World Photography Day festivities recap
This year we made World Photography Day a month-long celebration and our friends from Oboz Footwear joined us for the party. We kicked things off with a PhotoHike, at the Lands End Trail in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Stories were shared, camera tips were swapped, and endless beautiful shots captured. If you missed this awesome event, check out our video to see some highlights!
Full of inspiration from our PhotoHike, we were ready for our main event, the annual World Photography Day Contest. Oboz Footwear provided incredible footwear prizes for our winners, and we gotta say, the competition was tough. Our WPD contest group topped out at 12,658 members, and we received over 34.3K entries. After careful deliberation, our judges chose the winning photos and we CAN’T WAIT to share them with you!
The winners are…….
Earth Unfiltered – Nature Category
Michael Zheng with Factory Butte
Meet the photographer: Texas based photographer Michael Zheng is a full-time banking executive, but when he’s not at work, he escapes to nature with his camera in tow. “When I’m not immersed in numbers and meetings, I find my escape in the vast beauty of nature. I love exploring hidden gems across the American landscape—especially the raw, untouched corners of the Southwest. Through my lens, I aim to capture the quiet moments, dramatic skies, and timeless textures that only nature can offer.” Zheng’s winning photo, Factory Butte, features a gorgeous mesa located near the town of Hanksville in central Utah.
Wild at Heart – People Category
Leanne Boulton with Stranger 93/100 ‘Widad’
Meet the photographer: Glasgow-based Leanne Boulton finds purpose in her photography. With a focus on street and social documentary photography, prior to the pandemic Leanne shot professionally and held regular street photography workshops. Our judges agreed that Leanne’s photo Stranger 93/100 ‘Widad’ deserved the top spot in the People category for this year’s WPD contest.
In capturing this moment, Leanne says, “ I first captured a candid shot of Widad, which led to a brief conversation and her being thrilled when I asked if she wanted a portrait. Widad was working at the time and could spare only a minute or two. Once she removed her employer branded clothing, I took a couple of shots in situ and kept the encounter as brief as possible so as not to cause any trouble for her while at work. I loved the framing from the out-of-focus buildings in the street and desaturated the background just a touch to avoid any bright colours pulling attention away from her. I captured the shot with natural light and processed the shot first in Lightroom, and then with a light frequency separation edit in Photoshop.”
Animal Kingdom – Animals Category
Kim Peterson with Hummingbird in the Coneflowers II
Meet the photographer: Photographer Kim Peterson is retired and lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado with her husband Rob and their dog Gus. “We live near our 3 children and 9 grandchildren, so our lives are full of fun and chaos most days. When I am not hanging out with all the kiddos, I love to relax in our gardens and shoot nature. This hummingbird photo was captured as one of a series of the hummingbirds in our coneflowers. I had a vision to capture one sipping deep in the middle of the blooms. In order to catch them in the act, I set myself up in the right spot that will give me the best background as well as the right light to best showcase the bird and the flowers.”
A lot of patience and waiting for the right moment was involved in capturing this moment but Kim has no complaints about this part of the process since she loves spending time in nature out in her garden. As for the gear used to capture this shot, she says, “I use my Canon R5 with the Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM in electronic shutter mode. I keep my shutter speed at or above 1/1000, my aperture between f4.5 and 7.1 depending on my focal length and then set my ISO to achieve a good exposure.”
Built Environment – Urban Category
Marcus Kunzmann with Vulcan von Le Havre
Meet the photographer: Marcus Kunzmann is based in southern Germany, in the beautiful state of Baden-Württemberg. His love for photography draws him out of his office job to locations like the one where this prize-winning photo was taken. His photo, Vulcan von Le Havre, was taken in the city of Le Havre, France while roaming the streets of Le Havre. Marcus was inspired by the unique, volcanic characteristics of the city’s architecture against the softer cloud filled sky in the background. He captured this shot with his Sony a77 II.
Off the Map – Open Category
Aidan O’Malley with Window wraith
Meet the photographer: Originally from Ireland now living in Rijeka, Croatia, Aidan O’Malley teaches Anglophone literature at the University of Rijeka. After having taken a break from photography, Aidan was encouraged by friend and Flickr member elhacedor to give photography another go. “For me, photography has been something of a break from words (which are what I work with), and I’ve really enjoyed encountering the world in a different way, through a camera lens. I’ve also very much appreciated Flickr, which has represented another pleasant escape, this time from the degenerate language and discourses that dominate so much of social media.”
Aidan doesn’t plan out his shoots but instead keeps his camera in hand and captures the shots as they present themselves, just like his winning photo, Window wraith. “In some respects, the shot perhaps speaks to Rijeka’s faded charm, as its high point was in the late-19th century when it was a very important Habsburg port. It’s undergone many changes, and since the beginning of the 20th century it’s been under Habsburg/Hungarian, Italian, Yugoslav and now Croatian rule. Let’s just say that there are now many different ghosts in its streets!”
Celebrating photography everyday!
Congratulations to all our winners and a big thank you to our friends at Oboz Footwear and the entire Flickr community for showing up and entering your phenomenal photos in this year’s World Photography Day contest. Stay tuned for our September Explore Takeover. It’s going live on Thursday, September 25th, and we’ll be featuring more of our favorite shots from this year’s World Photography Day contest. Until next time!