“Although humans see reality in colour, for me, black-and-white [photography] has always been connected to the image’s deeper truth, to its most hidden meaning,” once said Peter Lindbergh, and the winners of the 2025 One Shot Photo Contest could probably be a very good proof of it.
After a year rich with powerful visual storytelling, the Exposure One Awards proudly unveils this year’s most striking captures—an unforgettable tribute to black-and-white photography at its most raw and poetic. Selected from thousands of entries, these images stand out for their daring composition, emotional depth, and exceptional artistic vision.
More info: exposureoneawards.com | Instagram
#1 Timeless Nocturne #4 - Icon | Gold In Non Professionals Category | Category Winners
Sounds like a single note played on a piano, balanced composition with internal dynamics. Сonceptual timeless feminine figure in a graphic minimalist style, sensuality in a surreal majestic geometric idea.
Inspired by Ralph Gibson, Irving Penn, Ray Metzker, Trent Parke, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton.
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18points
Among the standout winners is Joanna Steidle’s “Another World”—a surreal aerial capture that feels like it was taken on another planet, yet it reveals the strange beauty found just off the coast of New York. Equally unforgettable is Caroline Peppiatt’s “SWAMP IDYLL,” a hauntingly beautiful moment of quiet wonder, captured while paddling through the still, untamed swamps of Florida. And Grzegorz Bys stuns with “Mirror,” a masterstroke of street photography—where everyday life and poetic reflection collide in perfect harmony.
What sets this contest apart isn’t just the caliber of the work—it’s the world-class jury behind it as well. Experts from the Leica Gallery, SF MoMA, Photo Basel, AIPAD, and Aperture brought their discerning eyes to the judging process, lending an unmatched level of credibility and curatorial excellence.
#2 Shaggy | Gold In Professionals Category | Category Winners
Home is where the herd is.
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13points
#3 Another World | 3rd Place In Professionals Category | Contest Winners
Featured here is a top-down drone photograph of a fever of cownose rays approaching a school of menhaden fish. Taken just 150yards from the coast of New York.
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13points
#4 Up To Here And No Further | Gold In Non Professionals Category | Category Winners
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13points
#5 Veil Of Grace
A great egret draped in breeding plumage of elegant aigrettes curls its neck, giving me just a peek of one eye highlighted in the setting sun. In color, the lores around the eyer are a brilliant green, another hallmark of the great egrets' breeding season. This image conveys drama and mystery.
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12points
#7 Fur-Sister | Silver In Non Professionals Category | Category Winners
A portrait capturing a moment between my daughter and our dog which narrates the special relationship they share. It is visible how much love and joy they bring one another and how much my daughter cherishes her precious fur- sister.
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10points
#8 The Rooster's Crow | Gold In Non Professionals Category | Category Winners
A rooster crows in La Libertad, El Salvador, where poverty and luxury stand side by side. Smoke rises from burning trash - the only waste management locals have. Despite the area's tourist appeal, residents still struggle with limited clean drinking water.
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10points
#9 Metamorphic | Gold In Non Professionals Category | Category Winners
The beginning stages of metamorphosis as I let go of what was and what I thought was meant to be. Today I accept that my life and my dreams are suspended like a chrysalis while my tears wash down the drain.
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9points
#10 The Last Cormorant Fishermen Of Guilin, China | Gold In Professionals Category | Category Winners
River Li in Guilin, the Cormorant Men fish without the aid of a rod, hook or bait, instead, using a method which was first practiced in 960 AD by using a bird known as a cormorant. Tethered, the cormorant will dive for fish returning to the fisherman on the surface with their prize catch.
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8points
#11 Sierra Rains | Gold In Professionals Category | Category Winners
Late Autumn rain showers lash the Sierra Mountains in California, as viewed from the White Mountains. Sept 30, 2011, Canon 5D.
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8points
#13 Coming Home | Gold In Non Professionals Category | Category Winners
A small leopard cub perched on its termite mound waiting for the mother to return from a k**l and staring out at the horizon. There was a male leopard in the area which makes you appreciate how even small cubs can survive in adversity.
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8points
#15 Beneath | Gold In Professionals Category | Category Winners
This image series reflects a complex web of unspoken truths and hidden emotions. This art of concealment protects us, shielding our true selves from the world's scrutiny. Vulnerability is a delicate, fragile state — one that exposes our innermost fears, desires, and pain.
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7points
#16 Swamp Idyll | 3rd Place In Non Professionals Category | Contest Winners
Steamy, early morning August.
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7points
#17 Miners | Gold In Non Professionals Category | Category Winners
Each descent into the mine is a battle with death, constantly vigilant against cave-ins and explosions. For meager wages, they can only continue to trade their lives and health for their family's basic needs, struggling to survive on the edge of poverty and danger.
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7points
#18 Love Of My Life | Gold In Non Professionals Category | Category Winners
This is the artist Jan D’Esopo with her parrots, amongst them Campece the white cockatoo and the “Love of her life”. When I entered the scene, the electricity broke down and in the seconds when she called the emergency, the scene was just illuminated by the light of the phone.
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7points
#19 Sparkling Serpentine Purification | Gold In Non Professionals Category | Category Winners
Building roof taken to capture an Escher like image.
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7points
