The Best Of Color Photography: 20 Winners Of 1839 Photo Awards

Forbes

18-05-2025

Tiger Motel, Bronze Award Winner 2024, Professional Conceptual category
Celebrating distinctive artistic images that honor color photography, the 1839 Awards has announced the winners of its 2025 Photo Contest.
Named after the year the photographic medium was first made widely available to the public, 1839 Awards organizes different competitions rewarding the most remarkable photographers using photography as an art form.
From Morocco and Mongolia to the American West and Palestine, the winning photographs are a fascinating look at life in color across the globe. 'These images allow viewers to explore the world, and each winning photo is a bold declaration of vision and talent,' the organizers said.
The Color Photography Contest winners were chosen by judges from, among others, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Phaidon Press, Vanity Fair, Artsy, University of Zurich, Dwell and Christie's.
Italian photographer Nicola Fioravanti was the overall winner in the professional division for his affectionate look at Morocco, his partner's birthplace. In photographing scenes from the country, he wants to 'trace the shades that illuminated her childhood.'
American photographer Diana Cheren Nygren was named the overall winner in the non-professional division for her conceptual series overlapping painted frames with scenes of habitation to reflect on global issues. By combining barren landscapes with these scenes, she wants viewers to think about our future in the face of climate change.
Morocco Sentimental Atlas, Overall Professional Winner and Winner Professional Travel category
'This project is a heartfelt tribute to the country I hold dear,' explains Nicola Fioravant. 'In Morocco, colors are not merely seen, but experienced. It is also a deeply personal journey, one that seeks to understand the land where the woman I love was born.'
'Mother Earth,' Overall Winner, Non-Professional and Winner, Non-Professional Conceptual category
'I have mounted scenes of habitation behind acrylic, set within future landscapes shaped by climate change,' said Diana Cheren Nygren. 'Painted frames allude to Earth's next chapter. Scenes of human habitation set against a future post-human landscape ask whether humanity can adapt to what is in store for the planet.'
'Tsam-The Dance of Gods," Overall Professional Runner-up and Winner, Professional, People category
A sacred Tibetan Buddhist ritual, Tsam embodies the divine battle between good and evil. Through intricate masks, lavish costumes, and precise choreography, monks channel wrathful deities to purify and protect. This series unveils the mystique of Mongolia's rarest masked dance tradition.
'Tsam·The Dance of Gods,' Overall Professional Runner-up, and Winner, Professional, People category
Unbroken Spirit: Worship Amid Destruction, Winner, 3rd place Overall Contest and Gold Award Professional Photojournalism category
A powerful scene of Palestinian civilians praying amid the rubble of a mosque destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. Under a smoke-filled sky, they continue their worship in a place once a sanctuary of peace, now reduced to ruins, symbolizing resilience amid relentless destruction.
The Art of Vietnamese Soy Sauce, Silver Award, People Profesional category
A Vietnamese woman prepares soybeans for fermentation in large ceramic pots.
'Journey of Life 20,' Runner-up, Non-Professional and Winner, Non-Professional, Nature category
Once a freshwater lake, this former body of water has been reduced to a highly concentrated salt pan that is severely alkaline and toxic to most forms of animal and plant life except for flamingos, which prefer to forage on the surface.
Flowers for Caravaggio, Third Place, Non-Professional and Winner, Non-Professional, Still Life category
'For seven years I immersed myself in Caravaggio's world,' explains Trina O'Hara. 'I copied (in paint) his entire body of work. I made it my mission to see all of Caravaggio's paintings in the flesh. His vision shaped mine. Now, when sunlight hits a vase of flowers, I don't just see it: I see life through Caravaggio's eyes.'
Pelican UNO, Winner, Professional, Animals category
A moment in wildlife photography is captured as a pelican in mid-air, splashes water in all directions. The dynamics of the scene are enhanced by direct eye contact with the bird, a rare combination of power and elegance.
Family Portrait, Winner, Non-Professional, Animals category
'A mother tiger and her three cubs were drinking from a small pond,' David Vaughn recalls. 'I had to wait until they all looked my way and then it happened.'
Glacial blue, Winner, Professional, Landscape category
This photo is on of a series taken from a light aircraft and captures the blue waters of braided blue glacial rivers flowing into lakes from the high mountains of the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand. The blue coloration of the water is due to fine silt particles in the water.
Tree of Life, Winner, Non-Professional, Landscapes category
A lone tree stans tall, alive and with seeming pride in a paddy field with freshly sown rice.
Dancing In The Moonlight, Winner, Professional, Nature category
'Gliding like a ghost in the moonlight, a flying squirrel crosses the starry sky, while the moon casts abstract shadows on my house,' Carla Rhodes explains. 'After months of late nights and obsessive observation, I made the image I envisioned: a single frame revealing the hidden magic just beyond our windows.'
Dreamscape of Etosha, Winner, Professional, Conceptual category
Standing alone yet resolute, this tree becomes a guardian of Etosha's expansive desert plains. Captured with infrared photography, the scene takes on a dreamlike quality where the tree's crown glows in soft pink against a delicate blue sky.
Inspired by J. Vermeer, Winner, Professional, Still Life category
'If you think my photo reminds you of something you've already seen somewhere, you're right,' says Anna Riabova, 'My work evokes associations with my favorite artists and art styles, such as symbolism, Dutch still-life paintings and surrealism. I particularly like images where there is very little action.'
Desert Dreaming: Brutalist Visions of Country, Winner, Professional, Storytelling category
In the vast Arrente Country of Munga-Thirri National Park in South Australia, Claire Letitia Reynolds reimagines the brutal beauty of the land where ruin and resilience collide: 'Inspired by dreaming, I weave hand-dyed papers into surreal landscapes, layering memory, intervention, and survival—portals to another time, where spirit and stories remain.'
Zig Zag, Winner, Non-Professional, Architecture category
Zig Zag Architecture.
Foggy Days in Autumn, Winner, Non-Professional, Minimalism category
In autumn, some valleys in Austria are covered in fog due to the cold air remaining at ground level and the sun insufficiently intense to burn it off. It's called inversion and creates these beautiful moments.
In The Net, Winner, Non-Professional, People category
One early morning as Arkadiusz Wójcik planned to shoot at a small fish market, he met a group of people sewing and repairing fishing nets, a work that is done once every few months. 'We were extremely lucky,' he says gratefully.
Dust and Despair: A Coastal Cry for Water, Winner, Non-Professional, Photojournalism category
Dust and Despair in rural Peru, where 40% of the population lacks reliable water access due to poor infrastructure. Communities like this one in Huanchaco rely on costly, unreliable truck deliveries. Despite efforts, rural areas face water and waste challenges, deepening inequality and harming agriculture, businesses, and daily life.
The story of preserving heritage, Winner, Non-Professional, Travel category
This is the last remaining Malar, a traditional boat of Bengal with a design that dates back more than 3,000 years. Due to rapid urbanization, this heritage is disappearing. Preserving large wooden hulls in Bangladesh is incredibly challenging, a practice that is sadly nearly extinct.
See all the winners of the Color Photography contests 1839 Awards here.