16 Stunning Black and White Wildlife Photos from the 2025 Exposure One Award Winners

Black and white photography strips away the distractions of color, revealing the raw essence of emotion, form, and contrast. The 2025 Exposure One Awards celebrated this powerful visual language with a remarkable selection of wildlife images that transcend time and trend. In this curated collection of 16 stunning black and white wildlife photos, award-winning photographers captured nature in its most intimate, majestic, and sometimes haunting moments.

Photo by: Randall (Randy) Hanna

Each image in this series is a testament to patience, technical mastery, and deep reverence for the natural world. From the piercing eyes of a lone snow leopard to the elegant stillness of a crane in flight, these monochrome masterpieces emphasize texture, light, and movement in ways that color often cannot. The absence of hue invites viewers to focus on emotion and detail—every wrinkle, feather, and gesture comes alive in striking contrast.

These photographers, hailing from across the globe, share more than just talent; they share a mission to spotlight wildlife and the urgent need for conservation. Their work speaks beyond aesthetics—it evokes awe, wonder, and responsibility. Through shadows and highlights, they’ve illuminated the soul of the wild.

Prepare to be moved by these timeless frames that prove: sometimes, less truly is more.

You can find more info about Exposure One Awards:

#1. Gold: "Veil of Grace" by Janelle Schroeder

"A great egret draped in breeding plumage of elegant aigrettes curls its neck, giving me just a peek of one eye highlighted in the setting sun. In color, the lores around the eyer are a brilliant green, another hallmark of the great egrets’ breeding season. This image conveys drama and mystery."

#2. Silver: "Ghost" by Peter Jeschke

"A Golden Langur, on Umananda Temple Island, Guwahati, India. Sadly, this troop of magnificent creatures is no more…the forest is silent…only my images remain. This otherwise radiantly golden primate is rendered here in B&W, like a ghost. 2013. Canon 5D MkI."