Winners & Finalists
Winners, jurors’ picks and finalists of the LensCulture Photography Awards 2025.

New Photographic Portraits
from Cultures Around the World

New Photographic Portraits from Cultures Around the World

We’re thrilled to announce the winners, jurors’ picks and finalists of the LensCulture Portrait Awards 2025 — a global celebration of photographic portraiture in all its powerful, personal, and political forms.

Since the earliest days of photography, portraits have served as a way for people to see and remember themselves and others. Today, photographers continue that tradition while expanding its meaning — capturing not just likenesses, but stories of resilience, identity, beauty, hardship, and hope.

These remarkable images reflect a wide spectrum of human experience, offering glimpses into lives shaped by joy, struggle, injustice, and the ongoing fight for freedom and dignity.

—Jim Casper, on behalf of the jury and the whole team at LensCulture

Series Winner

1st Place

France
Daesung Lee
Nirvana

Series Winner

2nd Place

Netherlands
Jan Banning
Blood Bonds: Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda

Series Winner

3rd Place

United States
Barbara Peacock
Searching for the Same Light

What an honour to be given a window to the world through the careful presentation of these skilled and diverse international photographers. Such variation is testament to a broad range of creative approaches, while key themes are reoccurring and provide reassurance of portrait photography's role in making visible all the nuances and common threads of humanity.”

— Clare Freestone, Curator, National Portrait Gallery

Single Winner

1st Place

United States
Emily Neville Fisher
’67 Mustang

Single Winner

2nd Place

United Kingdom
Kat Green
Olive, Eleven

Single Winner

3rd Place

Israel
Slava Pirsky
Daughter of Chinghis Khan

Jurors’ Picks

Each of our jury members selected one photographer to be awarded special distinction. Here are the jurors’ special selections, with a brief quote from each expert explaining what they especially appreciate about these photographers and their work.

Hannah Mittelstaedt
United Kingdom
Selected by Jim Casper
Editor-in-Chief LensCulture
Jim Casper
Editor-in-Chief LensCulture
The Netherlands

In Hannah Mittelstaedt’s series, the portrait subjects, who all identify as trans or non-binary, pose with confidence and project a sense of inner strength and inner calm. There is a visual stylistic consistency that links each of the photos in the group — direct gaze, warm natural light, non-specific outdoor settings — and all of the subjects are presented as open, sensitive and complex individuals. The captions to each photo touch on universal, philosophical themes while revealing a bit of a personal story behind each person.

Magnus Laupa
Sweden
Selected by Breann Birkenbuel
Photography Manager and Editorial Visual Operations National Geographic
Breann Birkenbuel
Photography Manager and Editorial Visual Operations National Geographic
United States

I chose It Could Have Been Us as my Juror’s Pick for the gentle, powerful way it reconnects us to a painful and often overlooked chapter of history. Through intimate, compassionate portraits, Magnus Laupa honors those who were once hidden from society—reminding us that every person is worthy, equal, and unique just as they are. This project casts a modern light on a haunting past, bridging time in a way that feels both immediate and necessary. It asks us to remember, to feel, and to care—offering a moving tribute to dignity, memory, and human connection.

Niccolò Rastrelli
Italy
Selected by Francesca Marani
Senior Photo Editor Vogue Italia
Francesca Marani
Senior Photo Editor Vogue Italia
Italy

Photographer Bill Cunningham said, "Fashion is the armor to survive everyday life". This phrase resonated with me as I observed Niccolò Rastrelli's portraits of cosplayers from all over the world, including Italy, Japan and Africa. This long-term project highlights the infinite identities we can adopt virtually and in real life by experimenting with our appearance. Most striking of all is the generational confrontation Rastrelli stages, with parents and children standing side by side. While the specifics may change, the essence of the exchange remains the same: a complex balance of contrasts and acceptance.

Shin Ono
United States
Selected by Noelle Théard
Senior Digital Photo Editor The New Yorker
Noelle Théard
Senior Digital Photo Editor The New Yorker
United States

Shin Ono's project on his parents is a stunning mediation on love and mortality. His portraits are tender and give a sense of their personalities. As the project progresses we are reminded that as humans we all meet the same end. For me this project makes me appreciate life, and I respect the process by which Shin Ono shared his with us.

Majid Farahani
Iran
Selected by Clare Freestone
Curator National Portrait Gallery
Clare Freestone
Curator National Portrait Gallery
United Kingdom

What struck me about this portrait of a family or maybe more than one family in a Iranian village was of course the goat wandering across the shot, breaking the formality of the line up. Young and older members strike a pose amid a muted arid backdrop that visualizes the heat that the photographer describes as 'unbelievable'. Family, whether formed through bloodline or shared beliefs, is something that we can all recognise. This remote location, and for me distant image, is immediately relatable -the huddle, fidget, pride and obligation- held all for a moment - while the goat's presence reminds us of the ebb and flow of life carrying on beyond the frame.

Sander Vos
United Kingdom
Selected by Ramón Reverté
Editor in Chief and Creative Director RM
Ramón Reverté
Editor in Chief and Creative Director RM
Spain

Sander Vos's series masterfully bridges early 20th-century avant-garde photography with contemporary aesthetics, transforming portraits into striking abstractions through sophisticated use of shadow, reflection, and fragmentation.

The work demonstrates remarkable technical innovation with multiple exposures and geometric interventions, creating psychological depth that transcends documentation.

There's an atmospheric quality that feels both timeless and at the same time contemporary, subtly exploring themes of power and identity. This is photography that seamlessly blends artistic sophistication with nuanced social awareness through compelling visual poetry.

Stefanie Langenhoven
South Africa
Selected by Alex Kahl
Online Editor WePresent
Alex Kahl
Online Editor WePresent
United Kingdom

I love the delicate interplay between Stefanie’s subjects and the nature around them—entwined with the leaves of the forest, draped over a horse, or standing still with butterflies elegantly perched across their hair. Stefanie draws us into a fairytale world, celebrating girlhood and crafting a new folklore around red hair in the process.

Kyle Lui
United States
Selected by Nadia Vellam
Photo and Video Director The New York Times Style Magazine
Nadia Vellam
Photo and Video Director The New York Times Style Magazine
United States

...

The 2025 LensCulture Portrait Awards present a powerful collection of contemporary portrait photography that spans diverse cultures, artistic approaches, and human experiences - from intimate documentary-style portraits capturing everyday life and cultural identity, to experimental and surreal artistic interpretations that challenge traditional portraiture through techniques like multiple exposure, conceptual staging, and visual distortion, ultimately creating a compelling dialogue between realism and artistic expression in modern portrait photography.”

— Ramón Reverté, Editor in Chief and Creative Director, RM Publishing

Finalists

winner of photography awards
Ambiente Familiar
Alejandro MartinezUnited States
winner of photography awards
Veiled
Breana HeldersUnited States
winner of photography awards
The Haircut
Frederic ArandaUnited Kingdom
winner of photography awards
Amagansett
Janelle LynchUnited States
winner of photography awards
Disparate Intentions
Kevin SmithUnited States
winner of photography awards
In the Shadows of Silent Women
Maryam FiruziIran
winner of photography awards
The Loss Mother's Stone
Nancy BorowickVirgin Islands, U.S.
winner of photography awards
Girlhood
Sabrina SantiagoUnited States
winner of photography awards
Dreamland
Yuliya GermanovichBelarus
winner of photography awards
what it's like to feel
André Ramos-WoodardUnited States
winner of photography awards
Portraits from Acholiland
Brian HodgesAustralia
winner of photography awards
Harmless Creek
Giovana Schlüter NunesUnited States
winner of photography awards
Matthew Jeffers
Jon CospitoUnited States
winner of photography awards
Romería de El Rocío
Leon FoggittUnited Kingdom
winner of photography awards
Becoming Themselves
Melissa Ann PinneyUnited States
winner of photography awards
HEIRS - Part II
Olivier LavenacFrench Polynesia
winner of photography awards
Train 101 - Frontline to Frontline
Sasha MaslovUkraine
winner of photography awards
Behind the Walls: Slovakia’s Roma Communities.
Boris JosephFrance
winner of photography awards
Gravida
Eliza Bell SchweizbachUnited States
winner of photography awards
Fiona
Hanna WolfCanada
winner of photography awards
Temple Road
Josefine RauchGermany
winner of photography awards
Before Tomorrow
Lorraine TurciFrance
winner of photography awards
Stereo EEG, Self-Portrait
Muir VidlerUnited Kingdom
winner of photography awards
Portrait of a Poet - A Journey Through Layers
Piotr SkubiszPoland
winner of photography awards
Divided Youth of Belfast
Toby BinderGermany

International Jury

Francesca Marani

Vogue Italia

Italy

Clare Freestone

National Portrait Gallery

United Kingdom

Alex Kahl

WePresent

United Kingdom

Noelle Théard

The New Yorker

United States

Nadia Vellam

The New York Times Style Magazine

United States

Ramón Reverté

RM Publishing

Spain

Breann Birkenbuel

National Geographic

United States

Jim Casper

LensCulture

The Netherlands

Thank You

Congratulations to all 39 photographers! And our thanks go to everyone who entered the competition. We are inspired by the work you do and we are always delighted to discover how image-makers around the globe are working with photography in new ways.

We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future