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Nature doesn’t pose. It doesn’t wait. It just exists—wild, messy, breathtaking. And that raw energy is exactly what defines the AAP Magazine Photography Awards – Issue #54: Nature photography winners, where 25 winning photographers cut through the noise and show us the planet as it really is.
Thousands of photographers from across the globe threw their hats into the ring for this edition, each bringing a personal relationship with the natural world. The result? A stunning mix of perspectives that feels both global and deeply intimate. From vast, soul-stirring landscapes to quiet moments tucked inside leaves, feathers, fur, and stone, these winning series prove that nature never runs out of stories.
What makes this collection hit hard is its range. One image pulls you into remote wilderness where silence feels loud. Another zooms in close—so close you can almost feel the texture of bark or the breath of an animal at rest. Color explodes in some frames, while others lean into shadow and mystery. Together, they show nature’s full emotional spectrum: calm, chaos, beauty, power.
Issue #54 is less about perfection and more about connection. These photographers don’t just document the world—they respond to it. Their work reflects patience, respect, and a deep awareness of how fragile and resilient our planet really is.
Published monthly, AAP Magazine continues to spotlight both emerging and established voices pushing contemporary photography forward. This Nature edition honors artists who blend strong personal vision with technical skill, reminding us why nature photography still matters—especially now.
Below, you’ll find each of the 25 winning photographers presented individually, offering a closer look at the unique visual languages that make this edition a true celebration of Earth’s beauty and diversity.
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#1. Winner – "Resiliency of Nature" by Isabella Tabacchi, Italy
"This is an aerial view of Iceland’s highlands where braided glacial rivers and mineral-rich streams form a natural pattern resembling a glowing tree. Vibrant yellow-green branches spread across dark volcanic terrain, while a pale blue river curves like roots below. This rare formation shows nature’s artistry, where water, sediment, and light create a living symbol of Earth’s resilience."
#2. 2nd Place Winner – "Restless Island" by Marco Di Marco, Italy
"Iceland, an island that rarely feels completely still. These four photographs were taken around recent eruptions, in the highlands and on the coast. The first image shows active lava channels at night fed by a several kilometer long eruptive fissure. Another shows a lava flow front reaching and engulfing a road, surrounded by snow-covered terrain."
#3. 3rd Place Winner – "Inside the macro world" by Eduardo Salvador, Spain
"I was exploring the Costa Rican jungle in Drake Bay when I came across this beautiful scene, a pair Cascade glass frog (Sachatamia albomaculata) in amplexus. Its pretty yellow spots and eyes looked like came from another planet, and at the same time conveyed how fragile they are."
Merit Award Gallery
#4. "Last Stretch from the series Intimate landscape" by Abilio Magalhães, Portugal
"This photograph was taken on the Trilho da Preguiça trail, in the Serra do Gerês. The route is circular and relatively easy, but near the end I decided to explore the slope of the terrain and, almost unexpectedly, I came across this tree, whose branches conceal an old path, keeping it secret."
#5. "I’m A Fun Guy" by Michael Ritzie, United States
"I love the quiet, magical feeling mushrooms bring to the forest. Small and often unnoticed, they remind me of tiny street lamps, softly lighting the way for the creatures that live among the leaves and fallen trees. This series is about slowing down and paying attention to those small moments."
#6. "Morning light Park Avenue" by Gary Wagner, United States
"Photographer Gary Wagner captures the timeless majesty of America’s National Parks through a masterful lens. His evocative images reveal the ever-shifting interplay of light, shadow, and landscape, inviting viewers to experience the wild places that shape the nation’s soul."
#7. "Many Lives in A Flower" by Julie Wang, United States
"Many Lives in A Flower is a photographic series inspired by traditional Chinese Song-dynasty painting, using Queen Anne’s Lace as a recurring subject. Rather than documenting the flower, the work explores its shifting states through light, focus, and atmosphere, allowing one form to hold multiple lives. Emptiness, softness, and restraint echo the Song tradition, where spirit is valued over form and time unfolds quietly through attentive seeing."
#8. "The vulnerable temple of the orange spirit" by Benoit Rondelet, Belgium
"The name orangutan comes from the Malay word orang hutan, which literally means man of the forest. This great ape lives in the treetops and tirelessly roams the canopy in search of fruit, leaves, and insects. Orangutans, of which there are three species, have reddish-brown, shaggy fur and prehensile hands and feet."
#9. "Dunes" by Tracy Burke, United States
"At Great Sand Dunes National Park, the landscape unfolds into soft, shifting planes of sand. Human figures appear sparingly, almost incidental, moving through a place that feels vast, unmoored, and otherworldly. The photograph holds a moment of passage rather than arrival."
#10. "lora da Madeira" by Nat Coalson, United Kingdom
"During the summer of 2025 I spent a glorious week photographing the incredible botany found all over the magical island of Madeira. I produced a series of infrared photographs using a Sony mirrorless camera with the sensor converted for 720nm. One of my favourite locations was the ancient laurel forest at Fanal."
#11. "The Epic of Survival in the Waves" by Xiaoping Lin, China
"The big fish chased the small fish and rushed out of the water together, passing the egret. The egret looked surprised and did not know where the small fish would go under the laws of nature? Just like a poem: I passed you by. You hurried here. Before I noticed, you had gone far away, leaving me a regretful back."
#12. "Leopard descends tree" by Graham Hobart, United States
"Regaining what has been lost. Some activist photographers use shock and guilt as tools to bring attention to the plight of the natural world. Equally dismaying are photos depicting pristine images of Nature at its most beautiful, which can leave the viewer with the mistaken notion that all is well."
#13. "Like in a fairy tale" by Stefano Battistelli, Italy
"I captured this wild ibex in Maslana, in the Italian Alps. On the trail to the mountain hut, I noticed a beautiful male hidden among the green leaves, perfectly lit. Instead of running away, he gave me a few seconds, posing like a model."
#14. "African Wild Dog Portraits" by Turgay Uzer, United States
"While on safari we came across a pack of Wild Dogs at rest in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park, which is currently host to several breeding packs. It turned out that they were trying to relax after a successful hunt. They have a great success rate in their hunts which are savage affairs: The prey is usually chased to exhaustion and devoured on the spot within minutes."
#15. "The Small Stuff" by Marta Fiscus, United States
"An Orchard crab spider claims a little zinnia bud as if sitting on a velvety cushion surrounded by gem-like petals. She establishes a regal presence as if on her throne with a crown of jewels. I shot this from above using a ladder and 60mm super-macro lens. I used a wide aperture to capture the parallel surfaces of her tiny face and the emerging petal tips, focused to less than 1mm deep for the smallest detail and soft bokeh."
#16. "Dian’s legendary super tuskers" by George Dian Balan, Romania
"The climax of over 50 million years of elephant evolution, this Asian Super Tusker sports tusks of the relative size and shape of the southern mammoth, the ancestor of the woolly mammoth. While in the very present, we travel back in time. This is the finest elephant amongst great elephants, and as close as one can get to past times that have captured our imagination."
#17. "Bee Eater" by Conrad Peloquin, United States
"On a recent trip to Slovenia, my wife and I decided to stay for a few nights at a winery (I like photography, she likes wine…a win win). Adjacent to the winery was a vineyard. Little did I know that the vineyard would become a fabulous backdrop for not only landscape images, but Bee-eater activity. While we were having a lovely breakfast outdoors, I noticed Bee-eaters zipping around, catching bees and other insects, then the behavior was apparent."
#18. "Above the Treeline" by Sean Du, United States
"Above the Treeline is an ongoing study that seeks to capture, by way of hiking and climbing, seldom-seen views of North America’s mountain wildernesses. Where trees give way to tundra, snow, ice and rock, the power of the Earth-shaping forces becomes evident – as seen in the tilt and fold of the rocks and the remnants of valley-carving glaciers."
#19. "Nature Embroidered: Writing with Light and Thread" by Myrtie Cope, United States
"Taking a closer look at the natural world reveals unnoticed details of plants and flowers. Adding embroidery and sometimes beads and buttons to my photographs puts the focus on those details. Essentially, it is “writing with light and thread.”"
#20. "Svalbard: The White Fragile Kingdom" by Roberta Pagano, Italy
"From our latitudes, Arctic problems may seem far away, but this is a misconception. The consequences of climate change are sadly real and tangible everywhere in the world, and even more so in this fragile ecosystem that plays a special role in the global climate. Perhaps the most extreme environments are those in which you most realize that each link in the chain of life has an absolute importance and plays a fundamental role in maintaining equilibrium."
#21. "Autumn in Austria" by Guenther Reissner, Austria
"Autumn is my favorite time for photography. The rich fall colors and the misty conditions are great for unique images, plus the fog gets rid of distractions."
#22. "Natural Self-Disconnection" by Alessandro Natalini, Italy
"Mountains are, for many, a place of silence and reflection. In this photographic project, I sought to portray landscapes and inhabitants as carriers of a shared emotionality: a sense of solitude, moments of introspection, a feeling of suspension. The images do not aim only to describe these places, but also to reflect my own state of mind at those moments, how I felt while moving through and observing them."
#23. "Cold Composition" by Jens Rosbach, Germany
"Iceberg in western Greenland. Due to the longer exposure time (1/25 sec.), the snow drifting in the arctic wind looks like a graphic curtain. In the cool aesthetics of the images, however, melancholy resonates: Due to climate change, the polar world is gradually disappearing. Taken 2025 on the island Ummannaq."
#24. "The Most Beautiful Anthropocene" by Aindreas Scholz, Ireland/Germany
"he Most Beautiful Anthropocene is an ongoing cameraless photographic series reflecting on ecological vulnerability and the unequal impacts of climate change across different landscapes. Working with expired darkroom paper and eco-friendly cyanotype solutions mixed with polluted seawater and acidic rainwater gathered on site, I allow natural forces, sunlight, salinity, moisture, and time, to co-author each image."
#25. "Fungus Among Us" by Don Jacobson, United States
"I gave a friend of mine who was into studying mushrooms, a calendar with photographs of mushrooms. A particularily attractive one, a Violet cortenaria, was photographed about 2000 mile from where we lived. I joked that my friend had to find me one to photograph to keep the calendar. Well… he did, just a few miles from where we lived. I have been photographing mushrooms ever since."
In Summary
What is AAP Magazine Issue #54: Nature?
- An international photography competition showcasing award-winning nature photography.
How many photographers won this edition?
- 25 photographers from diverse countries and cultural backgrounds.
What types of nature photography are featured?
- Landscapes, wildlife, flora, natural textures, and immersive environmental stories.
Who can submit to AAP Magazine Awards?
- Both emerging and established photographers from around the world.
Why is this edition important?
- It highlights nature’s beauty, diversity, and emotional power through contemporary photography.
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