30 Amazing Award-Winning Photos from the 2025 LensCulture Street Photography Awards

The streets don’t lie — and the 2025 LensCulture Street Photography Awards prove it once again. This year’s winners and finalists, representing 23 countries across five continents, capture life as it really is: wild, weird, and wonderfully human. From packed markets in Asia to lonely alleys in Europe, these 30 award-winning photos show how every corner of the world beats to its own rhythm.

The 1st Place Series Winner, “Tides of Life” by Jozef Macak from Slovakia, dives deep into Bangladesh’s fragile relationship with water. His images from the Buriganga River paint a hauntingly poetic picture of survival, resilience, and the delicate balance between humanity and nature. Meanwhile, Sanghamitra Sarkar from India snatched the 1st Place Single Image Award for “Wari” — a stunning aerial shot of thousands of Warkari pilgrims gathered in a perfect circle during Maharashtra’s sacred procession. The symmetry, devotion, and energy in her frame are nothing short of mesmerizing.

But it doesn’t stop there. These winning shots span every mood and story — from playful juxtapositions on busy crosswalks to quiet reflections in fading light. Some photographers zoom in on social struggles like climate change and addiction; others chase beauty in simple gestures or bold colors that turn the streets into open-air theaters.

Together, these 30 photos remind us why street photography still rocks the world: it’s raw, real, and relentlessly alive. It captures the stuff that can’t be staged — the fleeting glance, the unguarded laugh, the soul of a city frozen in a heartbeat.

These award-winning photographers didn’t just take pictures — they told stories that move us, challenge us, and make us stop and see. That’s the magic of street photography done right.

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Series Winners

#1. 1st Place: "Tides of Life" by Jozef Macak, Slovakia

"The Buriganga River once carried life through Dhaka’s heart. Today, it bears the weight of the city’s rapid growth. Yet along its banks, life flows on. People work, trade, rest and endure. These photographs trace the uneasy intimacy between people and water—a relationship marked by necessity, resilience, and suffering. Across Bangladesh, rivers reflect a similar tension: ecosystems pushed to the edge, lifelines turned fragile. This series offers a glimpse into a reality where water nourishes and betrays, and where its spirit persists against the slow ache caused by environmental neglect."

#2. 2nd Place: "Dislocated Presences" by David Masoko, Netherlands

"This series lingers in the spaces where human presence quietly disappears from view, presenting fragments that don’t claim any resolution. They are not scenes, but traces. What remains is less narrative and more the residue of a story, asking us to draw attention inwards. Made in major cities across different countries (2025—ongoing), the photographs drift between the accidental and the composed. Their aesthetic is deliberately understated, echoing the rhythm of the street, the anonymity of urban and digital life, the invisible gestures of those we pass without knowing."

#3. 3rd Place: "Silent Motion, Vibrant Stillness" by Chervine Dalaeli, United States

"This series explores the balance between movement and stillness in the city, capturing bursts of color in motion and quiet moments of reflection. It places solitude and togetherness in contrast, inviting viewers to see the urban landscape as a living canvas where motion and pause exist in harmony; a stage where natural light lingers, figures drift like echoes, and time itself seems suspended."

Single Winners

#4. 1st Place: "Wari" by Sanghamitra Sarkar, India

"This aerial image captures a moment from the Wari, the renowned pilgrimage that takes place every year in Maharashtra, India. Thousands of Warkaris (devotees) are seen gathered in a perfectly circular formation, all dressed predominantly in white traditional attire. At the center lies a sacred palanquin—a ‘palkhi’—often carrying the symbolic representation of Sant Tukaram or Sant Dnyaneshwar."

#5. 2nd Place: "The Pause Before Light" by Tittu Shaji Thomas, Ireland

"This photograph was taken on a cold morning by the banks of the Yamuna River in Delhi, India. The man was standing still, wrapped in a shawl, as if absorbing the stillness of the moment. A stray dog beside him, tense with instinct, sensed the frenzy of birds flying into the dawn sky. I did not ask them to pose. I simply observed, drawn to the contrast between movement and stillness, wild animal and human, darkness and awakening light."

#6. 3rd Place – "Mirror" by Bartosz Michalik, Poland

"National Gallery, London, 2024. A visitor in an open-back dress sketches before Susanna at her Bath. Her posture echoes the model’s turned back and backward glance, creating a quiet dialogue across centuries between observer and image."

Jurors’ Picks

#7. "Doggy Bag" by Luca Paccusse, Italy

Selected by: Stacey Baker, Photo Editor Apple

"In this photograph, a woman is standing in front of what appears to be the ancient Colosseum in Rome, taking the most contemporary kind of image with the latest technology: a selfie with an iPhone Pro. The juxtaposition between antiquity and modernity is what caught my eye. The woman’s carefully styled appearance, the performative nature of the selfie, and the luxurious absurdity of carrying a living dog as a fashion statement all highlight how identity is constructed today through self-authored spectacle. Taken in front of the Colosseum, it underscores how a very different kind of public display continues to play out today."

#8. "Dreams Happen After Dark" by Étienne Perrone, France

Selected by: James Wellford, Photo Editor National Geographic

"Perrone’s Dreams Happen After Dark is a beautiful ode to the wonders and mysteries of the night. There is a powerful and oscillating stillness in the images, the hum of light etching darkness, of darkness etching light, the stirring anticipation of flora and fauna appearing, and a sense of anticipation that makes one not only want to step into the scenes but also to disappear into a somehow familiar destiny."

#9. "Nostalgia, In the Heart of Childhood" by Robic Upadhayay, Nepal

Selected by: Sandy Ciric, Senior Director of Photography, News, Americas Getty Images

"With the cheerful colors of the washing perfectly draped like a flowering garland above them, Robic Upadhayay’s photograph of three young girls playing outside of a home beautifully captures the innocence of youth. In the center of the frame, a lone girl is framed by a doorway which leads to an unknown dark space inside the building. Why does she sit alone? Who or what is inside? Upadhayay’s picture sets up a juxtaposition between friendship and loneliness, innocence and fear that is captivating and skillfully composed."

#10. "San Francisco Blues" by Antoine Rozès, France

Selected by: Paul Schiek, Founder TBW Books

"A certain mystery engulfs the photographs of Antoine Rozès. His subjects appear to be fleeing an unseen source of dread, their movements suspended in moments of tension. Where Cartier-Bresson’s decisive moment often carried a sense of playfulness or innocence, Rozès’ images are threaded with an ominous, foreboding charge. This unease is heightened by his use of bright, bold color, which activates the frame in striking and unexpected ways."

#11. "Beach Epiphany" by Rodrigo Koraicho, Brazil

Selected by: Manolis Moresopoulos, Director Athens Photo Festival

"Beach Epiphany by Rodrigo Koraicho examines South Beach, Miami, through a long-term engagement with its people, landscapes, and atmospheres. With vivid color and careful composition, the series observes everyday gestures and moments, unfolding the cultural and social layers that animate the beach. It presents the shoreline as a shared ground where diversities, identities, contradictions, and behaviors of this complex space are revealed."

#12. "Cartago" by Javier Arcenillas, Spain

Selected by: Carol Körting, Photo Editor Leica Fotografie International

"On a crowded bus, a woman waits for her stop. Even though there are many people around and a huge hat in the frame, nothing seems to disturb her moment of peace. For me, the shadow behind her symbolizes the depth of her thoughts or dreams, while the light on her face gives her a sublime touch."