British Photography Awards 2025

Update — November 2025: The Long Shadow went on to win the Drone category at the British Photography Awards 2025. Read the full write-up here.

The original post below was written while the shortlist was open. Voting has now closed.

I'm really pleased, first of all, to have had one of my entries this year shortlisted in the British Photography Awards (BPA) in 2025. This competition is a staple of the British photographic community, especially given that they cover a broad range of 20 categories, from Street to Self-Portrait and Water Life to Wedding.

As a nature and landscape photographer, my focus sits very much in the related categories. I entered the Landscape, Drone, Low Light and Land Animal categories this year, with a range of my photographs from the past year. With the £5 per image entry fee (which includes a charitable donation), I feel like entering a fair selection of images is justifiable.

This year, I'm pleased to say that one of my images made the, once again, very impressive shortlist. The image is in the Drone category and is titled "The Long Shadow". If you follow me and my journey, you'll no doubt know this image.

My shortlisted photograph — the Drone category

The photograph that has been shortlisted this year is "The Long Shadow".

This captures the moment the sun rose above the horizon and shone warm light across the misty Oxfordshire landscape on the 1st March 2025 — the first day of meteorological spring. This created a long shadow behind the clump of trees on this small barrow, where light fades into dark and the furrows in the field provide beautiful leading lines.

I've captioned the image simply with: "On the first day of meteorological spring, the warm sunrise filtered through the low-lying mist, casting a striking shadow behind this small cluster of trees atop an ancient Bronze Age barrow."

You can browse the broader shortlist here: British Photography Awards 2025 Shortlist

If you did make the shortlist, you are then in contention for the title of Category Winner (which is judged) and also People's Choice (which is based on a public vote). The public vote is managed by IP address, where each IP gets one vote per category.

Reviewing the shortlist of BPA 2025

I have to say, the shortlist of the BPA 2025 is, once again, of such an incredible standard. Congratulations if you made it — it's a great achievement. I'd highly recommend making time to attend the Gala Dinner in London; it's a fantastic celebration of photography and you will no doubt find yourself chatting and networking with many like-minded photographers.

In terms of reviewing the shortlist, I'll stick to the categories I most resonate with: Landscape, Low Light and Drone.

The Landscape category

As the winner of the 2024 Landscape category, I was a little bit disappointed with not making the shortlist again to defend my title. However, on review of those shortlisted, I can see why. The standard of images this year is excellent, with a range of subjects from woodland, intimate scenes and grand vistas.

Some photographs do jump out to me, however this is my personal opinion and shouldn't be seen as trying to predict a winner. In no particular order:

Mark Hetherington — "Eigg Gold". A superb coastal capture at sunset, where golden light bathes the scene. I just love the use of a long exposure, the milky sea water and detailed rocks in the foreground, the leading lines of the layered rock and the distant Rum island providing a great silhouette on the horizon.

Graham Niven — "Emerald Jewel". A magical photograph from the Cairngorms in Scotland, capturing the low sun shining through the iconic gnarly Scots pine trees on the banks of the rolling peaks of the Highlands. I just love the composition, the sun star and the warm light bathing the scene.

James Merrigan — "All the Gear". A unique photograph and one that is full of texture and intrigue. With the nice light and contrast in the slate, it both looks small and ginormous at the same time.

Llion Griffiths — "Skye Light". An iconic scene from the Isle of Skye, at Neist Point Lighthouse. Whilst this is a scene no doubt everyone has seen a picture of before, this is a slightly different composition. The use of the stones on the cliff add a bit more foreground interest, and the sky is beautiful with warm light.

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The Drone category

I have to say, the Drone category always does present an interesting shortlist. The mix of subjects is always a joy to browse, and this year is no different. It would be rude not to mention my own capture in this category first, just to get it out of the way.

Other drone photographs that catch my eye:

Matthew Whitton — "Braids of Erosion". An iconically Icelandic capture from the highlands. It's well composed and vast. Studying it on the big screen of my desktop gives it the best opportunity to shine, as there are so many details.

Gregg Wolstenholme — "Late Night Rides and Fireworks". This capture is firstly just a marvel at the technology available nowadays, showing fireworks over Blackpool Pleasure Beach. This is captured from the DJI Mavic 4 Pro at night, and is pin sharp. It also has sun stars from the long exposure — an artefact usually exclusive to bigger mirrorless or SLR cameras. This is due to drones usually not having variable aperture; however now with the bigger consumer drones, variable aperture is becoming the norm, with the Mavic 4 Pro having f/2.8 to f/11. Cranking the aperture gives the ability to capture sun stars, as shown here.

Phil Wilkinson — "Bemersyde Loop, River Tweed, Scottish Borders". An autumn capture near Melrose in the Scottish Borders. The colours and composition here are lovely, with the iconic Eildon Hills in the distance and the bend in the River Tweed in the foreground. Mist is settled on the ground in small patches. A really nice capture — one that I do have a slight bias towards as I got married in Melrose a few years ago. I hope to photograph this scene sometime soon.

John Seager — "Sculpted". A capture from Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Brazil, showing the beautiful patterns formed in the sands by the water in this river estuary. John is a staple in the competition space and has a long list of awards to his name — and I also have to say his list of locations is equally as iconic. I love seeing his work and his captures that often show more remote or lesser-photographed locations.

The Low Light category

I really love that there is a Low Light category in the BPA. It's definitely a distinct skill set in the photography realm.

The shortlist in this category this year has such a broad range of low-light photographs, from light painting to cityscapes, star trails to fireworks. Here's some stand-outs from me, in no particular order.

Liam Man — "Eternal Gaze". Liam has had great success with his light painting photographs in recent years, the highlight being his win at the Sony World Photography Awards. He uses drones with lights attached to create extremely striking lighting across iconic landscapes. This is very true here, where the drone lights illuminate the cliff face and pine trees, and the sky is filled with stars and the glow from local villages. Liam captured this in the Chartreuse mountain range. An excellent capture and one that is iconically Liam's style.

Josh Dury — "Vanishing World". Josh is a staple of British astrophotography, having recently published his book "52 Assignments: Astrophotography". I'm pleased to see one of his images in the British Photography Awards shortlist. It's poignant too, showing satellite trails streaking across the night sky — an ever-increasing sight now in our skies. The Milky Way can be seen above a dolmen, an ancient structure. To me, this is an excellent example of a storytelling photograph. It evokes deep emotions in me, highlighting our hugely significant impact on planet Earth.

Kunal Tewari — "Gothic Ingram Street". A snowy winter city scene from Glasgow, a city that I've lived in and have family connections to. It's such a wonderful capture; the light, composition and edit are excellent. I feel like I'm there, witnessing it first hand.

Congratulations to all of those shortlisted in this category, and again I just love the wide range of captures. A truly excellent display of British photography and photographers.

The British Photography Awards Gala Dinner

I've attended the Gala Dinner in London twice now, and both times it has been great. Not only is it an excellent celebration of photography, it's a great opportunity to meet fellow photographers and build a network. I've put faces to those I've followed on social media for some time, which is just a really nice thing to do.

I was so thrilled to win the Landscape category in 2024, and it was a total surprise on the night. You can probably tell from the photographs of me in sheer shock with the award trophy. I was so thrilled for my woodland capture titled "Bluebells at Sunrise" to win such a broad category (and with an incredibly brilliant shortlist), and to highlight the beauty of our bluebell woodlands in Britain. It was such a memorable sunrise for me, and one that evokes extremely positive memories. Thanks again to the judges and organisers for selecting my photograph.

The evening in 2024 was in the Royal Lancaster hotel at Hyde Park, London, and it is in the same venue in 2025. There was a very good three course dinner with drinks, with hundreds in attendance.

I've included a few photographs below from the event photographer Paul Thompson, aka Oak Photography. Thanks Paul!