Black and white photography continues to demonstrate its timeless power to reveal raw emotion and striking composition, as evidenced by the winners of the Exposure One Awards 2025. The competition has unveiled an impressive collection of monochrome images that showcase how removing color can actually enhance the visual impact of photography, cutting through distractions to reveal the very essence of visual storytelling.
This year's edition marked a significant milestone as the most internationally diverse competition to date, attracting photographers from 64 countries who submitted their finest monochrome work. The awards spanned both professional and non-professional categories, with winners selected across more than 10 genre-based categories ranging from architectural abstractions to candid street scenes and engaged photojournalism.
The judging panel comprised respected experts from prestigious institutions including the Leica Gallery, Aperture, SFMoMA, and Photo Basel. Their collective expertise focused on identifying images that push creative boundaries while maintaining excellence in storytelling. The judges sought work that demonstrated how monochrome photography can be both bold and balanced, particularly emphasizing the challenging aspects of working with high contrast and carefully controlled exposure.
Arturo Gómez Sierra claimed the top honor as International Photographer of the Year with his striking architectural series "Lux." The winning image captures light descending in perfect symmetry, converging on a silent cross, demonstrating masterful use of monochrome contrast to direct the viewer's eye. Sierra's work exemplifies how effective black and white photography can be when employing high contrast and precise exposure control, arguably the most challenging aspects of working without color.
Dulcie May earned recognition as International Discovery of the Year for her minimalist work "Timeless Lines," which explores the abstract beauty and quiet strength of the human form. Her piece, winning silver in the Minimalism Non-professional category, showcases how restraint in both tone and form can lead to more powerful visual experiences. The stark monochrome treatment transforms the contours of the human body into a landscape that is simultaneously vulnerable and powerful, holding what judges described as "a kind of eternal presence."
The wildlife category saw exceptional work from Stafford Robinson, whose piece "the philosopher" earned him Photographer of the Year honors in the Wildlife Professional category. Robinson expressed his honor at winning among such a competitive field, stating it was "such an honour to win Photographer of the Year in an exclusive group of professional photographers from 64 countries." His work demonstrates how black and white photography can capture the essence of wildlife subjects without the distraction of color.
Paulo Dos Santos Sousa secured the Photographer of the Year title in the Aerial Professional category with "Bulevardi," an image that captures Tirana's wide, structured Bulevardi i Ri from above. The photograph shows how the modern boulevard slices through the city like a sharp line of progress, creating vivid contrast with the narrow, winding roads of older neighborhoods it intersects.
In the non-professional categories, Alessandro Marena earned Discovery of the Year recognition in Wildlife for "The Rhino and the Flock of Birds." Marena noted that "Africa's diverse landscapes and fascinating creatures have become a central focus of my work, capturing the timeless beauty of the natural world through the lens of black and white photography." His approach demonstrates how monochrome treatment can emphasize the eternal qualities of natural subjects.
Haochen He received Discovery of the Year honors in Architecture (Non-Professional) for "Framed Time," which captures old eaves cradling a rising tower in Chongqing. The image presents past and present aligned in what the photographer describes as "silent symmetry," showing how black and white photography can effectively illustrate the relationship between historical and contemporary architectural elements.
The Exposure One Awards 2025 results reinforce the enduring appeal and artistic power of monochrome photography in an increasingly digital and color-saturated visual landscape. The winning images demonstrate that removing color doesn't diminish photographic impact but rather can enhance it by focusing attention on composition, emotion, and storytelling fundamentals. For photographers seeking inspiration or looking to enter similar competitions, the Exposure One Awards website features the complete collection of winning and notable images from this year's exceptional field of entries.
