25 Of The Most Impressive Images From The 2023 Urban Photo Awards

The Urban Photo Awards just concluded with 48 amazing images making it to the finals this year. Competitors were classified according to various categories, including streets, people, spaces, creativity, and more.

#1 People, Winner: Going To Save Themselves From The Abnormal Heat By Natalya Saprunova

Image source: Urban Photo Awards 2023

There is a peak of heat on the Kola Peninsula behind the polar circle for the month of June. With +30°C, it is 18°C above maximum averages which has been kept for 10 days. Young girls go to bathe in a stream near the family country house in Lovozero.
Being part of the last indigenous of Europe, the Saami of Russia lost their nomadic autonomy with the rise of Soviet power. Reindeer herders in the tundra on the Kola Peninsula, the Saami were forced to live in apartment buildings in Lovozero village, considered as a reserve. Settled to work in kolkhozes, the saami language and the traditional costume were prohibited. Today, there are 1500 saami people, and some 200 speak the language, most of them are elderly. Proud of their traditions, they strive to preserve their culture while adapting to modernity and global warming in the Arctic region.

#2 Creative, Honorable Mention: Horror Movies Story By Hardibudi

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#3 People, Honorable Mention: Diving By Maxim Korotchenko

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People enjoying diving in a new diving pool.

#4 Spaces, Winner: Ortona By Graziano Panfili

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#5 People, Remarkable Award: Out Of The Water By Salvatore Montemagno

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There are people who always live their lives with the clear and annoying sensation of feeling out of place, of never being at ease …. not even within themselves.

#6 People, Remarkable Award: Redwalk By Marcel Van Balken

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#7 Street, Winner: Tough Life By Andres Ramos Palacios

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The life of a tourist is not always easy. Imagine arriving in Hanoi with jet lag and the next day, early in the morning, taking a three-hour bus to Halong Bay. Once there, you stand in a long queue for the boat and spend the day cruising among majestic rock formations, exploring caves that evoke the Earth’s prehistory and bathing peacefully on dreamy beaches. After lunch (dessert included), who wouldn’t feel the need for a nap on deck to escape for a while from so much beauty?

#8 Street, Honorable Mention: Sakulchai Sikitikul

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Songkhla Thailand

#9 Spaces, Honorable Mention: Blue On The Beach By Angius

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#10 Streets, Remarkable Reward: And Then The Winter Came By Pierpaolo Mittica

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The only light in a shop with a power generator during a blackout in Kyiv. After almost a year of war the situation in Ukraine is dramatic, Russia in recent months has started to strike power stations to put the population in the dark and cold during the harsh Ukrainian winter. More than half of the population is currently living without electricity, water and heating, particularly difficult is the situation in the capital Kyiv and its suburbs destroyed in the first months of the war.

#11 People, Remarkable Award: Superman To The Rescue By Sehmuz Bayhan

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#12 People, Honorable Mention: The Right To Know By Roberta Vagliani

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#13 Street, Honorable Mention: Spectacular Noise By Alessandro Deluigi

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Rimini, Italia. Un ragazzino, seduto in cima ad uno scivolo, si era tappato le orecchie al rumore assordante delle spettacolari Frecce Tricolori Italiane.

#14 Urban Press Award, Winner: Parisian Night Stories By Krzysztof Bednarski

Image source: Urban Photo Awards 2023

Parisian Night Stories embarks on a visual journey through the pulsating heart of Paris after dark. The candid moments encapsulate the essence of nocturnal Paris, a vibrant pot of energy. Night wanderers, dreamers and adventurers, all intertwined by the rich cultural heritage and artistic legacy of the city. From the buzzing cafés of Montmartre to the jazz clubs of Saint-Germain, Parisian nightlife has played an influential role in shaping artistic movements. From laughter to romance, the series attempts to capture the spirit of the pulsating Parisian nightlife.

#15 People, Remarkable Award: Piotr Kamiński

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#16 People, Honorable Mention: Nunset By Daniela Calò

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A sunset by the sea acquires an even more radiant significance thanks to a small group of sisters who greet it with joy, faith, lightness and above all with a smartphone to take selfies.
 If I didn’t dream it, for a moment I became like them, with them, among them, an happy butterfly.

#17 People, Remarkable Award: Nunzia, 96, At Her Home In Garfagnana, Italy By Fred Borghesi

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Nunzia is my grandma. I always wanted to take a portrait of her at her home, where she lived for more than 70 years.

#18 Spaces, Remarkable Reward: Curve By Yi Tang Wang

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Taichung National Theater in Taiwan is the representative work of famous architect Toyo Ito. The interior of the building is supported by 58 curved walls, it’s a greatest structural challenge.The curvilinear vocabulary of the theater’s facade walls speaks to the building’s interior. This photo uses the curve of the building’s exterior to divide the surface of the light and dark blocks in the middle, showing the virtual and solid on the building wall. The minimalist geometric compositions and bright tones are very modernity. The insignificance of passers-by shows the grandeur of the building.

#19 Streets, Remarkable Reward: Risky Train Journey By Jubair Ahmed Arnob

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Home-bound people crowd onto the roof of a train to travel to their villages, ahead of the Eid-Al-Adha celebrations at the Railway Station in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

#20 People, Remarkable Award: The Place Of The Solitaires By Diana Sosnowska

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This self-portrait was taken in Brooksville, Florida, in 2023. The photograph is part of a project titled Another Weeping Woman. It is an ongoing project that started in 2019. It investigates the realms of human behavior through the eyes of fictional characters created by the photographer. Part of an ongoing investigation that seeks to challenge the consistent and dominant narrative of female irrationality that permeates our visual and written culture, the project draws inspiration from a multitude of literary works where transgressive femininity is profoundly celebrated. As the title suggests, each of the characters faces reality through ways of pain, solitude and melancholy. The photographs wish to unsettle the viewer and invite them to fabricate their own narrative, one that feels familiar with their own experience of womanhood. The project consists of carefully staged self-portraits, whose aesthetics have been informed by the literary evidence, taken in a range of locations that includes Florida, Italy, Scotland and Spain.

#21 Street, Honorable Mention: Alone By Jasper Tejano

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A boy tries to comfort himself from the overwhelming tour experience of the roaring falls of Niagara.

#22 Civic Museum Sartorio In Trieste, Special Prize: Tempra By Martina D’Agresta

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A feminine noun with a double meaning: a heat treatment of metals aimed at improving its properties strength and bending mechanics or a set of psychic and spiritual qualities of an individual with a marked connotation of solidity and vigor.

#23 Creative, Remarkable Reward: Runner – Labyrinth By Jozef Danyi

Image source: Urban Photo Awards 2023

Runner-Labyrinth It’s a runner’s story. It’s a game of light and black and white. A small runner in the middle of a large scenery looking for an exit from the labyrinth. The labyrinth is made up of parts of the buildings in the town of Bruntál, where I live. We wish her good luck… Created 2022.

#24 Spaces, Honorable Mention: Wael Elhammamy

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#25 Projects & Portfolios, Honorable Mention: Turn Round By Tomasz Liboska

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Turn Round is a long-term project about Upper Silesia, the largest industrial region in Poland.

Intensive industrial development of Upper Silesia began in the 18th century, following in the footsteps of the industrial revolution that transformed Europe. The vast reserves of black coal provided jobs and income to the region. The traditional economy—based mainly on agriculture—slowly declined. Over time, Upper Silesia became a land of coal mines and steel plants. Soon, cities expanded and the Upper Silesian agglomeration comprising over a dozen of towns was formed. After World War II, during the communist era, the region turned into a local El Dorado—a land of mineral riches.

In particular, heavy industry was the lifeblood of the communist regime and was seen as an icon of the country’s modernization. Upper Silesia witnessed a vast influx of people migrating from all over Poland. Tens of thousands of people were hoping for work and better lives here.

Alas, the socialist economy turned out to be a hidden time bomb for the region. After the great Solidarity movement revolution, when Poland joined the capitalist market economy, it was Upper Silesia that suffered the harshest consequences. Many factories shut down, and people were left without jobs or prospects. The smoking chimneys quickly disappeared from the horizon, and with them, many residents. The cities steadily emptied; some people returned to their hometowns, while younger people migrated to other countries in Europe.

Today, the region still exists as the industrial center of our country yet it is also searching intensely for a new identity. Dynamic socioeconomic changes are giving Upper Silesia a new character. And yet not everybody benefits equally from these changes. If you turn around for a moment, you can still see the past prowling right behind you.

Turn Round is the project, which, in 100% of time, was carried out on the bike. I like to cycle around, discover little paths and cul-de-sacs. There is no planned strategy. I am riding my bike wherever I feel like at a time. Many photos are made when I cycle to or from work. This is how I usually find my subjects. Some of them I have known for a long time, I like to go back to them. Other meetings are more incidental. I feel quite at ease approaching people and try to make good use of it. I initiate conversations, look for contact, encourage interaction.