In many ways, black-and-white nature photography is a more challenging art form than your standard color snapshot. It strips away the ‘easy’ beauty of color and forces the image to stand on its basic tenets: light, shape, texture, and timing. When it works, the results are no less than color photography. Instead, they feel more direct. More honest. Like you’re looking at a dark chocolate candy instead of the pretty wrapper.
That’s the whole point of the inaugural Black & White Nature Photography Contest by the Exposure One Awards. Photographers from around the world were asked to show what nature reveals when you take the obvious hook away. And the 2025 winners, nominees, and honorable mentions make a pretty compelling case that monochrome isn’t about removing something, but rather about perfecting composition.
Let us know in the comments which are your favorite animal photos here, and of course, check out submissions from this and other categories on Exposure One’s website and Instagram page.
#1 "Black And White_elephant" By Sergey Gorshkov
Nominee in the Animals category at the Professional level.
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23points
Without color to guide your attention, everything shifts. Fur starts to read like topography. Dust becomes a physical thing you can feel in the air. Water turns into a sheet of metal, or a soft gradient of gray that feels endless.
#2 "Eyes Raised High" By Laura Dyer
Honorable Mention in the Animals Category at the Professional level.
Description: Cheetah cubs, snuggling on their mom in a rain storm notice something flying overhead. They are alert to all dangers, especially in the rain as it dampens sounds. Mom is relaxed, but she know aerial battles are not of concern to the small family.
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22points
#3 "Sinister Eyes" By Faisal Zahir
Nominee in the Animals category at the Non-Professional level.
Nominee in the Wild Portraits category at the Non-Professional level.
Nominee in the Minimalism category at the Non-Professional level.
Nominee in the Wild Portraits category at the Non-Professional level.
Nominee in the Minimalism category at the Non-Professional level.
Description: Shot at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, New Jersey
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21points
Even familiar subjects, animals, landscapes, and simple weather phenomena, can suddenly look unfamiliar and otherworldly. Contrast and shadow take over in the visual storytelling.
#4 "Scar" By Titch Tetley
Honorable Mention in the Animals Category at the Professional level.
Description: "The ox pecker was coming in land and I wanted to capture him in motion. It wasn't until later that I noticed the scar down the giraffe's eye."
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20points
#5 "Tiger" By Abdul Kader Kagalwala
Honorable Mention in the Animals category at the Non-Professional level.
Description: "He rules the silence of the jungle — unseen, unwavering, untamed."
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17points
#6 "Drifters In Monochrome" By Christina Ford
Honorable Mention in the Underwater Category and the Animals Category.
Description: This series shows jellyfish glowing softly in darkness, their bells like lanterns and tentacles trailing like delicate strokes. Without color, they become pure form and motion, drifting like living shadows. Each image reveals quiet grace—slow pulses of light and gentle, weightless movement.
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17points
You get a sense of weight, tension, and curiosity, captured at exactly the right fraction of a second. Close-ups feel personal rather than decorative. Wider scenes feel like you’ve stepped into a place where the air itself has texture.
#7 "Deadly Fluff" By Wouter Van Hofwegen
Gold Award in the Animals category at the Non-Professional level.
Description: Thick fur hides claws and power. The bear’s paws show both strength and comfort, made to endure the endless winter.
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16points
#8 "Evolution In Tandem" By David Volonte
Nominee in the Animals category at the Non-Professional level.
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16points
#9 "Crowned In Dust And Shadow" By Mark Fernley
2nd Place, Overall Contest.
Silver Award in the Animals Category at the Professional level.
Silver Award in the Animals Category at the Professional level.
Description: A young male lion steps through a cloud of dust lifted by his own movement and caught in the back light. The night around him stays silent, but the glow reveals every contour of rising strength. A rare, intimate moment from the waterhole here in the Shompole Conservancy, southern Kenya.
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15points
What connects the strongest photographs in this set is discipline. No visual noise. No gimmicks. Just a clear idea, a strong composition, and the patience to wait for the moment to line up.
#10 "Dreams Of Ice" By Douglas Sturgess
Nominee in the Animals category at the Non-Professional level. Description: A lone polar bear rests on a barren Arctic shore, its white fur glowing softly against the dark stones. In the stillness, there’s both peace and fragility, a quiet reminder of life enduring at the edge of a frozen world.
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15points
#11 "Against A Quiet Current' By Michael Paul
Nominee in the Animals Category at the Professional level.
"An elk and her yearlings ford a rocky mountain river as the morning fog burns off. The current was so placid, it neither impeded their crossing nor concealed the sloshing of their steady march to the far bank."
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15points
#12 "Clean-Up" By Jon Ehrmann
Honorable Mention in the Animals category at the Non-Professional level.
Nominee in the Wild Portraits category at the Non-Professional level.
Nominee in the Wild Portraits category at the Non-Professional level.
Description: "This voracious wild predator meticulously cleans up after a meal. The back and white rendering with steely texture articulates the power of the Praying Mantis. A bokeh halo completes the composition."
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14points
It’s a kind of confidence, really, letting the subject carry the image without adding extra “look at me” energy on top.
#13 "Through The Fog" By Evan Watts
Honorable Mention, Animals Category.
Nominee, Light & Shadow Category.
Nominee, Light & Shadow Category.
Description: "High in the Wyoming Rockies, a grizzly bear sow and her cub cross a mountain river. It was a cool morning, and thick fog hung overhead as steam rose from the river, creating an ethereal scene around one of nature's most respected predators."
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14points
#14 "Tails Of The Sea" By Anthony Brown
Bronze Award in the Animals category at the Non-Professional level.
Honorable Mention in the Ocean category at the Non-Professional level.
Honorable Mention in the Ocean category at the Non-Professional level.
Description: A large humpback whale had just breached. Just as a whale behind it started to tail slap. Making it look like this was just one big tailslap.
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13points
#15 "The Trust" By Alena Kámen Jakubová
Nominee in the Animals category at the Non-Professional level.
Nominee in the Lights & Shadow category at the Non-Professional level.
Nominee in the Lights & Shadow category at the Non-Professional level.
Description: "The calm face of the animal, sharing the present peacefulness, the rust in the eye of the horse."
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13points
Taken together, the awarded and honored shots are a reminder of why black-and-white still matters. It slows you down. It makes you look closer.
#16 "The Open North" By Rachel Spencer
Nominee in the Animals category at Professional level.
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13points
#17 "Skysurfing" By Xiaoping Lin
Honorable Mention in the Animals Category at the Professional level.
Description: "When an egret was fishing, it happened to encounter a silver carp rushing out of the sea. One of the egret's feet pressed the silver carp under its feet, like an egret playing skateboarding in the air."
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13points
#18 "Black And White_young Foxes" By Sergey Gorshkov
Nominee in the Animals category at the Professional level.
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13points
#19 "The Giants Whisper" By José Miguel Angulo
Nominee in the Animals Category at the Professional level.
Description: Photographs of elephants made in Amboseli (Kenya) as part of a long project in support of this ecosystem and the maasai community in Africa, driving to the publication of the book "The Giants Whisper"
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13points
#20 "The Horses Of Camargue" By Laura Mommicchi
Nominee in the Animals category.
Description: "Freedom at its finest. The white horses of Camargue, free, galloping in the wilderness. The Guardians, showing the care and the love that humans have for horses for centuries and generations in this region. A dance to witness. Complicity, Tenderness and Rawness."
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13points