After much deliberation, our esteemed judges have made their choices and today we’ll be announcing the winners of Your Best Shot 2023! This year we offered seven unique categories to compete in: People and Portrait, Landscape, Wildlife and Nature, Street and Documentary, Fine Art, AI Artistry and Through Her/Their Lens. Drumroll please: Introducing our 2023 winners!!
People and Portrait Category
Snow Beauty – MLK Embrace Monument, Boston Common, Boston, MA by Sean Sweeney
Meet photographer Sean Sweeney
Sean began his journey in photography as a teenager, processing film in his basement. Sean says “Photography is my passion, and my goal is to make a portrait that becomes the subject’s favorite photo of themselves! I enjoy meeting people and taking photos which I then share with them, as a gift.”
A little about this photograph
Captured in early January of 2023, this winning photo was taken at the Martin Luther King “Embrace” Monument on Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts. To check out more of Sean’s work, you can visit his Flickr site and www.facesofboston.com.
Landscape Category
Back to The Future by Kris Peterson – Foggy Lens Photography
Meet photographer Kris Peterson
Kris Peterson of Foggy Lens Photography is a landscape photographer residing in Richmond BC Canada. His winning photo was taken after an arduous climb up to the Seton Lake overlook, located in southwestern British Columbia. From his vantage point up on the overlook, Kris waited patiently for a car to approach which ultimately resulted in this striking, long exposure image. Check out his Youtube vlog for a more detailed walkthrough of Kris’ process in capturing this photo. Also, give him a follow on his Flickr site and Instagram to enjoy more of his work.
Wildlife and Nature Category
Tropical Tendril Treasure by Sally Rose Dolak
Meet photographer Sally Rose Dolak
Sally spends much of her time focused on her photography but she also enjoys gardening and caring for her chickens. She is an expat from Seattle, Washington, currently spending sunshine filled days in Costa Rica. Her surroundings provide endless opportunities for inspiration, see what other subjects she is capturing on her Flickr site.
A little about this photograph
In finding the subject for her winning photo Sally said, “I’m always looking for tendril spirals on my walks around our property and garden. This one stood out to me because of the perfect display of the golden ratio. Tropical flowers and foliage created an excellent bokeh background to set off the spiral. This photo was taken with my favorite vintage lens Nikkor 105mm f/4 AIS Micro.”
Street and Documentary Category
Pigeons at Bolhao by Rui Palha
Meet photographer Rui Palha
Rui was born in Portugal and currently resides in Lisbon. Starting at the early age of 14, Rui began taking photos as a hobby which eventually turned into a passion that he devotes much of his time to, with a focus on street photography.
Rui explained what photography means to him, “Photography is a very important part of my space. It is to discover, it is to capture, giving flow to what the heart feels and sees in a certain moment, it is being in the street, experiencing, understanding, learning and essentially, practicing the freedom of being, of living, of thinking…” To find more of his work visit his Flickr site, his official website or give him a follow on Instagram.
A little about this photograph
This photo was taken in Bolhao Market, in Porto, Portugal. Rui explained the image was captured in, “….a very old and soulful market in Porto that was always full of pigeons. I was lucky because that young woman began going upstairs and I made around 5 or 6 shots while she was going up. I chose this one because of the balance between her position and the placement of the pigeons.”
Fine Art Category
…wingsofvienna… by *ines_maria
Meet photographer Ines Maria
Photographer Ines Maria lives and works in Vienna, Austria and finds photographic inspiration constantly from her surroundings. About finding that inspiration, Ines said, “ The architecture, whether it be historical or modern, never ceases to fascinate me. This photo captures an extraordinary building at Vienna Central Station, and my intention was to give it wings, allowing it to “take off” in a delightful and mysterious ambiance.”
AI Artistry Category
THE FOUR SEASONS by Gabriele Rodriquez
Meet photographer Gabriele Rodriquez
Italian photographer Gabriele Rodriquez has been taking photographs since 1977, beginning first with analogue photography, then branching out to digital. While originally focused on traditional methods, Gabriele soon found an appreciation for experimenting with new techniques and expressive styles. This experimentation eventually led to Gabriele creating art with AI programs like Dall-E and MidJourney which has led him to create his winning Your Best Shot image, The Four Seasons.
Gabriele believes that AI is a powerful tool that other forms of art can be created and developed from. While AI can sometimes be a controversial topic amongst photographers and other creatives, Gabriele believes that the artist’s own human involvement is still a fundamental part of the AI creative process. He explained, “The involvement of the author in the creative process is essential, in this phase AI can never be used as a surrogate for human creativity. If anything it becomes a further tool available to the author, usable and accessible by everyone where the difference between a result and another is given by authorship, or rather the ability to organize images according to a very specific plan that cannot ignore the contents. To extrapolate meaningful images from the cold algorithms, all the intellectual and cultural capacity of the artist is necessary. The machine remains waiting for orders.”
A little about this image
Gabriele’s image, The Four Seasons is part of a project entitled Arcimboldo Women. This project focuses on the concept of creating portraits of women in the style of the famous Italian painter of the 16th century, Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The full project can be found in Gabriele’s eBook, Arcimboldo Women.
Through Her/Their Lens Category
Boet & Harvey by Barbara van der Linde
Meet photographer Barbara van der Linde
Barbara resides in Nunspeet, a village in the middle of The Netherlands. She grew up with photography in her household, as her father was the chief of the Navy’s photo department at the time. Barbara later enrolled in a photography course to help solidify her skills and also joined a local photography club. Barbara said in developing her photography abilities, “You have to be curious and that has always been part of me. Now it’s starting to come into fruition.” She specializes in animal portraiture, urban and street photography as well as nature photography, practicing every day. Barbara’s gear of choice is a Panasonic S5 along with several lenses plus the Panasonic FX1000 for her travel and street photography.
A little about this image
This photo was taken in January 2023 and is a portrait of Barbara’s dogs, Boet (dachshund) and Harvey (bouvier) who has unfortunately since passed. Barbara’s dogs loved trips to her home photography studio which is where this photo was captured. In capturing images of her pups, Barbara said, “Before I ask them to pose, all gear is in position and I have properly set up and tested the lamps and other props. I have a tiny studio at home. This specific photo was made with 2 softboxes on the front left and right plus a little back light from the right. Boet was at a little table so they would be at the same height this time.” Check out her Flickr site to see more of her photography!
Each winner will receive a Peak Design Everyday Backpack of their choice along with a year of Flickr Pro. Special thank you to our friends at Peak Design!
Thank you so much to the entire Flickr Community for sharing your best pics from 2023 with us. Stay tuned for this month’s Explore Takeover, happening on Thursday January 25th, where we’re curating an Explore that highlights so many of our favorite submissions to this year’s Your Best Shot contest. Congratulations to all of the winners!