Photography has always been a paradox: a medium grounded in reality, yet capable of transcending it. In the 11th edition of the All About Photo Awards, themed The Mind’s Eye, this paradox finds striking clarity under the guidance of Steve McCurry—a photographer whose own images have long blurred the line between documentation and emotional truth.

Selecting 45 winning works from photographers across 15 countries, McCurry assembled not a competition, but a cartography of perception. These images do not merely depict the world; they interpret it—layering memory, culture, and atmosphere into moments that feel at once immediate and timeless.

At the center of this year’s awards stands Window to the Past by Matt McClain, a photograph that encapsulates the exhibition’s conceptual core.

The image is deceptively quiet: a fogged window in Colonial Williamsburg, through which a woman in period dress sits at a table. Yet the glass surface carries a second reality—the reflection of the world behind the photographer. Past and present collapse into a single frame.

Technically, the photograph relies on layering through reflection, a method that complicates spatial perception. The misted glass softens the scene, diffusing light and creating a painterly texture. Compositionally, the window acts as both barrier and portal.

The subject matter—linked to the historical figure Thomas Jefferson—adds further resonance. The image becomes not only a visual study, but a meditation on how history lingers within contemporary spaces.

Across the shortlisted works, a pattern emerges: photography as a tool for bridging distance. Each image captures a specific location, yet speaks to a shared human condition.

Ritual and Geometry: France Leclerc

In Celestial Ladies, France Leclerc captures women resting after a church service near the Benin–Togo border. Their white garments and circular hats echo the painted circles on the wall behind them, creating a visual rhythm.

The photograph’s strength lies in its formal harmony. Repetition of shapes transforms a candid moment into a structured composition, where cultural identity and visual abstraction coexist.

Risk and Tradition: Andrew Newey

Andrew Newey turns his lens toward the honey hunters of Nepal in The Honey Hunters of Nepal. Suspended on rope ladders against sheer cliffs, the figures appear almost weightless—tiny against the vast geological backdrop.

Here, scale becomes narrative. The precariousness of the hunters’ position reflects the fragility of the tradition itself, threatened by climate change and commercialization. The photograph operates as both documentation and warning.

Gesture as Memory: Marie Kent

In Mending Nets, Marie Kent isolates a moment of quiet labor along Vietnam’s Thu Bon River. The vivid blue of the fishing net dominates the frame, while a woman’s hands move with deliberate precision.

The image captures time through gesture. Each movement carries generational knowledge, connecting past and present through repetition. The photograph’s stillness contrasts with the urgency of a rapidly changing world.

Several awarded works push the boundaries of photographic perception, using technology and unconventional viewpoints.

The Aerial Imagination: Jiří Kostal

In Under the Sky and Drawing by Driving, Jiří Kostal employs drone photography to reframe everyday scenes. A frozen pond becomes a stage for illusion; an empty parking lot transforms into a canvas of abstract lines.

These images challenge the viewer’s orientation, emphasizing photography’s capacity to construct realities rather than merely capture them.

Atmosphere as Subject: Tommi Viitala

Tommi Viitala, in When the Angels Cry, uses fog, rain, and glass to dissolve the boundaries of the urban environment. The city of Helsinki appears blurred, almost ephemeral.

Here, weather is not a backdrop but a protagonist. The photograph’s emotional tone emerges from environmental conditions, demonstrating how atmosphere can shape narrative.

The natural world features prominently, not as passive scenery but as an active force.

Volcanic Geometry: Marco Di Marco

In Earth’s Veins, Marco Di Marco captures molten lava branching across Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. The image juxtaposes chaos and order—rivers of fire organizing into intricate patterns before dissolving.

The photograph reveals nature as both destructive and structured, a dynamic system governed by forces beyond human control.

Light and Revelation: Khaichuin Sim

Khaichuin Sim offers two contrasting works. In Touched by Light, a beam of sunlight isolates a small chapel in the Dolomites, transforming it into a luminous focal point. In Dancing with Giants, a diver glides alongside sperm whales in open water.

Both images hinge on scale and illumination. Light becomes a narrative device, guiding the viewer’s attention and shaping emotional response.

The Photographer as Witness

What unites these diverse works is a shared commitment to observation—not passive, but deeply engaged. Whether capturing a fleeting reflection, a centuries-old tradition, or a moment of natural transformation, each photographer operates as both witness and interpreter.

Under McCurry’s curatorial eye, the selection emphasizes photography’s enduring role as a medium of connection. Across continents and cultures, the images reveal a world that is fragmented yet interdependent.

A Collective Vision

The All About Photo Awards 2026 do more than celebrate individual achievement. They assemble a collective narrative—one that reflects the complexity of contemporary life while affirming a fundamental continuity between human experiences.

Through the lens of Steve McCurry, The Mind’s Eye becomes more than a theme. It becomes a method: a way of seeing that moves beyond surface appearances, uncovering the layers of meaning embedded in every frame.

In these images, the world is not presented as it is, but as it is felt, remembered, and imagined—a reminder that photography, at its most powerful, is an act of perception as much as documentation.