This year, 18,000 Flickr members took the effort to join and submit an entry to our Your Best Shot 2020 group, making the contest a huge success. Thank you to everyone who engaged in the group in one way or another.
If you missed the live stream where we revealed the winners’ names and photos, you can watch the recording on our SmugMug YouTube channel and revisit the photographs and stories below. Please join us in congratulating the ten excellent winners of Your Best Shot 2020. Each of them will receive a free year of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography pack and a lifetime subscription to the DxO Nik editing plug-in collection. Congratulations!
“Inside and Outside” by Tom Scholl
The photographer’s words: “The photo was shot on my trip to Kathmandu, shortly before the Covid crisis made these kind of trips difficult or not possible at all. On a walk in the old city of Kathmandu, at first the dog in the window caught my attention, as I love dogs and it reminded me of old people, who spend a great part of their day, looking out of the window, observing what is going on outside. Then a man appeared and stopped some meters away, unfolding his newspaper and (possibly) reading what is going on in Nepal and the rest of the world. And I liked a lot this kind of composition and the mood it transports for me, and I took the photo.”
“Walking the Yamanote Line” by Dacian Groza
The photographer’s words: “I am a Romanian photographer living in Berlin. I specialize in architectural photography. You can find a large selection of photos from this project in this album on Flickr. It was a project of exploration, walking at night on the streets closest to the tracks of Tokyo’s circle line. I was overwhelmed by the city’s scale and photo opportunities. But I wanted to stay away from the over-visited and over-photographed spots. Shooting quietly and alone at night and keeping off the beaten path was a wonderful, calming experience that helped me to see the city and its people a little differently.”
“The old are dependent on the young” by Edge Lee
The photographer’s words: “It would make the world a better place if everyone had someone to love or to be loved. The old have someone to rely on and the young [are] enabled to grow up.”
“Plastic Bottle” by Jennika Argent
The photographer’s words: “The photo was taken when I was out swimming off the coast of Turkey last summer. I was looking for a better view of the waves against the mountains, so I swam away from the beach. This bottle kept floating into my shots, but then when I stopped to look at it, I saw some beauty and decided to make it my subject matter. It’s very tough to see what you are capturing when the sun is shining hard, the waves are lapping, you are treading water, and you have a snorkel mask on. The phone has a plastic case on it (all giving off reflections making it hard to see properly), so I was pleased when I got back to the beach and reviewed the images that a couple of them were just what I had hoped for.”
“Morning Fog over Copenhagen” by Henry Bech
The photographer’s words: “As I impatiently listen to the coffee machines gurgle, a hazy somber morning observes me through the old windows of my apartment building. With my trusted bike on my shoulder, I head for the stairs. As I pull the door open, it’s clear that my windows made no illusions. My neighborhood’s Covid-infused streets are shrouded in a fog so thick it turns every light source around me into beautiful living organisms. I mount my bike, and a green light appears ahead. As it pulls me into the unknown known of my hometown, I reach for my camera.”
“Sleeping and living” by Attila Rieger
The photographer’s words: “The photo was shot in my neighborhood. I was on my way to a small bike trip when I saw this old lady sleeping on that bench. Behind her was a billboard of a furniture store with an interior of a perfect bedroom anyone can dream of. I went on biking with the image in my head, and soon I turned around, put my bike down, and made a few shots.”
“Salto al 2020” by Alberto García Santervás
The photographer’s words: “In Salto al 2020 I wanted to do something more creative than what I have been doing. This fox family was a few kilometers away from my residence, so I would visit them frequently and try new things every day. [Photographing] the jump was my challenge, and in the end, I did it.
[The shot] is taken with a zoom 150-600 lens and a full-frame camera, it is a double exposure mounted on a camera a few minutes apart, flashlight against, three flashes, and the lights out of focus in the background to compose the shot. I took the photo in the city of Cáceres (Extremadura, Spain). I had the help of my partner Loli Marquez who accompanied me often. Without her, I would not have been able to do it.”
“JHoard 2020” by Bill Douthart
The photographer’s words: “The image was created as part of a publicity campaign for the Grammy nominated singer and songwriter Jonathan Hoard. They were shot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, with Ilford Pan F black and white film.”
“Luna Dunes” by Jeffrey Lovelace
The photographer’s words: “I hiked deep into the Mesquite Dunes that cool February evening, searching for the exact foreground I had imagined for this shot. It took a while, but I found the perfect spot. As I set up my gear, daylight faded into the blue of twilight. When everything was assembled, I looked up, and there hung just a sliver of a crescent moon. In this location, far from city lights, even the dark face of the moon was visible, lit by “earthshine,” light reflecting off of the Earth to dimly illuminate the lunar night just as moonlight brightens our night. After a long moment of silent wonder between the rippled sand and the first flickering stars, I got busy shooting.”
“Isolation” by Fabio Barbato
Watch some of our amazing judging panel and members of the Flickr team announce the 10 fantastic winning images from the competition in this live stream video.