The Black & White Photo Contest by reFocus Awards welcomes both individual image and series submissions that honor and explore black and white photography.

Black & White Photo Contest

Honorable Mention

From the perspective of a drone, the ground ravines are like raging flames.

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Firing

Xuejun Long

China

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Nominee

This series explores the meeting of structure, water and darkness along the River Thames. Moving between description and abstraction, the images reveal the river not as a setting, but as an active surface that unsettles and remakes the built world in light and darkness.

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The Thames at Night

Jonathan Snow

United Kingdom

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Gold

Two skyscrapers face to face in Milan's City Life district. Arata Isozaki's Allianz Tower, held upright by four buttresses, stands alone and imposing. Zaha Hadid's Generali Tower twists like an elegant dancer, while light gently slides along its sides, highlighting the stories of everyday life.

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The dance of light

Pietro Di Girolamo

Italy

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Millions of birds die each year due to urban development and glass structures. In these moments, flocks move through rigid skylines, briefly reshaping them. This series explores the contrast between fixed architecture and fluid motion, questioning control, space, and coexistence.

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The Sky Does Not Belong to the Buildings

Raghuvamsh Chavali

Canada

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"The Reach" is a visual metaphor for unity. Against a starkly divided backdrop, two hands extend across the void—bridging racial, political, and social chasms. It captures the fragile yet powerful moment where difference dissolves into a peaceful, shared humanity.

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The Reach

Long Phi Tran

Vietnam

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Consumed by the fabric, the subject seeks comfort through attachment. Inspired by the “Centre Stage Effect,” the work explores gravitation toward centrally positioned options - like the middle-toned fabric - as they are often perceived as safer, alongside attachment to material objects for security.

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Attachment

Dulcie May

Australia

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A light leaked photo shot along the Berlin Wall.

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Collision Course

Jen Ng

Singapore

Silver

A long exposure turns the surf into fog, revealing a river of dark stones flowing into a pale horizon. The lone driftwood limb reaches from the distance like a final mark of life, balancing stillness and motion on a quiet, timeless shore.

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Stone River, Silent Sea

Thomas Tanner

United States of America

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In the morning, a thin mist covers Lake Cardo, with tall fallen cypress trees and strands of Spanish moss hanging from the trees. A blue heron quietly waits for its breakfast, and the calm reflection of the lake surface makes everything so beautiful!

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Searching For Food In The Quiet Autumn Mist

I find peace and harmony in long-exposure photography. In my work, I experiment with exposures of different lengths, aiming to highlight the uniqueness of the scene and evoke a sense of purity and tranquility.

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Floating Trees

Rolandas Urbonavicius

Germany

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The beautiful Étretat coast in France. A sudden heavy rain and a lone fishing boat sailing along the coast - all that was needed for this minimalist work.

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In the Rain

long exposure minimalist photograph of a small boat.

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wild dream

Graeme Shipton

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The Sea Serpent sculpture is located in Saint-Breven-les-Pins, France, where the Loire River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Weather conditions are an integral part of landscape photography. In this case, the ocean's water level, waves, and long exposure helped create this minimalist landscape.

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The Monster

A spruce sapling between old growth trunks. Photographed in total darkness, each element illuminated by hand. The darkness takes everything the light doesn't claim. The sapling has survived this long. The forest makes no promises.

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Ward

Tommy Nigbor

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The coast is full of signs. Functional objects meant to guide and warn. But strip away their purpose through long exposure, and they become something else entirely, solitary sentinels standing in silence. this series focuses on the navigational architecture we barely notice.

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the marker

A figure walks a corridor of raking light, unaware of the elongated shadow trailing behind — a second self revealed only to those watching from above.

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The Second Self

Atsuyuki Watanabe

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Bronze

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It's a Small World

Mark Gordon

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