After recently sharing highlights from the Exposure One Awards’ Black & White Nature Photography Contest in the Animals category, and then jumping into the wildly different worlds of Aerial and Underwater, we’re back with another slice of the 2025 winners.
This time, we’re narrowing the focus to the non-professional division, pulling together the category winners and honorable mentions from the areas we haven’t featured yet: Earth’s Textures, Humans & Nature, Land, Light & Shadow, Minimalism, Other, and Pattern & Form.
Let us know which are your favorites, and of course, check out all of 2025’s submissions on Exposure One’s website and Instagram page.
#21 “Grace In Flight” By Maria Ciampini
Description: Two terns face each other in the sky, their black and white wings unfolding gracefully. In their brief encounter, there is a tender closeness that suggests a timeless connection. Flight becomes poetry, a meditation on balance, harmony, and the beauty of presence.
Bronze Award in the Minimalism Category.
Nominee in the Animals Category.
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7points
#22 “Pfahlwerk” By Rainer Lüdecke
Description: Pfahlwerk explores the quiet tension between man-made structures and natural space. Solitary piles rise from water and sky, reduced to essential lines. The series invites stillness, focusing on balance, rhythm, and the beauty of minimal form.
Honorable Mention in the Minimalism Category.
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7points
#23 “Dense” By Wesley Barker
Description: A palm jungle on Indonesia's Penida Island portrays how quickly the sunlight is absorbed by the dense canopy above.
Gold Award in the Earth’s Textures Category.
Honorable Mention in the Minimalism Category.
Honorable Mention in the Lights & Shadow Category.
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6points
#24 “Faces Of The Sky” By Marcos Franchetti
Description: From the state of Tocantins in central Brazil, to New Zealand, to the Pantanal, and to the Serengeti in Tanzania, this gallery aims to showcase the different faces of the sky in various parts of the world. Each face has its own charm and fascination.
Silver in the Earth’s Textures Category.
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6points
#25 “Yosemite In Fog” By Gayle Pepper
Description: Snow and fog accent the pines and majestic mountain ridges of Yosemite.
Honorable Mention in the Earth’s Textures Category.
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6points
#26 “Lonely Tree” By Jack Lefor
Description: Living in an open area of mostly fields and grasslands, this lonely tree stands in stark contrast compared to the large wind turbines in this snowy-covered scene.
Honorable Mention in the Minimalism Category.
Nominee in the Land Category.
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6points
#27 “Timewheel Above The Wreck” By Andres Papp
Description: Long star trails spin like a cosmic wheel over the skeletal remains of a shipwreck on the Estonian coast. The UV torch skims across the weathered wood and glittering shore, linking the wreck’s slow decay with the patient rotation of the night sky.
Bronze Award in the Other Category.
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6points
#28 “All Quiet On The Western Front” By John Salinardo
Honorable Mention in the Other Category.
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6points
#29 “Succulent Spiral” By Donald Bolak
Bronze Award In The Pattern & Form Category.
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6points
#30 “Velvety Sand” By Petra Brix
Description: Khongoryn Els are some of the largest and most spectacular sand dunes in Mongolia. They are up to 300m high, 12km wide, and about 100km long. From afar, the dunes look like painted, up close, they seem to change into blankets made of velvet, discarded by some giant in the Mongolian steppe.
Honorable Mention in the Earth’s Textures Category.
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5points
#31 “A Sea Of Horns” By Rachael Ryan
Description: “I took this photo on my iPhone as I was helping my sister move goats around the yards….the dust billowed up so much one could hardly see!”
3rd Place Overall Contest Winner
Gold Award in the Humans & Nature Category.
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5points
#32 “A Dream Within A Dream” By Marcos Franschetti
Description: Bambo Forest in Kyoto, using a vertical panning technique.
Gold Award in the Pattern & Form Category.
Honorable Mention in the Abstract Category.
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5points
#33 “Basket Star” By Fabi Fregonesi
Silver Award in the Pattern & Form Category.
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5points
#34 “Monochrome Blindness” By Ronja Arnold
Bronze Award in the Humans & Nature Category.
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4points
#35 “Tulip II” By Jonathan Tudor
Bronze Award in the Light & Shadow Category.
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4points
#37 “Sculptural Botanic” By David Cook
Bronze Award in the Pattern & Form
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4points
#38 “Snow Rests Without Weight” By Markus Busch
2nd Place Overall Contest Winner.
Gold Award in the Land Category.
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3points
#39 “Gossamer Ballet” By Davind Stine
Description: This is a Calla lily lit by a flashlight. The abstract rendering reminded me of a ballerina soaring into the air with arms entwined above her head.
Gold in the Light & Shadow Category.
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3points
#40 “Emerging Light” By Cristian Dinivitzer
Description: Light emerges from the horizon, dissolving shadow into form. In this moment of quiet transformation, the landscape becomes a meditation on time, renewal, and the subtle geometry of light itself.
Silver Award in the Light & Shadow Category.
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3points
