Josh Aronson (born 1994 in Toronto) is a Miami-based artist. His photos have been published in places like The New York Times, The Paris Review, Financial Times, Frieze, Italian Vogue, Teen Vogue, Dazed, i-D, and The Guardian. Josh grew up in Florida, and much of his photography is made there: cinematic scenes of young people hanging out, playing, and showing care for one another in forests, swamps, and other outdoor settings. He’s also the creator of Photo Book Speed Date, a public program where people meet up to share and talk about photography books in a fun, fast-round format.

We asked him some questions about his series, Florida Boys, which depicts coming-of-age experiences in nature in the backwoods of the state.

In your excellent article for Vogue, you wrote: “Making photographs is, for me, a way to
reclaim a sense of belonging. Photography allows me to imagine belonging somewhere
and to make that fantasy a bit more real through the act of visualizing it.” Can you
expand on this?
“I was born in Canada but raised in Florida. It’s home, but my family has no roots here, so I’ve
always felt like an insider-outsider. Photography lets me belong to a place I’ve been told I don’t.

“Growing up, I never saw myself in the images of Americana or coming-of-age stories I
encountered. Through photography, I’ve been able to expand that language. To place myself
and people like me inside it. I cast young men as surrogates for myself and bring them into rural and natural locations around the state. Many are first-generation Americans or children of immigrants who, like me, never had those quintessential outdoorsy coming-of-age experiences. Together, we make-believe. We play pretend as young men on the fringe, at ease in nature and in harmony with one another. In the act of pretending, we actually start to feel that sense of belonging. Fake it ‘til you make it.”

I feel that many people don’t feel safe deep in nature, especially if they grow up in big
cities. They are scared of animals or insects, or just being secluded and removed from
other people. Was this a hurdle you (or your subjects) had to get past?
“You’d think it would be, especially in Florida. But no. For me, nature has always been a haven. Despite the mosquitoes and the reptiles, there’s a calm that overrides my discomfort. Nature activates my imagination; it brings me back to a time before urbanization. That experience feels foundational and worth sharing.

“Before each trip, I make sure everyone knows what we’re getting into. The people who join me are usually excited to be outdoors. Still, your point is real: not everyone feels welcome in natural spaces. America’s idea of “wilderness” was built on the displacement of Indigenous people, of Black and Brown communities. The conservation movement has roots in eugenics, and that legacy lingers. I hope this work helps expand who feels they belong in nature.”

I think about freedom when I look at this series, and I think about your process. How did
this project feel emotionally for you (and your subjects/collaborators)?
“It was deeply emotional. Exhilarating, really. Some days felt like making the best pictures of my life. Other days, it was quieter, more reflective. The work became my love letter to Florida, to my own coming-of-age, and to the people I collaborate with.

“There’s also something healing about it. Photography is my excuse to gather people, to show them places they’ve never seen, and to create memories together. That’s the point of all this. To use photography as a tool for connection, for joy, for belonging.”

You chose to work with “Florida Boys” for this series. Why “young, queer Black and
Brown men from Miami”?
“Most of the people I photograph are young men from the greater Miami area. Some queer.
Some straight. Many first-generation. When casting, I look for people who remind me of myself, or who feel emblematic of Florida’s cultural DNA: creative, curious, resilient. I’m not
photographing local youth I happen upon in rural towns; I’m staging scenes with people I bring from the city into these landscapes.

“That act of staging matters. By recreating boyhood and coming-of-age scenes in
quintessentially Americana settings, I can open up those narratives and make them more
tender, strange, inclusive, and real to my experience.”

You wrote: “For a long time, I thought nature was neutral, that anyone could belong
there. I understand now that it never was. The American landscape is built on a hierarchy
of who could rest, roam, or feel safe within it.” Can you expand on this?
“I used to think nature was universal…that anyone could find peace there. But the American
landscape, as we know it, was built on systems of exclusion. The early conservation movement displaced Indigenous people and centered whiteness as the default steward of the land. That history still shapes who feels safe outdoors. My hope is that these photographs expand our collective image of who belongs in the landscape, and who gets to rest there.

Tell me about location scouting for this series? Did you research or explore, or a bit of
both?
My process is heavily research-based. I spend hours scrolling through hashtags like
#VisitFlorida and #FloridaWild, digging through old travel guides, and studying archives. I rarely explored the rest of the state growing up, so this project became my excuse to see it. I’d plot multi-day routes, scout alone, make test compositions, and collect ephemera. Maps, postcards, brochures. Some of that research and found material ended up in my Florida Boys exhibition at Baker–Hall, alongside my photographs.

What are some of the things you encountered in nature? I’m getting alligator vibes from a
few of the shots.
“No alligators, surprisingly! But plenty of Florida magic: owls, turtles, cypress trees rising out of lakes, beaches made of rock formations that look almost lunar. State parks only reachable by boat. Diners. Trump flags. Confederate flags. Gas stations. Stars. Friendship. Core memories.

You didn’t develop the film for three years after you shot this work. This seems almost
fitting with the subject matter, but it’s obviously not the norm. Why did you wait so long?
I think of my practice as having two distinct modes: the maker and the editor. I don’t like to mix them. While I’m in the maker’s mode, I don’t want to analyze or judge what I’ve made. By
keeping the film undeveloped, I could stay curious. Stay hungry to keep staging images. It
helped me sustain the project for five years without overthinking it. When I finally developed the film, it felt like rediscovering a diary I’d forgotten I was writing.”

What did you think when you developed the film?
“Honestly…thank God my camera still worked. But really, it was relief and recognition. The
pictures felt like proof that what I imagined had actually happened.”

Since you’ve released the work, what has the response been?
“It’s been incredibly moving. People see themselves in it, and in ways I didn’t anticipate. I’ve
loved hearing from Floridians who grew up here in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s saying the work
resonates with them.

“I’m also grateful for the way conversations around the lineage have unfolded. This work
wouldn’t exist without Justine Kurland’s Girl Pictures, which inspired me to challenge myself with group portraiture. Her influence, and Ryan McGinley’s, runs deep in how I think about the photograph as a space for freedom and collaboration.

“Exhibiting Florida Boys pushed me, too. I experimented with scale, installation, and new materials. Made large outdoor works, an assemblage wall, and grids. Each exhibition teaches me something new. And through all the dialogue around the project, what’s felt most rewarding is that people recognize my background in film: the way the pictures straddle the cinematic and the real. I’ve been calling them ‘film stills’ in my artist walkthroughs, and I like that term a lot.”

The post ‘Florida Boys’ Find Themselves in the Backwoods of the State appeared first on Feature Shoot.

Given the dominance of AI and social media in our lives, I believe the world (and the photography world, specifically) needs more in-person events and opportunities for deep and meaningful connection. How exciting to come across Photo Book Speed Date, an initiative by Miami-based photographer Josh Aronson, “where people meet up to share and talk about photography books in a fun, fast-round format”.

What made you decide to combine photo books and speed dating?

“In 2022, I had an exhibition at a commercial gallery and wanted to find a way to bring people in. An artist’s talk felt too self-gratifying. I wanted something more democratic. An event where guests felt just as important as the artist. I’d been to a speed-date–style photo night in New York hosted by the artist Shaniqwa Jarvis, which planted the seed.

“I thought: what if I made it even more participatory? Most people, whether a photographer or photo lovers, have at least one photo book at home that means something to them. What if they brought that book and shared it in timed rotations with someone across from them?

“The first Photo Book Speed Date was an experiment. I had no expectations. But the idea worked. People loved having a space to geek out about photo books, and that’s how the program was born.”

Once you had the idea, what did you do to make it a reality?

“Part of what I love about this idea is how little it requires. No big budget. No fancy tech. I designed a flyer, shared it online, and set up a few rows of chairs in the gallery. The first event was the week of Thanksgiving, on a rainy Wednesday night, and I remember the room filling up with people eager to connect. We ran out of chairs within the first few rounds. For three hours, people moved from seat to seat, book to book, in timed rotations. The energy was electric. Communal. Generous. Deeply engaged.”

Have you noticed that people reveal different sides of themselves through the books they bring?

“Absolutely. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to pay attention to who my favorite artists’ favorite artists are, and study them. I’ve learned so much about people I admire by looking at what they love. Photo Book Speed Date works the same way: you learn about your peers, your friends, and their influences through what they choose to bring and share.”

What kinds of relationships or collaborations have grown out of these events?

“So many. My good friend met her boyfriend at a Photo Book Speed Date. I met my girlfriend there, too. And beyond romance, dozens of photographers have met other artists, publishers, and curators through these nights. The goal was never matchmaking. It’s about opening access and creating a space where people in the photo community can meet in person, inside museum or gallery spaces that sometimes feel off-limits. I want people to feel belonging in those spaces, even just for an evening.”

Do you see Photo Book Speed Date as a way to build a creative community in Miami, or more of a one-time spark between individuals?

“Definitely the former. It’s a primer for community connection. Each conversation may only last five or ten minutes, but often they continue long after the timer stops. Any time spent face-to-face with other artists is vital. By creating a space to share what we love, my hope is to inspire others to host their own programs and to keep building the creative ecosystem here in Miami and beyond.”

Have you noticed any recurring themes or emotions that surface across the conversations?

“The same questions come up again and again: Why this book? What does it mean to you? How does it relate to your own work? People get so locked in that I often hate calling the next round.

“The conversations are that alive. They’re about getting to know both the artist behind the book and the person across from you.”

Why was it important for this project to happen in person rather than online?

“Because books are physical objects, they’re meant to be held, flipped through, and smelled. The intimacy of sharing a book in real time, across a table, can’t be replicated online yet.”

Do you think projects like this could help rebuild social connections in a time when so much engagement happens virtually?

“Absolutely. I’ve seen it firsthand. Historically, artists have always grown in community with one another. 2025 is no different. It’s just our turn to create the spaces where that can happen.”

What does the future look like for this project?

“In 2026, I plan to bring Photo Book Speed Date to museum spaces around the world. The program will make its West Coast debut in California and return to New York. I’m also hosting an edition in Miami at a venue central to the city’s book and art scene. My goal is to keep expanding access. To keep making space for connection through the photo books we love.”

The post Photo Books and Speed Dating: Connection Forged Through An Unlikely Pair appeared first on Feature Shoot.

For photographers, a website isn’t just a nice addition to your social media; it’s proof that you take your work seriously. When everyone has an Instagram feed, a portfolio site still stands apart. It shows that you care about presentation, craft, and the story behind each image. It’s a quiet way of saying: this isn’t a hobby.

Hiring managers and clients notice that difference. Research shows that more than 90 percent of hiring managers visit portfolios when candidates include a link, and nearly as many say they find them valuable when deciding who to work with. A portfolio website lets people see the bigger picture: how you approach projects, how your work has evolved, and what makes you distinct.

That’s where Portfoliobox comes in. It was built for creatives who want a professional-looking site without having to wrestle with complicated tools. You can start for free, or upgrade to a premium plan with your own domain for $8.90 a month. It’s clean, fast to set up, and fully customizable, so your photos take center stage.

Before building, think about who you’re trying to reach. A portrait photographer and a photojournalist will want to structure their portfolios differently. Ask yourself what story you want your site to tell and what you want visitors to do once they’ve seen your work. Then plan a simple structure. Most photographers need a clear home page, a portfolio or project section, a brief bio, and a contact page that’s easy to find.

When choosing what to include, less is more. A small, well-edited collection of your strongest images will always make a better impression than a crowded gallery. Show the kind of work you want to get hired for. Add short captions or context where it helps.

Once your content is ready, sign up at portfoliobox.com, choose a design that suits your style, and start uploading. Adjust the layout, fonts, and colors until it feels like an authentic extension of your photography. When you’re finished, publish your site and start sharing the link.

A portfolio isn’t something you make once and forget about. Portfoliobox makes it easy to keep it alive. Update it when you complete new projects or refine your style, and remove anything that no longer fits. A regularly updated website sends the same message as good photography does: you pay attention, you evolve, and you care about the details.

The post How to Build a Photography Portfolio Website with Portfoliobox (Sponsored) appeared first on Feature Shoot.

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When I started taking photos a little over 20 years ago, the process was slow, messy, and magical: light meters, grain, and trays of chemicals that ruined countless pairs of jeans. Today, anyone can take a photo, and with AI everywhere, creating something truly yours can feel harder than ever.

As much as it’s about pressing the shutter, crafting an image is also about the edit. With the right tools, a good frame becomes something special — something with intention. I can make more creative decisions in the edit than I ever could in the moment, without losing sight of what I felt at the moment of capture. And if I trust my editing tools — and know that I can push the limits when I have my camera in my hand — the process becomes one that I truly enjoy.

Below you’ll find three of my favorite photographers, and I’ll explain how editing is an integral part of their creative process. I hope you find them as inspiring as I do!

Andy at DxO

How the pros do it (and how you can, too)

Agathe Poupeney, dance photographer

Agathe Poupeney is drawn to movement, light, and narrative. A self-taught photographer, she’s spent two decades capturing the energy of live performance for leading French cultural institutions — from the electricity of the stage to the quiet intensity of rehearsal. “The emotion, the atmosphere, the light — it all has to come through,” she explains.

Agathe frequently has to deliver high-quality images to clients the same day. Robust AI Masking speeds up selective edits across a full set of images, and powerful noise reduction means that she has freedom when photographing that simply wasn’t there before.

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Petr Bambousek, wildlife photographer

Often working in challenging environments, Petr Bambousek produces stunning images of animals in exotic locations, and it’s during the edit that he’s able to recreate exactly what he saw and felt out in the field. The color and minutiae of feathers and fur are critical, and intuitive HSL tools and cutting-edge detail extraction are key to producing images that make an impact.

Local adjustments are also integral to the finished product. “I often need to isolate complex subjects,” Petr explains. “With DxO software, I can feather the effect to blend adjustments into the frame — fantastic for wider shots of animals.”

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Karim Roland, fashion photographer

Karim’s signature style has a refined and natural touch, and that means having complete control during the edit — helped by software that encourages subtlety. “Each photo should feel alive and approachable,” he says. “It should leave room for interpretation while staying true to my intent.”

Having precise optical corrections automatically applied means that he has the best possible foundation from which to work. “From there, I can bring in my creative direction.”

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As photographers, we want tools we can trust — ones that offer speed, control, and room to shape a look that feels personal. DxO PhotoLab 9 delivers exactly that: advanced noise reduction for high-ISO work, powerful local adjustments, and industry-leading lens and camera corrections — all in a fast, focused workspace that’s yours to keep.

Why photographers switch

• No-subscription fatigue: Pay once, keep creating.
• Real-world speed: AI Masking lets you isolate subjects and skies fast, across whole shoots.
• Cleaner files, truer detail: Class-leading noise reduction and detail extraction make low light and fast action usable.
• Optics you can trust: Automatic lens/camera corrections remove distortion, fringing, and softness so you start sharp.
• Sublime control: Intuitive HSL and local adjustments keep edits natural and consistent with your style.

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Images: © Agathe Poupeney, © Petr Bambousek, © Karim Roland

The post When photo editing is critical to your artistic process, you need tools you can trust (Sponsored) appeared first on Feature Shoot.

For photographers, there’s nothing like seeing your images in print. A photo book transforms your project into something lasting and tangible—something people will display on their shelves, gift to friends, or showcase on their coffee tables. But beyond being beautiful objects, photo books can also be a smart way to generate income from your work. And thanks to Lulu, creating and selling them has never been simpler.

Skip the Long Publishing Timeline

We’ve interviewed many photographers who have published photo books, so we know first-hand that publishing a book can take years—finding a publisher, committing to expensive bulk print runs, and hoping enough copies are sold to cover costs. Lulu changes all of that with print-on-demand. Your book is printed only when someone buys it. No upfront costs, no inventory stacked in your living room, and no waiting on a publishing house. Just upload your files, design your book, and make it available for sale right away.

Simple Tools for Beautiful Books

Designing a book might sound intimidating, but Lulu provides step-by-step guidance and templates to get you started. Whether you’re creating a high-end coffee table book, a compact travel zine, or a themed collection, the process is straightforward:

• Choose your size, paper, and binding from a range of premium options.
  
• Upload your interior file and cover design (or use free tools like Canva to create them).
  
• Preview your book, order a proof copy, and you’re ready to go.
  

What once felt like a monumental project is now something you can complete in days, not years.

Sell Directly to Your Audience

Here’s where Lulu really stands out: selling your book. With Lulu Direct, you can connect your book directly to your existing website through Shopify, Wix, or WooCommerce. That means your customers buy straight from you—no middleman, no extra markup. You keep 100% of your revenue minus printing and shipping costs, and Lulu seamlessly handles the production and fulfillment in the background.

Imagine this flow:

1. A customer clicks “buy” on your site.
   
2. Your e-commerce platform collects the payment.
   
3. Lulu prints and ships the book directly to the buyer.
   
4. You keep the profit.
   

It’s seamless, automated, and completely white-label—your customer only sees your brand, never Lulu’s.

More Than Just Books

Another advantage of selling direct is flexibility. You can offer different formats (hardcover, paperback, large print), bundle books together as special editions, or even sell them alongside other products like prints, merch, or workshops. Lulu integrates with the ecommerce tools you already use, so your store becomes a hub for your creative business.

Why It Works

Photo books do something digital galleries can’t: they slow people down. A book is an experience—flipping through pages, revisiting images, absorbing the story you’re telling. For your audience, it’s a chance to own a piece of your vision. For you, it’s a way to build deeper relationships with your supporters while creating a new income stream.

Wedding photographers can offer premium albums that elevate their packages. Documentary photographers can publish limited-run collections tied to exhibitions. Fine art photographers can create collectible editions that live beyond the gallery. Even hobbyists can test the waters with small-batch zines for niche communities.

The Bottom Line

Lulu makes it easy: from design to sales to fulfillment, the process is fast, flexible, and risk-free. Your images deserve more than likes on a screen. They deserve to be held, treasured, and yes—purchased. With Lulu, publishing a photo book isn’t just possible; it’s practical. And it could be the simplest way to turn your photography into something your audience loves and supports.

The post How Lulu Makes Selling Photo Books Simple for Photographers (Sponsored) appeared first on Feature Shoot.

When I was a photo editor, one of the most frustrating parts of the job wasn’t meeting deadlines or wrangling talent; it was simply getting the images from photographers in a timely manner. Files took forever to download, links expired, Dropbox would fill up. It always felt like something was holding up the process. As file sizes and shoot volumes continue to grow, this remains a challenge for photographers and creative teams alike. But for Berlin-based portrait photographer and YouTube creator Katja Feldmeier, finding picdrop five years ago helped her solve these common issues.

Feldmeier is best known for her stylized, expressive portraiture with actors, artists, and business clients. Her work has appeared in Vogue Germany, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Zeit Online, among others. Through her popular YouTube channel, she offers practical insight to other photographers navigating the business side of creative work. Her switch to picdrop reflects a broader shift in the industry: moving away from generic file transfers and toward tools designed specifically for visual workflows.

“At the beginning of my career, I was sending way fewer files,” Feldmeier tells us. “I was predominantly shooting on analog cameras.” When she did need to deliver images, it was often through the free version of WeTransfer. But as she transitioned to digital photography and her file counts grew (sometimes hitting 200–300 pre-selects per session), the need for a more efficient solution became clear. “I needed to find software that was quicker and more collaborative for me and my clients,” she says. “picdrop was the most streamlined I could find on the market.” 

Feldmeier begins using picdrop once she’s ready to share pre-selects with clients. She creates a personalized gallery of low-res JPEGs and applies design customizations to ensure the presentation feels professional.. “It really helps me to upsell bigger packages to my portrait clients,” she adds. “Most people just end up loving and selecting more images on picdrop, which in turn means more sales for me.” 

Client interaction is central to the appeal. Feldmeier emphasizes the clarity and simplicity of having feedback consolidated in one place. “Now there is just way less going back and forth with clients, and rarely any confusion over which picture they’ve selected or want me to edit in a certain way,” she says. “All of the communication happens in the notes section of the gallery.” 

One of Feldmeier’s favorite features is the ability to turn off downloads entirely. “I simply don’t want clients to get their hands on files that are unedited or not in their final stage,” she says. “By switching off downloads, I can make sure a client is fully involved in the selection process without having to hand over any files I don’t want them to have.” 

She also points to the newly introduced drawing tool, which allows clients to mark specific areas on an image for retouching. “I find it super straightforward and helpful.” Though Feldmeier doesn’t currently use picdrop with a full team of collaborators, her clients often do. “My actor clients share their picdrop galleries with their agents, who collaborate with them to make the final selections for a sedcard,” she says. “Agents can create their own sub-galleries, and everybody can contribute. It makes the process easier for all involved.” 

In terms of broader impact, she credits picdrop with significantly improving the post-shoot experience for clients. “The biggest win for me is that this software just makes the user experience for my customers much more enjoyable, aesthetic, and foolproof,” she says. “No crazy download times, no copy-pasting file names into emails—just a beautiful interface that elevates the work I’ve done.” 

Outside of client delivery, Feldmeier also uses picdrop for her creative reference. “I like to use it as my own little archive when I need to source some of my old work for a portfolio,” she explains. “It’s like a simplified catalogue of my past work, much more visual than any Lightroom catalog or hard drive I’d have to comb through.” For photographers navigating fast-paced production schedules and high client expectations, picdrop has become more than just a delivery tool. By reducing the friction in how images are shared, reviewed, and approved, it supports a cleaner, more organized workflow without compromising creative control. The result is a more seamless experience on both sides of the exchange, where the process of collaboration feels as considered as the work itself.

The post Photographer Katja Feldmeier on How picdrop Simplified Her Image Delivery Workflow (Sponsored) appeared first on Feature Shoot.

In New York City, thousands of birds collide with glass towers, fall prey to traffic, or become tangled in string and wire. For most passersby, it’s a sad but forgettable moment. But a small, loosely organized group of volunteers—known as the New York City Bird Alliance Transporters—make it their job to stop, pick up the bird, and carry it to the Wild Bird Fund on the Upper West Side, the city’s only wildlife rehabilitation center.

One of those volunteers, photographer Travis Huggett, has been quietly documenting the people who do this work. The project began a few summers ago, when he discovered the transporters while searching for an activity for his son, who loves birds. “I asked if he’d like to help, and he was immediately into the idea,” he said. They’ve been ferrying birds together ever since.

Pigeons make up the bulk of the rescues, though migration seasons bring rarer species. The injuries are varied: window strikes, poisonings, attacks by cats, or tangled debris wound around a bird’s legs. Most calls come with little notice. “You never know what you’re going to get,” he said. Once, they picked up a vireo that had been hit by a bike. Midway through transferring it from a flimsy bag into a sturdier box, the bird escaped and began circling their car. “It suddenly seemed very healthy and unhappy to be there,” he said. A quick photograph on the dashboard was all he managed before coaxing it into the box.

Unlike the rehabilitators at the Wild Bird Fund, transporters don’t need specialized training. The work is less technical than it is logistical: answering an email, showing up, driving a few miles. Still, it requires a level of attentiveness most New Yorkers don’t give to the animals around them. “It can seem like the city is filled with nothing but pigeons and sparrows,” he said. “But once you start paying attention, you realize there are so many more species than you’d ever expect.”

The photographs started casually—snaps of his son with a box or the birds themselves—but soon became something larger. He now carries a medium-format camera on his transports and has begun making formal portraits of other volunteers. He describes the images as an attempt to give shape to a community that most people don’t know exists. “I was happy with the results right away, so I kept shooting, and I plan to add more portraits this year,” he said.

In his portraits, the volunteers appear calm, resolute, even noble—an intentional contrast to the often frantic circumstances of the rescues. It’s heartening that in a city dominated by glass and steel, a quiet network of people are helping to save bird life.

The post The Volunteers Who Rescue New York City’s Injured Birds appeared first on Feature Shoot.

From the raw testimony of domestic abuse survivors to the quiet resilience of climate migrants and the hidden havoc of cholesterol, this year’s Wellcome Photography Prize winners offer a striking visual meditation on how science and health shape the human experience.

Announced at a ceremony held at London’s Francis Crick Institute, the 2025 prize celebrates three compelling image-makers — Sujata Setia, Mithail Afrige Chowdhury, and Steve Gschmeissner — each awarded £10,000 for their standout work. Now in its 28th year, the Wellcome Photography Prize continues its mission to spotlight the intersection of health, science, and storytelling through exceptional photography.

“These winning works stood out not just for their technical excellence, but for the empathy, collaboration, and deep social engagement they embody,” said Lara Clements, Associate Director of Engagement at Wellcome. “They remind us that health is not just biological — it’s social, political, cultural, and personal.”

Domestic Abuse and Generational Trauma: A Thousand Cuts

Winner of the storytelling series category, UK-based artist Sujata Setia’s A Thousand Cuts is a powerful collaboration with survivors of domestic abuse within South Asian communities. Using a blend of portraiture, testimony, and traditional Indian sanjhi paper-cutting, Setia creates images that protect anonymity while preserving identity. The series, developed in partnership with the UK charity SHEWISE, gives voice to stories often hidden in plain sight — of forced marriage, psychological scars, and the legacy of gendered violence.

“Domestic abuse isn’t a singular event — it leaves an imprint that stretches across generations,” said Setia, herself a survivor. “This recognition isn’t just for my work; it’s for the invisible scars carried by millions. It’s a call to include domestic abuse in our understanding of global health crises.”

Climate Migration in a Rooftop Picnic: Urban Travel

The striking solo photography prize went to Bangladeshi street photographer Mithail Afrige Chowdhury for Urban Travel — a deceptively serene image of a mother and daughter enjoying a rooftop picnic in Dhaka. As climate migration swells the city’s population and green spaces disappear, this simple act becomes a statement of adaptation and care.

“This moment reignited something I thought I’d lost,” said Chowdhury, who had stepped back from photography due to personal struggles. “To be recognised for an image born out of love and displacement — it gives me purpose again.”

Chowdhury’s work, rooted in the everyday lives of Bangladeshi people, has documented everything from Rohingya refugees to urban water crises. His photograph captures not just environmental urgency, but the quiet emotional labor of parenting under pressure.

Microscopic Beauty and Hidden Danger: Cholesterol in the Liver

In the Marvels of Scientific and Medical Imaging category, UK-based science photographer Steve Gschmeissner was honoured for Cholesterol in the Liver, a colourised scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image that transforms biology into art. The image reveals cholesterol crystals (in blue) forming inside liver cells (in purple) — a silent process that can lead to heart disease and stroke.

“It’s thrilling to see microscopy recognised as not just data, but art,” said Gschmeissner, whose five-decade career includes over 10,000 published images across journals, stamps, and even fashion runways. “This award is one of the highlights of my life’s work.”

Gschmeissner’s image is a vivid reminder of the beauty and danger that coexist at the cellular level — and of the public’s growing appetite for scientific imagery that both informs and inspires.

The top 25 finalists, selected from submissions spanning over 100 countries, are now on display at the Wellcome Photography Prize 2025 exhibition, free and open to the public at the Francis Crick Institute in London until October 18, 2025.

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Hannah Altman, photographer:

‘We Will Return To You’ is rooted in Jewish folklore, performance, narrative, and material culture. Drawing on traditions of storytelling, it explores how memory and ritual live and expand in narratives, how symbols shift through reinterpretation, and how mysticism threads through the mundane. The work explores how stories are not only told, but embodied, reimagined, and returned to.

The photographs move between portraits and still lifes, each scene offering its own kind of narrative. In Curing, a hand sits distilled in a bag of salt water and hovering over a chair, evoking ideas of preservation, stillness, and remembrance. The project often considers how narrative lives in the body. In Telling You, I sit in the light, mouth open, as a mirror inside reflects a burst of sunlight back into the camera. The glint of light hovers at the back of the throat as a visual interruption that references oral storytelling, reflection, utterance, and revelation.

My body is both speaker and medium. I think of light as a recurring character throughout the work; it has a voice that shifts, sharpens, interrupts, and transforms. She casts long shadows, illuminates skin, and lends each image a sense of heightened presence.

Maybe, too, it’s a way to visualize the idea of the divine shifting through the mundane. In many ways, light is a form of storytelling in these photographs: it directs attention, withholds, and reveals.

Ritual objects appear throughout the project not just as symbols, but as punctuation marks that shift tone, mark transition, or reshape the flow of a visual sentence. These objects are recontextualized, often pulled from their primary use and situated within uncanny, surreal environments. I’m interested in how objects can hold narrative weight, how they act as touchstones for both memory and imagination.

The project also engages with text. The accompanying book, published by Saint Lucy Books, weaves a short story between the images. Like the photographs, the story slips between past and present, myth and memory. It reflects Jewish storytelling traditions that honor both written and oral forms, and invites a layered, open-ended experience where the photographs speak to one another, and to the viewer, in echoes.

Ultimately, We Will Return To You is about expansion and continuity. It asks how Jewish stories live on, not just through preservation, but through reinterpretation, through embodiment, through return. It explores what it means to move through time with sacred weight, and how performance, gesture, and image can carry forward the rooted narratives while remaining open-ended enough for new meanings to emerge.

‘We Will Return to You’ is available through Saint Lucy Books.

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The Wellcome Photography Prize 2025 has announced its finalists, celebrating powerful visual storytelling at the intersection of global health, science, and human experience. This year’s entries were selected from an extraordinary group of finalists representing 18 countries, with stories ranging from microscopic discoveries to deeply personal portraits.

Some of this year’s most striking works include:

• The world’s first non-invasive image of microplastics embedded in living tissue, captured by P. Stephen Patrick and Olumide Ogunlade using photoacoustic imaging.
• An experimental underwater greenhouse in Italy, documented by Giacomo d’Orlando, a futuristic solution to climate-resilient food production.
• Portraits of loneliness and resilience in old age, including Madeleine Waller’s tender documentation of her mother’s daily routines in rural Australia, and Oded Wagenstein’s intimate image of grief and concealed identity in a nursing home.
• A stark self-portrait of endometriosis scars by Georgie Wileman, bringing visibility to an often-overlooked chronic condition.
• A haunting aerial view of a toxic lake in Romania by Alexandru Radu Popescu, where environmental catastrophe reveals eerie beauty.

Other winners explored climate change, mental health, disability, and biomedical innovation through a range of photographic techniques — from drone footage and documentary styles to cyanotypes and microscopy.

Winners will be awarded £10,000 each, with finalists receiving £1,000. The winning images will be on display at a free public exhibition at the Francis Crick Institute in London, running from July 17 to October 18, 2025. The official awards ceremony will take place on 16 July.

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