10x Awards at the European Photography Awards 2025

Big wins for me today at the European Photography Awards 2025 for my photo series The Wall at the Venice Carnevale…

The awards won this year include:

Platinum Winner, Italy Photography - Celebration/ Festive

Platinum Winner, Italy Photography - Cultural

Platinum Winner, People Photography - Culture

Platinum Winner, Commercial Photography - Travel/ Tourism

Platinum Winner, Fine Art Photography - Travel

Gold Winner, Italy Photography - Portrait

Gold Winner, Italy Photography - Travel/ Tourism

Gold Winner, Italy Photography - Fine Art

Gold Winner, People Photography - Fine Art

Gold Winner, Editorial Photography - Travel

The Wall at the Venice Carnevale - Lost Between Stars and Shadows 威尼斯嘉年華的街頭舞台 - 迷失在星光與陰影之間 ヴェネツィア・カルネヴァーレの壁 - 星と影の間に迷う

The Venice Carnevale, renowned as the world's most beautiful festival, dazzles with its extravagant masked costumes donned by wonderful attendees. Beyond the masks, locals exude charm in their preference for painted faces and historical garb, adding to the festival's allure. Masked revellers primarily hail from neighbouring countries, including France, Belgium, Austria, and Germany, contributing to Carnevale's vibrant cosmopolitan atmosphere. The walls of Venice during Carnevale transform into a living canvas, a riot of color and texture as elaborate masks and costumes spill onto the narrow streets and hidden campi. Forget mundane brick and mortar; the walls become backdrops for theatrical performances, impromptu photo shoots, and the swirling dance of revelers. Intricate masks, from the classic Bauta to the whimsical Medico della Peste, obscure identities and encourage playful anonymity. The crumbling façades of centuries-old palazzi, often draped with shimmering fabrics and festooned with twinkling lights, add an element of historical grandeur to the vibrant present moment, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Every corner offers a new and captivating vignette, turning the entire city into a breathtaking stage for the grand spectacle of Carnevale. I have been at the Venice Carnevale every year since 2014. This year's photo project is done using just a simple grey wall at the Venice Carnevale and using natural lighting only. The wall takes on a color hue reflected onto it from the costumer's dressings. The project aims to showcase a more intimate and realistic side of the costumes, and only concentrating on the costumers alone. The Venice Carnevale is not solely about masks. Local Italians and an increasing number of foreign costumers now prefer historical costumes or painted faces. During Carnevale, the whole Venice becomes a real life theatrical stage, and many of these historical costumes carry deep perspectives... This is the wall where I spent most of my time in Venice this year... This is the wall where all barriers between the photographer and the models break down... This is the Real Venice Carnevale...a mixture of masks and painted faces...

Titles of the individual photos:

1. Two Pulcinellos 兩個潘基內羅

2. The Red Queens レッドクイーンズ

3. The Miracle of San Gennaro サン・ジェナーロの奇跡

4. Djinn جِنّ

5. Blue Dream 藍色の夢

6. The Painted Lady 彩繪女士

7. Witches of the Forgotten Tales 被遺忘の威尼斯の巫術

8. Pulcinella 普欽內拉 プルチネッラ

You can read more about the individual stories behind each photo from my previous blog posts.

I have been to the Venice Carnevale every year since 2014. The Venice Carnevale is my first and biggest, longstanding/ continuation photo project. This year's series is an extension of last year's photo project/ styles, with a greater concentration of photos done just at the wall this year instead of moving about locations for photo shoots in Venice during previous years. (And yes, we did win big prizes for the same contest last year as well, including category winner).