Travel Photo Competition Finalists 2025 – People & Cultures Category

Here you go, our top ten

Photographs of people are often the most immediate and engaging images in travel photography, but their strength lies in what they communicate beyond a single moment. The shortlisted images in this year’s People & Cultures category reflect that wider potential. Alongside strong visual impact, these photographs reveal traditions, cultural practices, and everyday experiences shaped by place. Some images focus on individual portraits, while others show people within broader social or environmental contexts, highlighting both continuity and change.

Together, the finalists demonstrate how people-focused travel photography can document culture, explore identity, and draw attention to the challenges and realities faced by communities around the world, when approached with care, respect and awareness.

You can also browse through our shortlists for the Wildlife and Landscape categories – and the winners in all categories will be announced soon!

Title: Crossing the Baral River
Photographer: Tanveer Rohan
Location: Bangladesh
Description:
“A man rides a boat across the Baral River during winter, when reduced water flow exposes moss and algae more visibly than in other seasons.”

Title: German Tradition
Photographer: Martin Siering
Location: Germany
Description:
“Every year in September, I visit Oberstdorf, a small village in the Allgäu Alps, to witness the cattle drive, also known as the “Viehscheid” or “Almabtrieb.” This event involves bringing the cows down from the mountains before winter, including the original Allgäu Brown cattle, an endangered breed, and returning them to their respective farmers.

This tradition takes place in many mountain villages each year. If no cows have been lost during the summer, the farmers are especially proud and adorn the lead cow with particularly beautiful flower wreaths. During this particular cattle drive, two donkeys walked ahead of the cows. I had the idea of ​​photographing the arriving farmers with their steaming cows through the donkeys’ legs.”

Title: Sleeping on the Job
Photographer: Lynn Fraser
Location: Bangladesh
Description:
“This man appeared to have drifted off to sleep as the boat drifted under a gangway on the Buriganga River, Dhaka.”

Title: Childhood
Photographer: Nika Pailodze
Location: Georgia
Description:
“I was traveling alone in the high mountains of Adjara, moving from village to village on foot or by hitchhiking. One morning, I needed to climb up to a summer pasture with a heavy backpack when a car heading toward Natelati stopped for me. I took this photo from the road. The road was in very bad condition, so I sat in the trunk along with the children of the man who was driving. While climbing one of the steep hills, I looked through the rear window and saw the shepherd children. I also noticed the child’s hand on the car door handle, which had a heart painted on it. I tried to capture everything in a single frame so that the shepherd children would appear framed by the window.”

Title: Kartika Vrata
Photographer: Tanveer Rohan
Location: Bangladesh
Description:
“Every year in the Bengali month of Kartik, thousands of Hindu devotees gather at the Shri Shri Loknath Brahmachari Ashram and Temple in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to observe the religious festival of Kartik Vrata, also known as Rakher Upobash. During this sacred occasion, devotees light oil lamps and offer prayers while fasting in honor of Baba Loknath, an 18th-century Hindu saint and philosopher, before breaking their fast in the evening.”

Title: Honey Hunters of Sundarbans
Photographer: Muhammad Mostafigurrahman
Location: Bangladesh
Description:
“This photograph was taken in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world’s largest mangrove forest. It shows traditional honey collectors breaking a wild honeycomb to harvest honey during the seasonal collection period. Working deep inside the forest, the collectors navigate tidal creeks and dense mangroves, often during daylight hours when bees are most active.

Honey collection in the Sundarbans is an extremely dangerous livelihood. While searching for beehives, collectors face constant threats from wildlife, particularly the Royal Bengal tiger, as well as crocodiles, venomous snakes, and unpredictable tides. Despite the risks, many local families depend on this centuries-old tradition for their survival. The photograph was taken at 2:42 p.m. using a 25mm focal length, 1/640 sec exposure, f/5.6, and ISO 1000, capturing the crucial moment as the honey hunters began breaking a giant honeycomb.”

Title: Jai Ho
Photographer: Sanjoy Bhattacharya
Location: India
Description:
“At dawn on the sacred Ganges in Benaras, a saffron-clad ascetic sits in quiet devotion on a wooden boat, arms raised in surrender to the divine. White seagulls drift across the calm river, adding movement to the stillness of his meditation. Behind him, the ancient ghats emerge through the morning haze, layered with history and faith.

Captured wide at 24mm, with the camera Nikon D810 and setting was SS= 1/180; f11; ISO 250, the image reflects a timeless union of man, nature, and spirituality at the heart of India’s holiest city.”

Title: Circles of Life
Photographer: Pranab Basak
Location: India
Description:
“In the sun-drenched shallows of the Shilabati River, where West Bengal’s heartland pulses with ancient rhythms, women stand waist-deep in water that mirrors the sky. Their traditional round nets woven by their own hands fan out like petals around them, each bamboo frame a testament to generations of fishing wisdom passed from mother to daughter.

These are are members of a self-help group that has transformed subsistence into enterprise. The vibrant dresses fuchsia, yellow, orange ripple in the water as they work, their colours defying the hardship that once defined their lives. Every dawn, they wade into these waters. Every evening, they return to the local market, baskets heavy with the day’s catch, their earnings feeding families and fuelling dreams.”

Title: Traditional Rice Process
Photographer: Tanveer Rohan
Location: Bangladesh
Description:
“This photograph was taken at a traditional rice mill in Bangladesh during the early morning hours. Workers begin their day at dawn, boiling paddy rice while others transport and spread it outside the mill to dry naturally under the sun. The scene reflects a routine stage of rice processing that relies on manual labor and natural light, highlighting everyday agricultural practices that remain central to rural livelihoods.”

Title: Pacu Jawi
Photographer: Mark Levitin
Location: Indonesia
Description: Pacu Jawi is perhaps the most photogenic of all Asian bull races. There are countless great shots of it, but it’s nearly impossible to capture from above. The rice fields where the races are held are completely flat, and a drone wouldn’t be able to keep up with the running bulls. I got lucky: there was a tree growing on the edge of the field that I was able to climb and shoot from.