“For me, landscape photography has never been simply about documenting what I see, but about expressing what I feel..” – Isabella Tabacchi
Judge of our 2026 Landscape Award, now open for entries, Isabella Tabacchi is an acclaimed Italian landscape photographer whose atmospheric, dreamlike images capture the beauty and emotional power of the natural world.
Tabacchi’s journey into photography began long before it became her profession. Although she had loved photography since childhood, it was a trip to the Dolomites in 2014, while studying Pharmacy at university, that changed the course of her life.
Drawn to the sharp, mist-covered peaks of the Catinaccio mountain group, she began to imagine a future in which she could dedicate herself to photographing the landscapes that moved her.
What began as a personal passion gradually developed into something more serious, and in 2017, she left her studies behind to pursue photography full-time. “It was a journey in which I discovered myself and changed a lot,” she explains. “Landscape photography is a way to express my feelings, myself.” For Tabacchi, the appeal of landscape photography lies in the extraordinary diversity of the natural world and its capacity to evoke emotion. “…it allows me to explore that beauty while creating my own interpretation of it, turning a real place into something deeply personal,” she says.
Rather than simply reproducing what stands before her, she interprets a place through its colours, contrasts, shapes, and atmosphere. Her photographs often have an otherworldly quality, with carefully balanced tones and dramatic contrasts lending natural forms an almost dreamlike presence.
Editing plays an important role in this process, allowing her to develop the mood she experienced in the field and give visual form to feelings that may not be immediately apparent in the landscape itself. “For me, landscape photography has never been simply about documenting what I see, but about expressing what I feel,” she says. “My emotions influence everything, from the atmosphere and light I’m drawn to, to the compositions I choose and the way I develop an image afterward.”
The experience of reaching a location is equally important to her practice. Remote landscapes often demand long hikes, physical effort, and patience, with difficult conditions adding another layer to the process. “Those experiences create a deeper connection with the landscape,” she explains, “and I believe that connection influences the way I observe the light, discover compositions, and ultimately tell the story of a place.”
Over the years, her search for new sources of inspiration has taken her well beyond the Dolomites. Greenland, Kazakhstan, Japan and Iceland have all played a role in the evolution of her work, offering different landscapes through which to explore her approach to color, form and atmosphere. It is nature itself that remains her greatest influence, particularly places that feel untouched, mysterious or almost otherworldly. “Exploring remote regions of the world has taught me to look beyond the obvious and develop a more personal visual language,” she says, “where light, shapes, and atmosphere become essential elements of storytelling.”
One of her best-known photographs, Tree of Life, began with a chance discovery in Iceland’s Highlands in 2019, when Tabacchi spotted a striking pattern of waterways and green vegetation while flying her drone. She returned to the location in 2023 with a fresh perspective, creating the image that went on to win several international awards and appear in National Geographic in November 2024.
It is one of many accolades in a career that has also seen her awarded International Landscape Photographer of the Year (ILPOTY), while she has also served as a judge for numerous photography competitions- experience she now brings to our 2026 Landscape Award.
When assessing landscape photography, Tabacchi looks beyond technical perfection, valuing composition, light and atmosphere alongside the ability to evoke emotion and offer a fresh perspective. Her advice to entrants is to trust their own vision rather than follow trends, as “originality and authenticity are what make a photograph memorable.” It’s a philosophy that runs through her own work, where a personal connection to the landscape is central to the images she creates.
All images © Isabella Tabacchi