidan O’Malley with Window wraith

Meet the photographer: Originally from Ireland now residing in Rijeka, Croatia, Aidan O’Malley teaches Anglophone literature on the University of Rijeka. After having taken a break from pictures, Aidan was inspired by good friend and Flickr member elhacedor to offer pictures one other go. “For me, photography has been something of a break from words (which are what I work with), and I’ve really enjoyed encountering the world in a different way, through a camera lens. I’ve also very much appreciated Flickr, which has represented another pleasant escape, this time from the degenerate language and discourses that dominate so much of social media.”

Aidan doesn’t plan out his shoots however as an alternative retains his digital camera in hand and captures the pictures as they current themselves, identical to his profitable photograph, Window wraith. “In some respects, the shot perhaps speaks to Rijeka’s faded charm, as its high point was in the late-19th century when it was a very important Habsburg port. It’s undergone many changes, and since the beginning of the 20th century it’s been under Habsburg/Hungarian, Italian, Yugoslav and now Croatian rule. Let’s just say that there are now many different ghosts in its streets!”

Celebrating pictures on a regular basis!

Congratulations to all our winners and an enormous thanks to our mates at Oboz Footwear and the whole Flickr group for exhibiting up and getting into your phenomenal images on this 12 months’s World Photography Day contest.  Stay tuned for our September Explore Takeover. It’s going reside on Thursday, September twenty fifth, and we’ll be that includes extra of our favourite pictures from this 12 months’s World Photography Day contest. Until subsequent time!