Hasselblad has proudly and excitedly announced the winners of Hasselblad Masters 2026! The Hasselblad Masters competition has committed to providing a platform for extraordinary photographers around the world to showcase their incredible work since it was established in 2001. A spotlight for the industry's best, there is no doubt that the Hasselblad Masters is one of the world's most prestigious art competitions, giving professionals the chance to make their unique mark in the world of photography.
The winners of the Hasselblad Masters 2026 will earn the coveted title of "Hasselblad Master" and receive an incredible prize package including a Hasselblad X2D II 100C camera, two XCD Series lenses, and a creative fund of EUR 5,000. In addition, Hasselblad will invite the winners to fulfill their personal photography ventures using Hasselblad cameras. Select works will be published in the Hasselblad Masters book, cementing their place in photography history as winners of the Hasselblad Masters 2026!
Hasselblad Masters 2026 Winners
Art - Waste Colonialism (Sapi-Sapi Piyungan) by Yudha Kusuma Putera, Indonesia
Rooted in everyday life and inspired by its complexity, Yudha Kusuma Putera turns a keen eye toward the social issues that hide in plain sight, exploring the tensions between humans, nature, and the systems we build around us.
The winning images are part of a project examining how developed nations export their waste to developing countries, where labour and costs are lower. This logic repeats on a smaller scale too: within cities, landfills are built on the outskirts, kept out of sight and out of mind. At Yogyakarta's Piyungan landfill, a city's waste is sorted by scavengers and consumed by cows, quietly piling up into a second hill. He photographed the backs of these cows stacked together, with their forms mirroring the landscape of trash around them. The work does not seek to assign blame, but to invite collective reflection on the waste we produce, and the futures we are building from it.
Architecture - DaySleeper | Movieland by Kevin Boyle, Canada
Kevin Boyle was shaped by the open skies and close-knit communities of the Canadian prairies. After the loss of his father, he returned home, only to find the places he once knew hollowed out and silent, their gathering spaces boarded up and left to disappear. For over ten years, his photographic journey has been a profound tribute to the abandoned architecture of North America's local communities.
The winning series is comprised of photographic montages, with each part of the building lit with flashlights and blended in post production to create an ethereal "portrait" of once important gathering places. Through his lens, these forgotten spaces become vibrant, glowing symbols of community heritage and shared human connection.
Landscape - Ephemeral Visions by Rohan Reilly, Ireland
Rooted in the discipline of a composer, Rohan Reilly's images strip away complexity to reveal the essentials, which are texture, tone, and stillness. His signature long-exposure technique transforms moving water and shifting skies into silk-like surfaces, while vast negative space and low saturation give his work a poetic, meditative quality that transcends documentation. The process is one of patience and preparation: studying weather patterns, returning season after season, and waiting for the precise conditions that cannot be engineered but only earned.Â
This winning series captures a row of poplar trees planted along the banks of the River Po in Italy, which are natural guardians against flooding, now standing immersed in perfectly still water beneath soft, diffused light. What was once a purely functional landscape transforms into something surreal and dreamlike. In this quietly breathtaking scene, the photographer's vision can find its fullest expression: nature distilled to its core, and time momentarily held still.
Project//21 - Dwellers of the Night by Panitbhand Paribatra Na Ayudhya, Thailand
Panitbhand Paribatra Na Ayudhya is a young underwater photographer and scuba diver from Thailand. His work is rooted in a quiet dedication to the ocean, documenting its life, its fragility, and the ecosystems that sustain it, in the hope that what is seen through his lens will not be forgotten.
The winning series was captured in the waters of Anilao, Philippines, where pelagic and larval marine life migrate from the depths each night to feed under the cover of darkness. Using slow shutter speeds to capture the elegant motion of the subjects, and carefully chosen colored lighting to reveal their form and beauty, the photographer illuminates a world rarely seen. For the ribbon eel, a diffused warm light conjures a subtle sunset behind the subject — crowning it as a master of the night. Some of these creatures spend their entire lives in the open ocean, making the pelagic ecosystem as fragile as it is extraordinary.
Portrait - Otherness by Svetlana Jovanovic, The Netherland
With a psychology background, Svetlana Jovanovic's portraiture is driven by a deep curiosity about identity — how we experience the world, construct our sense of self, and see ourselves through the eyes of others. Her style brings together fine art portraiture and a commitment to visual beauty, believing that the conceptual and the aesthetic are inseparable: each gives the other meaning.
The winning images are part of Otherness, an ongoing long-term project exploring identical twins and the tension between shared identity and individual presence. While twins share so much, it is the small differences that emerge over time, the subtle ways each person's character becomes visible within the shared image, that lie at the heart of the work. Each portrait is a collaboration, shaped as much by the relationship between the twins as by the photographer's own vision, inviting viewers to reflect on how we define ourselves both apart from, and through, one another.
Street - Morning Ritual by Gosse Bouma, The NetherlandsÂ
Gosse Bouma is a photographer whose work is driven by a quiet pursuit: to offer moments of tranquility in a world that rarely slows down. His distinct style lies at the intersection of urban geometry and natural elements, pairing the hard lines of architecture with the soft, unpredictable textures of weather. Each photograph is infused with the intention of invoking serenity amidst the chaos of everyday life, creating visual experiences that invite stillness and reflection, even if only for a fleeting moment.
His winning series, taken across the Netherlands, turns to the street market as its subject, a space where people of all ages and backgrounds meet, exchange a few words, share warmth, and move on. In capturing these small, unhurried encounters, Bouma preserves something increasingly rare in contemporary life: a genuine sense of togetherness.
Wildlife - The Forest I Roam by Alfred Minnaar, South Africa
Alfred Minnaar's creative process often begins with observation and patience. Rather than simply documenting his subjects, he seeks to understand their behaviour, environment, and relationship with the surrounding ecosystem. Over a decade of global exploration, his fine-art philosophy has evolved from a traveler's passion into a powerful voice for conservation, capturing fleeting deep-sea and wildlife narratives to inspire the preservation of our planet.
The winning images of a tiny goby living amongst coral were created to challenge our perception of scale and encourage viewers to look closer. Rather than focusing solely on the fish, the photographer wanted to use it as a point of reference within a much larger world. By placing the goby within its environment, the reef itself becomes the subject, inviting viewers to imagine its vastness from the perspective of one of its smallest inhabitants.
