Hasselblad Masters 2026 winners announced

Summary

• Hasselblad has announced the winners of the Hasselblad Masters 2026 competition
• The competition received more than 108,000 image submissions
• Seven photographers were selected across Art, Architecture, Landscape, Project//21, Portrait, Street and Wildlife
• Each winner receives a 100MP Hasselblad medium format camera, two XCD lenses and a EUR 5,000 creative fund
• The winning work will be featured in the Hasselblad Masters book and across Hasselblad’s global channels

Hasselblad announced the winners of the Hasselblad Masters 2026, one of the most important international institutions in professional photography, highlighting seven creators who stood out for their technical excellence, artistic vision and personal storytelling.

From more than 108,000 entries submitted by photographers from 160 countries and regions, the jury initially selected 70 finalists and then one winner in each of the competition’s seven categories: Landscape, Architecture, Portrait, Art, Street, Wildlife and Project//21. The public vote was also taken into account in the evaluation process, while the final selections were based on the conceptual strength, originality, creativity and technical excellence of each work.

Kalle Sanner, Executive Director of the Hasselblad Foundation and Chair of the Grand Jury, noted that this year’s entries proved that the strongest photography is not limited to simply recording reality, but creates new levels of interpretation. As he said, the works that stood out gradually reveal their meaning, rewarding the viewer the more time they devote to observing them.

Art – Yudha Kusuma Putera (Indonesia)

Waste Colonialism (Sapi-Sapi Piyungan)

Indonesian photographer Yudha Kusuma Putera turns his lens toward social issues that usually remain invisible in everyday life. His award-winning work examines the way developed countries export their waste to developing economies, where management costs are lower.

At the same time, he presents the same pattern on a local level: landfills are moved to the outskirts of cities so they remain out of sight. At the Piyungan landfill, near Yogyakarta, waste is sorted by recyclable-material collectors, while cows feed on the garbage, creating a second “mountain” of trash.

The photographs focus on the backs of the animals, which seem to continue the relief of the waste pile. Putera does not seek to assign blame, but to provoke reflection on the waste we produce and the future we are building through it.

Kalle Sanner commented that the images initially appear direct, yet resist an easy interpretation, creating a constant sense of visual uncertainty that keeps the viewer alert.

Architecture – Kevin Boyle (Canada)

DaySleeper | Movieland

Kevin Boyle grew up on the Canadian prairies. After his father’s death, he returned to the place where he was raised and encountered communities that had changed radically, with cinemas and gathering places abandoned and closed.

For more than a decade, he has been documenting abandoned buildings in small towns across North America, transforming their architecture into a photographic archive of collective memory.

The award-winning series consists of composite photographic images in which each part of the building is lit separately with lenses and later digitally combined. The result resembles an almost supernatural portrait of spaces that once formed the center of social life.

Sonia Jeunet of Magnum Photos noted that the absence of people activates the viewer’s imagination, inviting them to reconstruct the moments when these spaces were full of life.

Landscape – Rohan Reilly (Ireland)

Ephemeral Visions

Irish photographer Rohan Reilly, with a musical background as a composer, follows a particularly minimalist approach to landscape photography.

Using long exposure times, he transforms water and sky into soft, almost silky surfaces, creating images that radiate calm and a meditative atmosphere.

The series records reeds along the Po River in Italy, which function as a natural barrier against floods. Reflected in perfectly calm water and illuminated by soft diffused light, they are transformed from a purely functional element of the landscape into an almost dreamlike composition.

Zack Hatfield of Aperture Magazine commented that such a repetitive subject could easily become monotonous, yet the images acquire an almost hypnotic quality, creating a sense of vastness through repetition.

Project//21 – Panitbhand Paribatra Na Ayudhya (Thailand)

Dwellers of the Night

The young photographer and diver from Thailand dedicates his work to marine life and the fragile ecosystems of the oceans.

The series was created in the waters of Anilao in the Philippines, where every night planktonic and larval organisms rise from the depths toward the surface to feed.

With slow exposure times and carefully selected colored lighting, the photographer reveals a world that is rarely visible to humans. In one of the most characteristic images, a ribbon eel is illuminated by warm diffused light reminiscent of sunset, turning it into the dominant presence of the night sea.

Alex Pollack of National Geographic stated that these creatures look almost extraterrestrial when presented against a black background, while the simplicity of the presentation highlights the strange beauty of nature.

Portrait – Svetlana Jovanovic (Netherlands)

Otherness

With studies in psychology, Svetlana Jovanovic explores the concept of identity through artistic portraiture.

The long-term project Otherness focuses on identical twins and the subtle balance between their shared identity and each person’s individuality.

Although twins share common characteristics, the small differences that develop over the years reveal their distinct character. Each portrait is the result of collaboration between the photographer and the models, inviting the viewer to wonder how personal identity is shaped.

RongRong of the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre emphasized that through precise lighting and careful composition, the series explores duality, the mirror image and emotional connection with exceptional subtlety.

Street – Gosse Bouma (Netherlands)

Morning Ritual

Gosse Bouma creates photographs that seek moments of calm within the modern city.

His work combines geometric architectural forms with fog, light and natural elements, creating images that convey serenity even within the urban environment.

The award-winning series was photographed in outdoor markets in the Netherlands. There, people of different ages and social groups meet for a few minutes, exchange conversations, do their shopping and continue their day.

Bouma captures these small everyday moments as a reminder of a form of social cohesion that is becoming increasingly rare.

Aya Musa of Foam praised the way the photographer uses color, fog, artificial lighting and architecture to create images that are both intimate and imposing.

Wildlife – Alfred Minnaar (South Africa)

The Forest I Roam

Alfred Minnaar dedicates a large part of his work to the protection of nature and the artistic depiction of wildlife.

The award-winning images present a microscopic goby fish within a coral environment.

Instead of focusing exclusively on the animal, the photographer uses it as a point of reference to highlight the scale and complexity of the reef itself. In this way, the viewer is invited to perceive the world from the perspective of one of its smallest inhabitants.

Alex Pollack described the color palette of the series as impressive, noting that the images ideally balance detail and composition, almost resembling landscape photographs on a microscopic scale.

At the same time, they will collaborate with Hasselblad on a new creative project, while their work will be presented in the anniversary book Hasselblad Masters and through the company’s official channels worldwide.

The winners and the next step

The seven photographers now receive the title of Hasselblad Master, joining a particularly distinguished community of creators. In addition to the distinction, they will receive a Hasselblad camera with a 100-megapixel medium-format sensor, two XCD lenses and a creative grant of 5,000 euros.

At the same time, they will collaborate with Hasselblad on a new creative project, while their work will be presented in the anniversary book Hasselblad Masters and through the company’s official channels worldwide.