Photobooks are having a serious moment, and honestly, it’s easy to see why. A great photobook doesn’t just show you pictures; it pulls you into a world, one frame at a time. The sequence, pacing, mood, and little visual surprises can turn a collection of photographs into something far more immersive.
The inaugural LensCulture Photobook Prize proved exactly that. Photographers from 91 countries submitted work, bringing an incredible mix of ideas, cultures, personal stories, and creative approaches. After an inspiring selection process, LensCulture has announced its overall Winner, five Shortlisted projects, and ten Finalists.
At the top is Kazuaki Koseki from Japan, whose mesmerizing series Hotarubi – Summer Fairies earned the overall prize. His reward is pretty remarkable: a fully funded photobook with Nazraeli Press, including design, production, a 500-copy print run, worldwide distribution, promotion, and a feature on LensCulture.
The shortlisted photographers also receive grants, consultations, LensCulture features, and exhibition opportunities at ShowLA in Los Angeles.
Together, these 16 projects reveal just how exciting contemporary photobook culture has become. Different stories, different perspectives, different visual languages, but one common thread: photography that stays with you long after you turn the page.
You can find more infor about LensCulture:
#1. Winner: Hotarubi – Summer Fairies by Kazuaki Koseki
"This series began with a single night that transformed my way of perceiving the world. Since first encountering countless Himebotaru fireflies in the summer forests of Yamagata, Japan, I have returned to the same forest year after year. Over time, I found myself drawn most deeply to photographing during Omagatoki—traditionally also known as Tasogaredoki; the liminal twilight at the threshold of the blue hour, when the forest begins to dissolve into darkness and the first fireflies quietly emerge. The night forest once gave me an overwhelming sense of fear. Yet, as countless points of light appeared within the darkness, it soon transformed into profound awe."
#2. Shortlisted: Other Joys by Alice Poyzer
"This is a body of work that explores the intensity of my special interests through self-portraits, post-documentary approaches and constructed imagery. Special interests are common within the autistic community, varying from person to person—but the joy they provide is ineffable. They are not obsessions but instead highly focused passions that provide self-regulation, relief from the outside world and structure that can be relied on."
#3. Shortlisted: Cry to the Angels by Avery Norman
"I spent a lot of my teenage years on Internet blogs looking at images that would likely be categorized under terms like ‘girlhood’ or ‘coming of age.’ They featured young people either alone or spending time with their friends, often in mundane settings. But they had a sense of freedom and adventure. They were beautiful."
#4. Shortlisted: Last Stop. Rockaway Park by Juliana Beasley
"On October 29, 2012, the wrath of Hurricane Sandy left a path of destruction along the eastern seaboard. The Rockaway Peninsula, one of the hardest-hit areas in the New York metropolitan region, bore the brunt of the storm. I visited a week later with my camera, and witnessed the wreckage firsthand. The devastation marked an abrupt, unplanned end to my ten-year project documenting the forgotten neighborhood of Rockaway Park, known locally as Rockaway Beach."
#5. Shortlisted: Still Hell’s Kitchen by Marcia Bricker Halperin
"When I started exploring Hell’s Kitchen in 1978, it was a patch of tenements and stores, just west of midtown Manhattan. Working with tenant organizers, I documented the the social fabric of the neighborhood compiling a pictorial history of Hell’s Kitchen and its residents before its transformative gentrification."
#6. Shortlisted: Geography of Disappearance: Migrant Deaths on the US/Mexico Border by Marcus DeSieno
"The UN has declared the border between the United States and Mexico the deadliest land crossing in the world and a humanitarian crisis. Thousands have died attempting to cross the 3,000-kilometer border, traversing brutal deserts and impassable mountains under extreme conditions year-round. Immigration policy strategically employs a draconian philosophy of “prevention through deterrence,” deliberately funneling migrants into this unforgiving terrain."
#7. Finalist: Metamorphosis by Claudia Fuggetti
"This project examines the ecological crisis as a crisis of perception. Drawing on David Abram’s proposition that modern societies no longer experience forests, mountains, and rivers as living presences, Metamorphosis asks how photography might restore a bodily and emotional relationship with the more-than-human world."
#8. Finalist: South of Heaven by Aaron Canipe
"This body of work ranges from 2015 to 2020 and was produced primarily in North Carolina. South of Heaven wrestles with notions of Christianity, belief, and an endangered innocence in the gothic landscape. With a mix of dark humor and disappointment, this project also captures kids and animals caught in vulnerable positions while at rest or play. It is a story of southern discomfort and curiosity at the world around me, asking existential and surreal questions rather than answering them."
#9. Finalist: Son by Blagovesta Semkova
"This long-term personal project is about one of my children who is on the autism spectrum, and my journey as a parent—from the difficulty of accepting his diagnosis and fearing the future to accepting him as he is. For years, that fear created an emotional distance between us. Photography became a way to move closer to my son and discover a world he experiences differently from me."
#10. Finalist: Raw Power by Tatsuo Suzuki
"This project is an attempt to capture the force that erupts from inside a human being at the moment it meets the world outside: the body, other people, the city. Through bodies, music and its beat, movement, collision and speed, Raw Power seeks the direct force of life born in that instant."
#11. Finalist: Two Beginnings and No End by Steve Blackwell
"I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I started to drive. After I retired, driving became a way of dealing with restlessness. At first, I explored the quiet gravel side roads of the Canadian prairie near Calgary where I lived. I drove aimlessly in my old Tacoma with my camera bag on the seat beside me. These local excursions eventually led to a need to roam farther and travel across all of Canada along the Trans-Canada—all 10 provinces, 7,800 kilometres and six time zones between the Pacific to the Atlantic."
#12. Finalist: Alén do Lago (Beyond the lake) by Carlos Folgoso Sueiro
"Tony used to come home with nuts, claiming they were a gift from Rosemary, who existed only in his dreams. Adolf and Raúl’s house was burned by neighbors in a dispute over communal land. María spent her life as an emigrant, leaving her son Emilio in Galicia. He later died from alcoholism. The wild horses of Sabucedo roam within shrinking boundaries. Jesús built a house he never lived in. Aceredo, submerged by a reservoir in 1992, briefly resurfaced decades later when drought emptied the dam, revealing the skeletal remains of a once-thriving village."
#13. Finalist: Nothing Gold Can Stay by Matthew Ludak
"This documentary photography project takes a close look at how economic globalization has left its mark on former industrial cities and struggling small towns across America. Inspired in part by my own family history of living and working in a small coal mining town in Western Pennsylvania, Nothing Gold Can Stay delves deep into the intricate tapestry of economic desperation, resilience, beauty, and transformation that defines these often-overlooked corners of American society."
#14. Finalist: Elsewhere by Francisco Gonzalez Camacho
"This project takes an introspective dive into my immigration journey to Finland and the resulting feelings of isolation, using the landscape as a tool for emotional catharsis. It explores the internal processes of physical and spiritual displacement of being an immigrant, working in the in-between space of natural and imaginary landscapes."
#15. Finalist: Life Without Mercy by Sean Kernan
"I was crawling dejectedly homeward from another project that had failed when I passed a forbidding stone hulk from the late 1800s. It was the West Virginia Penitentiary. I stopped, knocked on the door, and began an extraordinary journey into a strange universe that lasted for years."
#16. Finalist: Yesterday You Said Tomorrow by Dave Coyle
"This is a photographic meditation on the cyclical nature of addiction, where time folds in on itself and intention dissolves under repetition. The title serves as both accusation and confession. Yesterday’s resolve becomes today’s failure, and a brighter tomorrow remains perpetually out of reach. Broken promises turn into emotional weight that becomes more difficult to carry—and the cost of inaction becomes undeniable. There is a loop of anticipation, surrender, regret, and return which leads to a slow disintegration of self-trust. The work really begins when there is acceptance that nothing changes if nothing changes. Yesterday and tomorrow become irrelevant. What is done today is all that matters."
Summary FAQ for AEO
Who won the LensCulture Photobook Prize 2026?
Kazuaki Koseki of Japan won the overall LensCulture Photobook Prize 2026 for his captivating series Hotarubi – Summer Fairies, earning a fully funded photobook publication with Nazraeli Press, plus worldwide distribution and promotion.
How many photographers were selected for the LensCulture Photobook Prize 2026?
Sixteen photographers were highlighted through the LensCulture Photobook Prize 2026, including one overall winner, five shortlisted projects, and ten finalists, representing an impressive range of photographic styles, subjects, cultures, and visual storytelling approaches.
What does the overall LensCulture Photobook Prize winner receive?
The overall winner receives a fully funded photobook with Nazraeli Press, including professional design and production, a 500-copy print run, worldwide distribution, promotion, a LensCulture feature, and a print exhibition at ShowLA in Los Angeles.
What do shortlisted photographers receive?
Shortlisted photographers receive a $500 grant, a dedicated LensCulture feature, a 30-minute video consultation with LensCulture founders, and an opportunity to exhibit their work as prints at ShowLA in Los Angeles.
Why is the LensCulture Photobook Prize important for photographers?
The prize gives photographers an opportunity to present complete bodies of work as photobooks while connecting them with respected publishers and photography professionals. It celebrates sequencing, visual storytelling, creative ideas, and the evolving possibilities of contemporary photography.
