The reFocus Awards has recently unveiled the winners of its 2023 Black and White Photo Contest, featuring compelling entries from 77 nations. The competition honors the most outstanding black-and-white images from the world over, divided into professional and non-professional categories.
Bill Pack clinched the overall professional title with his series "CarScapes," ingeniously transforming classic vehicles into alluring subjects with clever lighting and composition. In the non-professional category, Serkan Dogus secured the top prize with a poignant capture of a shepherd's everyday journey in Turkey.
Check out these images and some of the other award-winning ones from the contest in the gallery below.
Related: Incredible Winners of the 2022 Black & White Photo Awards
1. “Eye of the Sea” by Hilda Champion. Gold, Architecture category.
Copenhagen’s marvelous aquarium.
2. “Flock of Sheep” by Serkan Doğuş. Non-professional winner.
Hundreds of sheep make a dusty journey to reach the pasture in the Tatvan district of Bitlis in Turkey.
3. “The last gigant of the hell” by Antonio Flores. Professional runner-up. Silver, Street category.
“From the depths of hell emerges a gigantic and imposing horned beast. BOOM! sounds and everything is reached by the flames and sparks that burn the body of a couple of men who stay under it to receive the shower of sparks and the fury of the bull as part of its ritual and offering blood to the fire.”
4. “CarScapes” by Bill Pack. Professional winner. Gold, Fine Art and Minimalism categories.
The sensual lines of a classic Mercedes.
5. "Queen of the North” by Sushil Chauhan. Gold, Wildlife category.
A beautiful leopard poses in the evening above her den site looking for potential prey and treats to her cubs.
6. “The Last of the Eagle Hunters” by Rachel Rudwall. Gold, Travel category.
The tradition of eagle hunting is on the verge of disappearing as elder Golden Eagle hunters retire and younger nomads seek opportunities in cities. But with the support of Mongolia's Golden Eagle Festival, this Kazakh cultural practice may have a chance.
7. “The iron quest” by João Coelho. Non-professional runner-up.
Young people in Angola working on a ship graveyard.
8. “Moods” by Pietro Luraschi. Silver, Nature category.
The Great Wildebeest Migration.
9. “Essence of Huangshan” by Kent Burkhardsmeier. Gold, Landscape category.
China’s majestic Huangshan range.
10. “Buzzer midge” by Pedro Luis Ajuriaguerra Saiz. Professional, 3rd Place. Gold, Wildlife category.
The Chironomus plumosus mosquito does not bite, has very reduced mouthparts, and does not feed. This family is extensively dispersed around the world. The male's pair of feathery antennae gives the species its name 'plumosus'.
11. “Commuters India” by Sascha van der Werf. Gold, Street category.
A woman looks out the window of a train in India.
12. “Living History – Lincoln's” by Ruben Hamelink. Gold, Film/Analog category.
This portrait was taken at the Association for Lincoln Presenters annual convention.
13. “Symbiosis in South Sudan” by Trevor Cole. Gold, Travel category. Silver, Photojournalism category.
The Mundari cattle camp is found along the banks of the White Nile in South Sudan during the dry season.
14. “Cary, Axiuli and Haytoo, Havana, Cuba, 2023” by James Clifford Kent. Gold, People category.
“Cary has lived at her home—formerly the site of a laundry run by Chinese Cubans—since the early 1990s. Her grown-up children have now left the island in search of a better standard of living and she lives alone with her animals—a goose (Axiuli), two dogs (Shimao & Tabey), and her cat (Haytoo).”
15. “Tree of Life” by Julie Kenny. Gold, Aerial category.
This aerial view of a fallen tree shows the webbed network of sheep trails, conveying a feeling of cyclical change and regeneration.
16. “The Last Turn” by Laurie Thomson. Gold, Event category.
Barrel racing is a popular sport among both riders and spectators. Three barrels are arranged in a pattern, with this being the final barrel before the rider and horse race back to discover who has the fastest time.
17. “The Wait” by Csaba Tokolyi. Gold, Nature category.
A polar bear waits for ice to form on Hudson Bay.
18. “Nature's black and white” by Fleur Scholte. Silver, Domestic Animals category.
A Samoyed dog standing proud at Reynisfjara in Iceland
