Hardijanto Budima | 1st Place | Hardijanto is a self-taught photographer who developed an interest in photography in the early 2000s. Art has always been an overflowing part of his life. Since he was a boy, he has had a deep passion for drawing and painting, finding in art the freedom to create anything he desires, whether it be fantasy or reality. He is particularly fond of Surrealism, which significantly influences many of his works. His ideas and inspirations flow effortlessly, much like water in a river. For Hardijanto, photography is the ideal medium to express his artistic passion. His works represent the journey of his life, encompassing the expression of imagination, emotion, and his life experiences. In addition to photography, he also has a love for poetry. This is evident on his Instagram, where each photo he posts is accompanied by a poem, using this medium to convey his messages. Hardijanto draws inspiration from many amazing artists, most of whom are not photographers. These include Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Andy Warhol, and Yayoi Kusama. However, he also admires photographers like Fan Ho, Sebastiao Salgado, Noelle Oszvald, and Evelyn Bencicova.

Amirhossein Loloei | 2nd Place | He is a professional art photographer from Tehran with specializations in portrait, fashion, and editorial photography. Since the beginning of his career, he has been active in international exhibitions and has won prestigious awards. His collaborations extend to multiple magazines worldwide. He draws inspiration from classic paintings and is continually fascinated by the composition, coloring, and uniqueness of the images. In his opinion, light and color are the essential elements and tools required to create an impactful photograph.

Gavin Libotte | 3rd Place | Gavin Rene Libotte is an Australian photographer originally from Kent in Sussex, England. He started his photography journey using film as a teenager, even setting up a darkroom in his bathroom. After a long hiatus, in which he studied Graphic Design, Fine Art and Jazz/Classical Guitar in Perth, Gavin returned to photography and videography in 2019. He began by using iPhones then took to the streets with Fuji and Ricoh cameras, discovering a love of fine art street photography. Gavin is a full-time Musician, Educator and Yogi, and has recently started working as a Commercial Photographer. He finds the practice of photography in alignment with his meditation routine, helping him to live in the present moment. Based in Sydney, Australia, Gavin is currently working on several street photography projects and exhibiting his work in international group exhibitions.

Benoit Dupuy | Honorable Mention | He has been passionate about photography for over thirty years. Over these years, his quest for aesthetics has evolved into a continuous search for originality. This journey, combined with his desire for staging, necessitates a constant observation of the various leagues and life scenes that surround him. He acknowledges that the results do not always meet expectations, but he believes that failure is a part of progress. His passion drives him forward, fueling his ongoing commitment to his art.

Alexandru Crisan | Honorable Mention | Alexandru Crișan (b. Bucharest, Romania 1978) is a visual artist interested in the existential complementarity of objective and nonobjective forms of expression. To resolve the former, he is an architect – “but one doesn’t shoot the breeze when it comes to architecture, one comes with bricks and mortar where the breeze will shoot”… As far as the latter is to be unpacked, his “counter-professional” career in photography began in 2008; his paintings stand, for almost three decades, as the most intimate, borderline atavistic, acts of divulgence. Assuming that taxonomy is of any consequence, he is partial to fine-art photography and abstract expressionism. The eclectic nature of his works is, therefore, a given. His photography is a direct result of compulsive visual disquisitions on impromptu portraiture, architectural equivocations, parametric manipulations, “hybrid storytelling” and evocative conservationism.

LUCAS GARCETE, SHARON EILON, BENCE MÁTÉ, OLIVER KLINK, ANDREW GHOSTLY, AMANDA LARGE/YOUNES BOUNHAR, JORGE PEDRA,IZASKUN VALMASEDA, KLAUS LENZEN, PATRYK JARACZ, PAOLA FRANCESCA BARONE, CHERAINE COLLETTE, DIANA BLOOMFIELD, DAVID SHEDLARZ, MAX MARIENKO, MICHAELA ĎURIŠOVÁ, THIERRY LAGNEL, BETTY WAGNER, VALENTINA SALVIATO, ERIC CORTES, DIEGO CABALLERO OVIEDO, JÜRGEN SOBKOWIAK, RIZLANE ABDESSAMAD, MICHAEL PHILIPP BADER, SERENA BECCARI, DARIA TROITSKAIA, RICHARD MAXIM, SUSANNE MIDDELBERG, ARNOLD JESERZNIK, ELISA VILLA, CRISSIAL, BIPINCHANDRA CHRISTIAN, STEVE REYNOLDS, ERIK SCHOTTSTAEDT, KATY OTTO, JAMES WOOLDRIDGE, RICHARD RDUCH, DAVID TORRADO, CHANJOO JUNG, LAURE DUNNE, ANJA ARVIN, MICHELE CHICHIERCHIA, JÜRGEN HAMMERMANN, FERNANDO SALADO, ALEX POLITIS, KAREN SAFER, LAURA VESMARE, DÁMASO ÁVILA, TOMMY GOGUELY, LORENZO VITALI, BERNARDA CONIC, JOSEF BUERGI, JOSEPH PATRONITE, KARINEH GURJIAN, BRIAN CASSEY, NICOLETTA CERASOMMA, XIAOHAN LUFFINGHAM, GEORGIA LLOYD, ANDREA ESPOSTO, SAHATS IGOA LOPEZ, LEANNE TRIVETT S, LU ZHANG, HEATHER ANDERSON, JOSEPH O’NEILL, BEVIL TEMPLETON-SMITH, JOXE INAZIO KUESTA GARMENDIA, OLGA STEINEPREIS, JULIA NATHANSON, BOYZ BIEBER, FENQIANG LIU, TINA DIETZ, RODRIGO IZQUIERDO, JULIE FOWELLS, LISE VANDEWYNCKELE, MITSUHARU MAEDA, STEVE REYNOLDS