Once again, there were so many great images this year; so many that you could make a case for that “should have been the one,” and the photographers themselves keep improving. It all makes the judging process even harder. Narrowing it down to just ten finalists and one winner from entries literally all over the world — it’s just very challenging. Especially since they are so many things to consider when looking at an image.
After a considerable amount of blood, sweat, and tears, I’m delighted to present to you this year’s ten finalists and our 2022 Worldwide Photo Walk Grand Prize winner.
NOTE: After the winner is revealed below, I’ll be listing this year’s Leader’s Winner and some honorable mentions (images taken by photo walk leaders that didn’t win a prize but deserved some recognition nonetheless).
Here are this year’s Top 10 Finalists (in no particular order):
SIMONAS PASKEVICIUS | Copenhagen, Denmark Photo Walk
NABILAH DAUD | Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur Photo Walk
FRED KRIEGER | Naples, Florida USA Photo Walk
KB COLLINS | Charlotte, North Carolina, USA Photo Walk
ROMELO JAMISOLA | Doha, Qatar Photo Walk
KLIENNE ECO | Pitik sa Lawa ng Taal, Laurel, Batangas, Philippines Photo Walk
ARIEL MEDINA | Prado, Montevideo, Uruguay Photo Walk
POOJA GODSELWAR | Hyderabad, India Photo Walk
شمس رضوان (Shams Radwan) | Burullus Lake, Egypt Photo Walk
DIMITRI KACZMAREK | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA Photo Walk
…and now for the 2022 Worldwide Photo Walk Grand Prize winner:
BOBBIE MONTALES | Manila, Philippines Photo Walk
I fell in love with this image the moment I saw it because it has it all. The light is amazing, but the eye-catching color draws you in, and then once you see the figure in the image, it really goes to that next level. It’s like when Jay Maisel talks about “Light, Gesture, and Color” and how if your image has any one of those, it has a shot at being something. If it has two, you’ve got something special, and this image definitely has light and color; some might argue it has all three, but either way – it’s a captivating image – one I would hang on the wall in my own home, and I love it! Congratulations to Bobbie. Bravo!
The Walk Leader competition is always one of the hardest to judge
There are so many great entries from so many talented leaders around the world — it just a really tough job. Last year was a tough one to judge, so was the year before that, and the year before that, and this year it’s that tough once again.
Although there’s only one winner, I felt some images were so good that even though they didn’t win a prize, they still deserved to be recognized, so I’m displaying my “Honorable Mentions” first, then we’ll reveal our winner.
I present our 10 Walk Leader Competition Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):
MOHAMED ADEL | Burullus Lake, Egypt Photo Walk
ZIA SURAREZ | Barcelona City, Spain Photo Walk
JOUIE TABILIN | Cagayan De Oro, Phillipines Photo Walk
DIONYSOS PHOTOGRAPHY | Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Novia Scotia, Canada Photo Walk
ROSEMARY KEAN | Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Photo Walk
J. SCOTT KELLY | Vero Beach, Florida USA Photo Walk
NOHA HIMMAT | Gharbia governate, Egypt
CONGRATULATIONS TO…..
MARK ANTHONY AGTAY | Dubai, United Arab Emirates Photo Walk
I love the mystery of this image, and I want to know the story. The colors, the lighting, the mood, it all works so well together. Really an intriguing image and masterfully crafted. Nicely done!
Congratulations to all the Photo Walk Leaders Competition Honorable Mentions and to our 2022 Leader Winner, Mark Anthony Agtay.
Thanks to all our Walk Leaders
It’s an awful lot of work (ask anyone who has led one), and a thankless job, so let me be the first to say “thanks.” We couldn’t do any of this without our volunteer walk leaders around the world, who do such a great job of creating the walks; working and wrangling their walkers, judging the local contest from their walk, and making the whole thing happen on the local level, and that means a lot.
We could not do this without Adobe
We owe a very special thanks to our Premier Sponsor, Adobe Systems, for their support of the photo walk this year. Without their help and support, there would be no Worldwide Photo Walk, so you can imagine how grateful we are to the folks at Adobe, who also provided some amazing prizes for our contest winners.
Also, thanks to our additional official sponsors: Think Tank Photo, Skylum, Rocky Nook, Platypod, On1 Software, and B&H Photo — thanks for all your support this year and for offering such awesome prizes to our winners. We are very grateful.
Lastly, thanks to all the talented photographers around the world
…Who created such inspiring, creative, and beautiful work, and special thanks to those of you who contributed to the Springs of Hope Orphanage in Kenya — it means more than you know.
Have a fantastic day, everybody!
-Scott