Street photography emerged in the late 19th century as lightweight, handheld cameras made it possible to photograph everyday life outside the studio. The genre flourished throughout the 20th century thanks to pioneers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Vivian Maier, Garry Winogrand, and Joel Meyerowitz, who transformed ordinary streets into compelling visual narratives. Today, street photography remains one of the most challenging forms of photography, relying not on staged scenes but on a photographer’s ability to recognize extraordinary moments as they naturally unfold.
Each year, the LensCulture Street Photography Awards celebrate the photographers who excel at capturing these unscripted moments. The 2026 edition brings together the work of 41 remarkable photographers from 23 countries across five continents, highlighting the extraordinary diversity of contemporary street photography. Selected by an international jury of photography experts, the winning images range from humorous visual coincidences and striking studies of light to intimate portraits of daily life and powerful social observations, offering a fascinating snapshot of today’s world through the eyes of photographers working across cultures and continents.
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#1 Ahead Of Time By Gary Devonald, Finalist
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#2 Cotton Candy Cowboy By Perry Hall, Finalist
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#3 Entry Prohibited By Avin Abbasi, Finalist
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#4 Hounds And Horses By Kuba Abramowicz, Finalist
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#5 Dreams Happen After Dark By Étienne Perrone, Finalist
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#6 Coming Into Town By Loren Kaye, Finalist
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#7 I Love Water, I Love Fish, I Love Cherry Blossoms By Rattanun Rungpittaryaton, Jurors’ Pick
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#8 Passing Through By Tamás Vasvári, Finalist
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#9 The Divided Youth By Toby Binder, Finalist
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#10 Love By Nika Pailodze, Jurors’ Pick
“While walking down the street, my attention was drawn to the hands of an elderly couple. Their touch was so gentle and intimate that it seemed to answer, better than words ever could, the question: What is love?”
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#11 The Red Series By Ilan Ben Yehuda, Finalist
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#12 Shadow Play By Jason Au, Finalist
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#13 The Lost Home By Aniruddha Guha Sarkar, Finalist
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#14 Good Morning Vietnam By Max Sturgeon, Finalist
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#15 Between Worlds By David Niu, Finalist
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#16 Kind Of Blue By Alfonso Perez De Velasco, Finalist
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#17 Street Scenes By Wenpeng Lu, France, Single Winner – 3rd Place
“The street is the essence of the everyday. In an increasingly digital world, it is where reality comes to life. People of all ages, origins or living conditions mix and circulate through this vital circulatory system that runs through every city. Guiding my gaze is a search for fleeting moments through which I manage to reconcile the virtual and the real.”
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#18 Elfin By Katerina Stratos, Jurors’ Pick
“During a Greek Orthodox Sunday service, the memorial honoring the dead can stretch on for hours. This boy, fighting his boredom, had perched himself on a window ledge, swaying and mumbling with an elf-like restlessness. Moments later he was scolded by an elderly woman in black and dragged away.”
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#19 Written In Light & Shadow By Murat Harmanlikli, Finalist
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#20 On Returning By Hector Faya, Finalist
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#21 Surreal Feria By Julio Marchamalo, Finalist
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#22 The Great Escape By Bouwe Brouwer, Netherlands, Series Winner – 2nd Place
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#23 Venice Unseen By Adam Vincent, United Kingdom, Series Winner – 3rd Place
“I am always trying to capture intensity and emotion through my candid street photography. Venice has been a place I wanted to visit for a decade. All I had seen before were postcard photos that sell it as a holiday destination so it was more satisfying than anywhere I’ve ever visited to dig into its reality and fill in the gaps.”
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#24 Sea Story By Marina Koryakin, Israel, Single Winner – 2nd Place
“The sea for me is an endless journey to another world. A world where reality is surreal. A world where I can escape.”
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#25 Untold Signs By Asako Naruto, Jurors’ Pick
“Light does not merely illuminate; it interrupts. In the depths of the city, it briefly arrests movement and isolates fragments of human presence that would otherwise dissolve into anonymity. Untold Signs emerges from this interruption—from moments when light transforms passing bodies into fleeting signs.”
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#26 No Body Was Cast For This By Levi Goldbaum, Jurors’ Pick
“Starting in 2023, this ongoing series has taken me to Istanbul, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, New York, Leipzig, Munich, Prague, Koh Chang and somewhere in Arizona. Even though the photographs were taken in very different places, they seem to belong to the same strange world.”
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#27 Don’t Worry, Be Happy By Kuankuan He, Jurors’ Pick
“When we set aside our usual aesthetic perspectives to look at the street, we can perceive a different, emotionally charged atmosphere. In China, where I live, people are not particularly adept at expressing their feelings. The emotions I see on the street reflect similar traits to this national character: they are not intense, but rather subtle and understated, chaotic and bizarre. Whenever these fleeting moments strike my nerves, I am reminded of something my English teacher used to say when I was a child: “Don’t worry, be happy.”
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#28 I Too Am Untranslatable By Roopsha Samanta, Finalist
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#29 City Of Light By Paul Murray, Finalist
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#30 Kapparot By Mark Zilberman, Finalist
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#31 Until Dawn Comes By Vica Bogaerts, Thailand
“They say the darkest hour comes just before dawn; a burden to carry until daylight arrives. But at Long Biên market, the darkest hour is when everything begins. When Hanoi goes to sleep, the market awakens, alive in the hours between night and first light, running according to a clock the rest of the city never sees. Darkness here has its own rhythm, its own community and purpose.”
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#32 Sublime Porte By Colin Helie-Harvey, Canada, Single Winner – 1st Place
“When we went to Istanbul to introduce our son to my wife’s family, I had the opportunity to walk around the city once again, but this time with a camera. It was an amazing experience discovering new neighborhoods and talking with people on the street. I’ve always done this when I’m in Istanbul, but it was the first time I did it with a camera. It was a really nice experience.”
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#33 The Aquatic Ceremony By Yusuf Eminoglu, Jurors’ Pick
“During the harsh winters of Anatolia, local children turn cold January days into a ritual, seeking warmth and joy in natural thermal waters. As they bathe their horses and buffaloes, the striking contrast between the freezing air and soothing warmth creates moments of playful delight.”
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#34 Caged Chaos, Layered Lives By Krishna Goswami, Jurors’ Pick
“These short stories, made with love, are from Kolkata. It is essential to know the self and to understand others with patience, compassion, and an open mind. My internal monologue allows me the space to rebuild narratives or weave songs from the stories unfolding in the alleys of Kolkata; adding colors to the shadows or fictionalizing reality.”
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#35 After The Celebration By Jirayut Thongwatcharapaiboon, Jurors’ Pick
“In this project, I focus on spaces suspended between presence and disappearance. Ordinary environments where traces of human activity remain though the events that preceded them are now long gone; empty parking lots, isolated urban edges, artificial landscapes, littered with abandoned decorations. Rather than documenting celebration itself, this series lingers on its aftermath.”
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#36 Nostos By Sonia Simbolo, Finalist
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#37 Of Dark And Bright By Michael Mcilvaney, Finalist
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#38 Remains Of The Day By Mania De Praeter, Finalist
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#39 Kurkuma By Isabel Mombaerts, Finalist
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#40 Dr. Tariq By Maude Bardet, Finalist
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