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The 1839 Awards are named in honor of the year in which photography was first made available to the public. Each year, the contest celebrates photographers through different contests, including color photography.
“These images are windows to distant places, challenges to what the photographic image can be, and invitations to encounter the world from new and unexpected points of view,” explains 1839. “They give us the rare opportunity to pause, look more slowly, and feel the world more deeply than before.”
Wildebeests frantically fight to cross the Mara River during the Great Migration.
Credit: Jeff Beatty / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
Amateur and professional photographers can enter the 1839 Photographer of the Year competition until September 15.
Children play ball in front of the house which is an Afro-Brazilian place of worship.
Credit: Cesare Simioni / 1839 Awards, Color Photography Competition 2026
Credit: Andrew Hogarth / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
This image was taken at a traditional fire festival in Japan. With a history of 800 years, the festival is celebrated every winter to pray for good health and prosperity. Throughout the night, 20-foot-long torches burn continuously, filling the air with smoke and flames to keep up the festive spirit.
Credit: Emiko Monobe / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
Wildfire smoke serves a purpose in nature, but is not typically used for photography. In some cases, it can impart a mood, color and effect to a landscape that cannot be replicated. Here, an almost otherworldly sun accentuates the layered topography and tranquil silence of the Wyoming wilderness.
Credit: Michael Mihaljevich / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
Heading to northern feeding grounds from calving bays in Baja California, gray whale mothers and their calves hug the shoreline. Staying close to shore in the kelp forest is a good strategy to avoid patrolling orcas who need deep water to successfully capture a gray whale calf.
Credit: Jodi Frediani / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
Center Pompidou Paris, 2025 Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers’ striking “inside-out” architecture of the Center Pompidou juxtaposed with three passing gentlemen creates a compelling visual narrative. Harmony, scale and balance are achieved through strong
sunlight, casting blue shadows across the three curved chimneys while throwing the human element into the silhouette, resulting in a clean, modern aesthetic.
Credit: Jeremy C Glover / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
Credit: Williams Vaughan / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
Nature Study examines a built landscape and a representation of the natural world, where architecture, commerce and place converge in an unexpected way. Photographed in medium format with a Rolleiflex 2.8F on Kodak Portra 400.
Credit: L. Chaussee / 1839 Awards, Color Photography Competition 2026
Big waves surfing. Winter session. Half a second before the incident.
Credit: Natalya Pyrogova / 1839 Awards, Color Photography Competition 2026
A solitary bird stands before the melting ice, positioned as a witness to a changing world. The image contemplates isolation, survival and the accelerated fragility of frozen landscapes.
Credit: Anne Neiwand / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
Credit: Aleksandr Artemev / 1839 Awards, Color Photography Competition 2026
A diagonal interrupts the stillness. Architecture pauses and then chooses direction.
Credit: Julia Kantor / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
Time is the only certainty within ambiguity.
Credit: Leebaeck Choi / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
In the province of Quang Nam in central Vietnam, you can still find many people practicing what is known as ru fishing. I wanted to capture something a little different from other photographers, so I asked permission to get on his boat while he inspected his catch.
Credit: Julian Elliott / 1839 Awards, 2026 Color Photography Competition
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