The Exposure One Awards has announced the winners of its 2026 Photographers of the Year contest, bringing together some incredible black-and-white photography from around the world. This year’s competition received submissions from photographers in 87 countries, making it the organization’s largest contest to date.

The winning images show just how much can be captured through the black-and-white medium. A jury of photography and arts professionals selected the finalists, including experts from institutions such as SFMOMA, Leica Gallery Los Angeles, Aperture, and the Art Gallery of Alberta.

Scroll down to see some of this year's standout photographs, and join us in congratulating the talented photographers behind them!

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#1 Non-Professional, Minimalism: Uncaged By David Stine

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others - Nelson Mandela.

#2 Discovery Of The Year; Non-Professional, Wildlife: Toothsome By Corey Raffel

A Nile Crocodile resting in still, shallow water. The reptile's jaws are reflected in the water, making an almost perfect mirror image of its toothy mouth.

#3 Professional, Abstract: Infinite Pattern By Abdullah Abdulaziz

A hanging textile casts a rigid shadow across a rough wall, turning a domestic fragment into a study of weight, absence and light. Cloth, cord and plaster become a quiet geometry, where the smallest suspended object seems to hold the room in tension.

#4 Professional, Travel:: The Night Market By Pascale Navarro

A woman and her cat near a night market in the streets of Ho Chi Minh city.

#5 Professional, Street: Wabi-Sabi By Simon Ellingworth

A visual response to the Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi. An aesthetic characterized by finding beauty in imperfection, impermanence, or simplicity. Conceptually, I capture fleeting fragments of impermanence with an aesthetic that embraces simplicity and imperfection.

#6 International Photographer Of The Year: Zen-Organic Photography For The Digital Age By Joshua Yehenara

8x10 B&W film, no Photoshop! To create this series of 20 photographs, I designed and built some specialized equipment, and using these equipments, along with special techniques, I created the illusion of floating rocks in the photos without the use of any digital tools, like photoshop or Lightroom.

#7 International Discovery Of The Year: After The Blizzard By Ed Healy

#8 Non-Professional, Portrait: First Born By Karen Moffatt-Mcleod

The struggle for dominance between twins as to who is the elder.

#9 Professional, Architecture: Echoing Heights By Alexandra Thannhäuser

This series plays with the rhythm of repeating architectural forms - the presence of birds in single images shifts the composition from a study of structure to a dialogue between scale and space.

#10 Professional, Landscapes: Built To Last By Cathy Vercoe

The oldest huts in Antarctica on Ridley Beach at Cape Adare built by the Norwegians for Borchgrevink’s expedition in 1899. The Living hut and the Store hut still stand as if built within the last ten years. The same cannot be said however for the hut to the right, built by the British for Scott's Terra Nova Expedition in 1911 which has not weathered the storms.

#11 Professional, Portrait: The Golden Silks By Christiaan Hart

Studio portrait with Zac Purton - record winning jockey in Hong Kong with over 2000 wins.

#12 Professional, Aerial: Written In Water By Christina Ford

Written in Water, waves inscribe fleeting patterns across black sand, only to erase and rewrite them. Viewed from above, the shoreline becomes an abstract field of light and darkness—a meditation on impermanence, rhythm, time, and nature’s endless cycle of creation and erasure.

#13 Professional, People: Growing Up Travelling: The Journey Continues By Jamie Johnson

For over 13 years, I have photographed Irish Traveller children as they grew from childhood into adulthood. Now the journey continues as I photograph their children—a new generation born into the same close-knit community, carrying forward its traditions, identity, and sense of family.

#14 Professional, Minimalism: Cliff Hanger By Justinus Sukotjo

Sawarna is on the South coast of Banten, West Java, Indonesia. It has a raw and unique coastline. Karang Bokor is one of the most dramatic cliff viewpoints in Sawarna with one tree hanging on the edge of the cliff that gives a gorgeous minimalist image for black and white photography.

#15 Professional, Domestic Animals: Wings Of Light By Longtao MA

Suspended for an instant against the darkness, a cockatiel opens its wings like a fan of light. The monochrome frame transforms a fleeting movement into a study of rhythm, grace, and quiet determination.

#16 Professional, Still Life: Hanging Shadow By Marcel Van Beek

#17 Professional, Wildlife : The Owl You Always See By Mathieu V Vanderstichele

The Owl You Always See. There was an owl, silent and black as the night, who seemed to be everywhere you looked. Sometimes on a branch, sometimes behind a window, sometimes shimmering in the water.

#18 Professional, Nature: Little Hitchhikers By Romona Robbins Reynolds

Tiny juvenile fish living inside the bell of a moon jellyfish.

#19 Professional, Event: L.A. Pride 03 By Scarlett Freund

#20 Non-Professional, Street: Cruisin Snoozer By William West

One afternoon I met a man on the Atlantic City, NJ, Boardwalk. He said his cat did tricks. He placed him on a skateboard and pushed him down the boardwalk. From the front with a low angle, and a 24mm lens, I made this film photograph. The man accidently walked by, and the cat shut his eyes.

#21 Non-Professional, Photojournalism: Amish Laundry Softball Day By William West

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Black and White book project. One afternoon south of Strasburg, PA, I happened upon a one room schoolhouse with an Amish Softball game in progress. It felt like I had gone back 150 years in time. The Amish don't use cars or electricity and live on small farms.

#22 Non-Professional, Landscapes: Striking By Richard Cassey

From the 29th floor of a SoHo hotel, I watched a summer storm move across Manhattan. For a single instant, lightning found the city's tallest towers at once, revealing the raw power of nature against one of the world's most iconic skylines.

#23 Non-Professional, Event: Watching The Watcher By Nady Rizk

#24 Non-Professional, Domestic Animals: The Weight Of Waiting Or Distanced By Jose Ignacio Del Barrio

Captured through a wet, condensed windowpane, a solitary dog peers into the dark. This monochrome study explores isolation, longing, and quiet patience, transforming a fleeting moment into a moody, fine-art canvas.

#25 Non-Professional, Aerial: Anchored By Francesco Calarota

A vessel rests alone in dark waters, held to the rocky shore by a single fragile line. Seen from directly above, the scene becomes a study of isolation, scale and connection.

#26 Non-Professional, Still Life: Emptiness By Diego Reger

#27 Non-Professional, Fine Art: Acumulacion Suspendida By Diego Arrigoni

#28 Non-Professional, Travel: Noodle Makers By David Low

#29 Non-Professional, Fashion & Beauty: All Of Me By David Cohen

#30 Professional, Conceptual: Triangle By Brian Gilwee

#31 Professional, Photojournalism: The Day Holloway Road Turned Red By Richard Photographer

Thousands of supporters filled Holloway Road as Arsenal's championship parade passed through North London. Photographed from an elevated viewpoint, this image documents the scale, atmosphere and collective emotion of a community united by a historic sporting celebration.

#32 Professional: Fashion & Beauty: Where Seeing Begins By Stefan Groepper

Where Seeing Begins explores the space between seeing and being seen. Hands conceal and reveal, while vulnerability and strength coexist. What remains visible is not identity, but presence – a quiet encounter beyond appearance.

#33 Professional, Fine Art: Woman In Ds. By Willem Hansen

#34 Non-Professional, Architecture: Bixby Creek Bridge By Reno Ditullio

The Bixby Creek Bridge is a famous concrete arch bridge on California State Route 1 in Big Sur. Opened on November 27, 1932, it stands 260 to 280 feet high and spans 714 feet. It is one of the tallest single-span concrete bridges in the world.

#35 Non-Professional, Abstract: Water In Drops By Liz Barratt

#36 Non-Professional, Film/Analog: Where The Ground Gives Way By Caitlyn Gold

This body of work explores the tension between rapid industrial development and the loss of undeveloped land in my local community. Through photographs of warehouses and the remaining landscape, I examine how growth reshapes both the environment and a sense of place.

#37 Non-Professional, Conceptual: Between Worlds By Adone Valiuliene

From above, distance erases scale and the sea loses its horizon. Alone vessel moves away from the U K coast as an offshore wind farm slowly disappears into the haze. For a moment, sea and sky seem to become one, leaving only traces of human presence between them. Photographed from the air, UK, 2026.

#38 Non-Professional, People: Birds Market Bogor By Mohammed Muhtasib

WHATS CRACKIN

The Exposure One Awards Revealed 38 Stunning Black-And-White Photos From Its 2026 Contest