“The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street.” – Robert Doisneau
Eduardo Ortiz
A finalist in our 2023 Travel Photography Award (Judged by Steve McCurry) Chilean-born photographer Eduardo Ortiz is one of our favorite street photographers, known for his vibrant imagery that captures the essence of cities across the globe.
Inspired by masters like Ernst Haas, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Fan Ho, Ortiz is driven by a deep passion for street photography and a love for the freedom it provides. Leading a nomadic life, he traverses the globe, capturing everyday moments with impeccable timing, framing, and a keen eye for color, resulting in captivating compositions filled with dynamism and atmosphere.
> Follow Eduardo on Instagram
Monaris
Puerto Rican-born photographer Monaris has been making waves with her cinematic depictions of life in her adopted NYC. She caught our attention with her striking shot of a taxi driver, which was selected as an Editor’s Pick for our recent Street Photography Award.
While the term “cinematic” is often overused, it perfectly describes Monaris’s work. Heavily influenced by directors and filmmakers, and captures fleeting moments that often evade the attention of the throngs, creating images that reveal but a fragment of a larger tale, inviting the viewer to ponder the hidden stories beneath.
> Follow Monaris on Instagram
Jonathan Jasberg
In our opinion, there are few more impressive and prolific exponents of street photography today than Jonathan Jasberg. A unique figure and self-proclaimed ‘vagabond,’ the American photographer has dedicated himself to traversing the globe, capturing everyday moments with a rare blend of artistry and skill. He intricately and spontaneously frames everyday scenes from around the world embodying Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment” resulting in dynamic, often layered compositions that become increasingly captivating the longer they are viewed.
It fills us with great pride to see someone who came to our attention through our competitions in 2021 enjoy such a dramatic rise, now gaining recognition across the world as one of street photography’s most exciting young talents, and coming full circle: transitioning from participant to judge of our current Street Award.
> Follow Jonathan on Instagram
Andrea Torrei
One of our favorite rising photographers, Italian-born Andrea Torrei, first caught our eye in February 2019 when her striking image of a Ghanian woman carrying a sewing machine on her head was selected as the third prize winner of our Street Photography Award. Torrei began taking pictures just over a decade ago, initially focusing on landscapes before transitioning to capturing everyday life on her travels. Her stunning images showcase incredible timing and framing, an impressive understanding of light, and a painting-like eye for color, influenced by renowned photographers like Vineet Vohra and Nikos Economopoulos, with whom she attended workshops during the early part of her career.
In 2022, she released her debut photobook, “Realities Hidden Within”, a collection of one hundred and thirty images captured across the globe, from Chicago to the Horn of Africa.
> Follow Andrea on Instagram
Pierre Belhassen
Following in the footsteps of some of the medium’s greats, French photographer Pierre Belhassen is a master at capturing the oddities and intrigue of his surroundings. Though born in Paris, Belhassen has spent much of his working life in Marseille, and in the streets of France’s second city, has found a perfect muse. His recently published monograph, “Marseille Allogène” is a fitting tribute to a city he knows and loves well, as well as a testament to his prodigious talent.
> Follow Pierre on Instagram
Billy Dinh
Billy Dinh is an American photographer who transforms moments of everyday life into captivating compositions filled with drama and intrigue. It was his striking and somewhat surreal depiction of a Kolkata street scene, selected as the 1st prize-winning image of our 2023 People Photography Award by renowned National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita, that first brought him to our attention.
Dinh’s impressive imagery, captured on the streets of his adopted NYC and other cities across the globe, is imbued with cinematic intensity, thanks to his use of shadows, slow shutter speeds, unusual angles, and an impressive understanding of composition, light, and tone.
> Follow Billy on Instagram
Suresh Naganathan
A finalist in our first-ever Street Photography Award in 2017, and again in 2022, Suresh Naganathan, was born in Switzerland in 1980 but relocated to India – his parents’ country of origin – in his late twenties. Immediately galvanized by the frenetic mosaic of life there – a striking contrast to the one he had in Switzerland – he spends his time on the streets of Mumbai and other major cities, capturing stunning imagery that displays incredible timing and an impressive eye for composition and tone.
> Follow Suresh on Instagram
Maude Bardet
Netherlands-based French photographer Maude Bardet is a rising star of street photography. Her precocious talent first caught our attention in 2020 when her entries to our Open Call and Street Photography Awards were selected as Editor’s Picks. Later that year, her stunning image of a goat auction in Oman was chosen as the winner of our 2020 Street Photography Award by Judge Richard Kalvar and she also went on to be selected as a finalist for our 2021 Street Photography Award by Nikos Economopoulos. She hasn’t looked back since, dedicating her time to traveling the globe and capturing stunning images that immerse the viewer in each scene
> Follow Maude on Instagram
David Keith Brown
David Keith Brown first caught our eye in the summer of 2022 when his image of three women using hair dryers to help cement their newly acquired eyelashes in place in Bangkok, won 2nd prize in our Travel Award, judged by Steve McCurry.
Barely a month later, Jamel Shabazz selected another of his images as the first prize winner in our Street Photography Award. Since then, his entries have been chosen as Editor’s Picks in numerous other competitions, a testament to his impressive skill, timing, and keen eye for composition.
> Follow David on Instagram
Hersley Ven Casero
A regular fixture among the finalists of our street photography awards in recent years, Hersley Ven Casero is a Philippines-based artist known for his captivating depictions of life in his homeland, characterized by a dynamic interplay of light and shadow.
He discovered his passion for photography during college, during a mentorship with LA Times photographer Luis Sinco. Upon graduating, Hersley conducted a series of South Pacific Photography Workshops alongside his mentor and Magnum photographer Eli Reed, and has since gone on to forge a reputation in his homeland and further afield, with his dynamic depictions of everyday life which have featured in local, national, and international publications.
> Follow Hersley on Instagram
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NB: The 2024 Street Photography Photography Award is open for entries until Sep 30. Enter here.