TRAVEL INSPIRATIONAL GALLERY

COMPETITION JUDGED BY MICHAEL YAMASHITA

Michael Yamashita is an American–Japanese visual storyteller and National Geographic regular, whose career spans more than four decades and six continents. He combines deep cultural insight, historical awareness and aesthetic sensibility to portray people, places and landscapes with nuance and respect.

Born in San Francisco and raised in New Jersey, Yamashita travelled to Japan after college, immersing himself in Asian languages and culture – a formative period that inspired a lifelong passion for exploring distant lands. Over the years he has produced dozens of stories, covering regions from the Tibetan Plateau and the Mekong River to remote villages, historic trade routes and natural wonders around the world.

A TED-X speaker, sought-after lecturer, and instructor at photo workshops, universities, and conferences worldwide, he is both a passionate photographer and ambassador for the medium, garnering him awards from institutions such as Pictures of the Year, the New York Art Directors Club, and the Asian American Journalists Association. Yamashita’s work he reveals how geography, history and humanity intersect, combining an experienced eye, a strong narrative instinct, and an insatiable wanderlust.

IMAGES © MICHAEL YAMASHITA

YOUTH INSPIRATIONAL GALLERY

COMPETITION JUDGED BY MATTHIEU PALEY

Matthieu Paley is a French documentary photographer whose work explores identity, belief and belonging across some of the world’s most remote regions. Known for his immersive, long-term approach, he lives and travels alongside the communities he photographs, gaining rare access to moments of transition and coming of age.

Paley has worked extensively across Central and South Asia, documenting youth within cultural, religious and political frameworks that shape their lives. His work has been published widely, including in National Geographic, and has been recognised with major international awards such as World Press Photo and Pictures of the Year International.

Whether in Mongolia, Afghanistan, China, India or Sri Lanka, youth sits at the heart of Paley’s practice — not as a demographic, but as a formative stage marked by change, curiosity and tension between tradition and modernity. His ability to portray young lives with nuance, respect and depth makes him a thoughtful and authoritative judge for a theme devoted to youth.

IMAGES © MATTHIEU PALEY

SOLITUDE INSPIRATIONAL GALLERY

COMPETITION JUDGED BY JOHAN LOLOS

Belgian–Greek landscape photographer Johan Lolos is celebrated for his sweeping, emotionally resonant images of Earth’s wild places — from Alpine peaks to the Gobi desert, via color-infused Icelandic highlands and jagged Greek coastlines. He brings both technical precision and a keen sense of wonder to every frame.

Shaped by a two-year adventure through Australia and New Zealand, Lolos has built a global following as he traverses continents capturing landscapes, cultures, and the interplay between humanity and the environment. In 2018 he published Peaks of Europe, a 5-month, 17-country road-trip captured in breathtaking detail, blending documentary, landscape and wildlife imagery – rooted in respect for the planet and its people.

His work has been exhibited around the world, published by the likes of National Geographic, Lonely Planet, Condé Nast Traveler, Outside and GEO, and he has worked with illustrious clients such as Médecins Sans Frontières, Nikon, Samsung and Destination Canada. Johan’s imagery does more than document place –it evokes atmosphere, emotion and a sense of belonging to something greater, reminding us of the vast and diverse world of wonder we inhabit.

IMAGES © JOHAN LOLOS