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
Single Winner
2nd Place
Single Winner
3rd Place
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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