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’67 Mustang by Emily Neville Fisher (1st place winner, single)
’While exploring my husband’s childhood farm in Virginia, we came across his dad’s dusty ’67 Mustang stored in a barn. It was a hot day and my three grandsons climbed inside, pretending to go for a drive. I captured this moment as the light from the open barn door cast a dramatic glow on the scene, framed perfectly by the car door.’ See the full list of winners from the LensCulture portrait awards 2025 here
Photograph: Emily Neville Fisher
Olive, Eleven by Kat Green (2nd place winner, single)
‘This series captures girls in the summer before they start secondary school, that fleeting stage between childhood and adolescence. The images reflect the mix of anticipation, vulnerability and subtle shifts in identity as they prepare for a new chapter in their lives’
Photograph: Kat Green
Daughter of Chinghis Khan by Anna Hayat and Slava Pirsky (3rd place winner, single)
‘This portrait is part of a long-term project that shows our daughter’s growth from birth to adulthood. We began it when she was born and completed it when she turned 18. We used studio cameras, so each session required stillness and patience. Over the years, the project became more than just documentation. It was a way for us to maintain communication, develop mutual understanding, and practise patience, both as parents and as artists’
Photograph: Anna Hayat & Slava Pirsky
Even if I had ten hands, it wouldn’t be enough by Daesung Lee (1st place winner, series)
‘In the early 1970s, it was rare for women in Korea to have careers. My mother had to take care of not only my grandparents but also my younger uncles and aunts, as well as my older sister and me, while managing all the household chores. One day I asked my mum: “If reincarnation exists, what would you want to be in your next life?” She answered: “I don’t want to be born again”’
Photograph: Daesung Lee
Man is heaven, woman is earth by Daesung Lee (1st place winner, series)
‘This project shows the struggles of women in traditional Korean society. Korean women silently endured the everyday discrimination ingrained in society. They were not called by their names, referred to rather as whoever’s wife or mother. Growing up watching my mother’s life, I sincerely hope that in her next one, she can have a happier life or perhaps even attain Nirvana. I aim to tell their lives in humorous and playful ways, turning their hardships into something positive’
Photograph: Dasung Lee
Rwanda: Healing Wounds – Reconciliation in Post-Genocide by Jan Banning (2nd place winner, series)
Marianna Nyirantgorama, 58, a survivor, with the murderer of her sister. She fled with her family to a church when the genocide began. Most of them were killed there. She and one sister survived by hiding among the bodies, and later escaped to Bisesero, where many Tutsis died after being abandoned by French peacekeeping forces. In 2018, Marianna joined a CBS Rwanda therapy group, where she encountered Marc Nyandekwe, 60, the neighbour who killed her sister. During therapy, she forgave him
Photograph: Jan Banning (Courtesy Galerie Fontana)
Ray’s Porch Store by Barbara Peacock (3rd place winner, series)
‘After moving to Maine, I developed a new interest in farming and rural life. It began to feel like my true home. This is Ray, who sells eggs and vegetables every day to the locals. It comes from my series Searching for the Same Light, inspired by the poem The Unbearable Weight of Staying by Warsan Shire: “Growing to and from one another, searching for the same light.” It reflects the idea that, regardless of our politics or beliefs, we’re all searching for love, family, health and a good life – with a bit of light shining on us’
Photograph: Barbara Peacock
The Extraordinary Beauty of Ginger Haired Girls, 2024, by Stefanie Langenhoven (Jurors’ Picks)
In these photographs, the girls wear vintage dresses, surrounded by antique cups and/or furniture, evoking a sense of nostalgia. However, this nostalgia is tinged with discomfort, as it highlights the persistence of outdated stereotypes. The fish and water in the cups adds a surrealistic touch, hinting at the need to challenge these stereotypes
Photograph: Stefanie Langenhoven
Ida by Magnus Laupa (Jurors’ Picks)
’It’s quiet in the dormitory. Ida turns in her bed. She’s dreaming. Suddenly, she wakes up, sits upright, looks straight into my camera. Two attendants rush over and press her back down again. The moment – did I capture it? She sits there on the bed, the light, the sharpness in her gaze – so fragile, so beautiful, so alone’
Photograph: Magnus Laupa
Marise, Mom of Stokely and Ellison by Nancy Borowick (finalist)
‘Every time I meet a client as their doula, they want to know my story. I tend to see birth and death as beautiful and part of the spectrum of life. My angel babies – no matter how brief their lives were, they were still so important. Marise is the mom of Stokely, who died when she was 19 weeks pregnant and Ellison, who died when she was 29 weeks pregnant. She now works as a birth and postpartum doula, supporting others the way she wasn’t during pregnancy and afterwards’
Photograph: Nancy Borowick
Miki at a New House, Sendai, Japan, 2023, by Shin Ono (Jurors’ Picks)
‘This is a tribute to my parents, capturing their lives and their final moments through a series of black and white photographs. From quiet moments together at home to the stillness of their final farewell, I see grief as having two faces: finding peace in endings, and dreaming of a journey beyond. Rooted in Japanese cultural traditions, these photographs weave together the fragility of life, the weight of memory and the enduring love for those we’ve lost’
Photograph: Shin Ono
Dreamland by Yuliya Germanovich (finalist)
‘This image was taken with an analogue camera on my daughter Maya’s birthday, which she celebrated in Georgia. The city of Mtskheta became her second home for two months’
Photograph: Yuliya Germanovich
Brave by Hannah Mittelstaedt (Jurors’ Picks)
Merle finds the rise in anti-trans policy ‘really scary and disappointing. I remember feeling when I was younger like there was progress being made, and there still is, but in today’s political climate I can no longer hold on to the feeling that I have a steady progression towards a brighter future. I think the rise in violence and fear towards queer and trans people, fascism and hatred are growing at the moment, and it means that we need to be brave and support each other’
Photograph: Hannah Mittelstaedt
Baby Pool by Eliza Bell Schweizbach (finalist) ‘
In 2021, after witnessing a friend with hyperemesis – severe vomiting from pregnancy – I started looking at the world of maternity portraits and wondering: do pregnant people feel seen by these?’
Photograph: Eliza Bell Schweizbach
Disparate Intention by Kevin Smith (finalist)
‘A street portrait from New York City in 2024. These photographs are not just portraits; they tell stories. Each image shows the gap between how people want to be seen and how they really are – the raw truth in a world where we carefully craft our online personas’
Photograph: Kevin Smith
In Green Pastures by Sabrina Santiago (finalist)
‘This project documents scenes of girlhood through eight subjects I found living in my home town in suburban New Jersey. As a woman, I often find myself revisiting my experience of being a girl: hanging out with friends by the creek, lounging in the summer sun with the comfort of knowing I have time to figure it all out. What I found most special about this project is that although I haven’t been a girl in many years, girlhood hasn’t changed all that much. The tucked-away creek beds and spots that once held my secrets now hold theirs’
Photograph: Sabrina Santiago
Andrea (23) with his parents in the kitchen of their home in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, by Niccolo Rastrelli (Jurors’ Picks)
Andrea works on a farm and is an expert in makeup and special effects in the field of film. He has been practising cosplay since 2012. Here, he plays Amphibian Man, the main character in Guillermo Del Toro’s film The Shape of Water
Photograph: Niccolo Rastrelli
Interpolation 17 by Sander Vos (Jurors’ Picks)
This series creates surreal worlds that challenge our visual perception. The images don’t document reality as captured directly by the camera, but use photography to deconstruct, and ultimately create, new realities through layering and image manipulation
Photograph: Sander Vos
