Award-Winning Aerial Photos from the 2025 reFocus Photographer of the Year

Photographer of the Year: “Above the Horizon” by Marie Juliette Aziz

Viewing the world from above has a way of transforming the familiar into something astonishing, turning roads into branching networks, rivers into painted strokes, and fields into abstract patterns.

The 2025 reFocus Photographer of the Year aerial winners embody that shift in perspective, presenting landscapes as bold, graphic compositions that feel both remote and deeply personal. Marie Juliette Aziz claimed the top honor for her series *Above the Horizon*, a Vietnam‑spanning collection that reveals the hidden geometry and rhythm of coastlines, rice fields, and winding waterways. Her work, like the rest of the winning images, shows how intention and patience can elevate aerial photography beyond technique alone. Each photograph balances vast scale with intricate detail, inviting viewers to slow down and absorb the quiet drama unfolding from above.

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Silver: “Golden Dragon of the River” by Eric Lee Chin Chuan

Silver: “Bonsai” by Mark Gray

Bronze: “Giants amongst the clouds” by Wesley Campbell

Bronze: “Breach” by Jarrod Saw

“The Lone Horseman” by Dennis Schmelz

“Lofoten Sunrise” by Stefan Liebermann

“Earth’s Veins” by Marco Di Marco

“Hong Kong from Above” by Derry Ainsworth

Spirits of the Sea” by Cody Roberts

“After the meal” by Pål Hermansen

“What the fire left behind” by Edward J Felton

“Morning Serenity” by Kenneth Childress

“Edge of Two Worlds” by Eric Lee Chin Chuan

“Autumn Road” by Stefan Liebermann

“Nature’s Lines and Patterns” by Kenneth Childress

“Primordial” by Mark Gray

“Goods In Transit” by Ricky Beron

“Rivers of Life” by Randall (Randy) Hanna

“The Eye of Pele” by Aaron Lynton

“Fabric” by Mark Gray

“One Shark” by Ricky Beron

“Queens Neighborhood” by Ricky Beron

“Photography of Overhead Liner’s Symmetry” by Yevhen Kostiuk