{"id":61036,"date":"2025-08-05T20:54:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T20:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/61036\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T20:54:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T20:54:17","slug":"fiery-portrait-of-glacier-climbers-and-eclipse-wins-colorful-photo-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/61036\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiery Portrait of Glacier Climbers and Eclipse Wins Colorful Photo Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Two<\/p>\n

The reFocus Awards announced the beautiful winners of its annual Color Photography Contest. A remarkable image of daredevil glacier climbers illuminated by a fiery eclipse took top honors. <\/p>\n

U.K.-based photographer Liam Man, no stranger to winning awards<\/a>, won the reFocus Color Photography Contest with his image, Ring of Fire, and Ice. Man\u2019s winning photograph captures the rare convergence of an annular solar eclipse and a high-altitude ice summit and was named the Overall Winner of the competition.<\/p>\n

Judges and viewers alike were struck by the photo\u2019s rare combination of technical mastery, environmental urgency, and emotional resonance. It is more than a compelling visual, it is a moment in time that speaks to the fragility and grandeur of the natural world.<\/p>\n

A Moment That Almost Didn\u2019t Happen <\/p>\n

Liam Man\u2019s<\/a> winning image was taken atop Glacier Leones, one of the fastest retreating glaciers on Earth. At the height of a grueling week-long expedition, two climbers stand silhouetted beneath a \u201cRing of Fire\u201d eclipse as snow kicks up around them. The light in the photograph, however, is not from the sun. Man used a drone-mounted lighting rig to illuminate the ice from above, revealing textures and colors that would otherwise be lost in the shadow of the eclipse.<\/p>\n

In an interview <\/a>with reFocus Awards, Man explained the stakes and setup behind the image.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery expense of this expedition was entirely self-funded, and everything rested on a single moment. We had scouted for months, chosen the site based on eclipse trajectory, and battled terrible weather. But on the day of the eclipse, the skies cleared. It was an unbelievable moment of alignment,\u201d Man explains.<\/p>\n

The combination of celestial mechanics and environmental storytelling defines Ring of Fire, and Ice as an image that exists at the intersection of science, adventure, and art.<\/p>\n

The Icebreaker Project: Photography With a Purpose <\/p>\n

This image forms part of Man\u2019s larger Icebreaker Project,<\/a> an ongoing photographic series dedicated to documenting glacial regions around the world. Created in support of the United Nations\u2019 International Year of Glaciers\u2019 Preservation 2025, the project aims to spotlight rapidly disappearing ice formations and provoke reflection on climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlaciers are not just beautiful\u2014they are data. They record time, temperature, and environmental memory. To me, photographing them is not just about capturing a landscape. It\u2019s about participating in a conversation about the health of our planet,\u201d Man said.<\/p>\n

Man\u2019s environmental advocacy is central to his work. By combining long-exposure techniques with drone lighting, he creates what he calls \u201cenvironmental portraits\u201d that both document and elevate natural forms.<\/p>\n

A Style Born of Necessity and Experimentation <\/p>\n

Man is best known for his pioneering technique of aerial light painting. By attaching custom lighting rigs to drones and flying them over landscapes during long-exposure photography, he effectively sculpts light around geological forms. This allows him to emphasize textures and contours that go unnoticed in natural lighting conditions.<\/p>\n

The technique emerged from a technical challenge. While photographing the night sky, Man discovered that the landscapes he traveled to were often too dark to feature meaningfully in frame. Mounting a light to a drone offered complete freedom of movement and control.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt transformed how I thought about photography,\u201d he explained. \u201cRather than waiting for the perfect light, I could create it. That fundamentally changed my relationship with the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why Color Matters <\/p>\n

Though some fine art landscape photographers favor black-and-white imagery, Man remains committed to color photography. He sees color not only as a descriptive tool, but as an expressive one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe experience the world in color. Ice alone can range from deep glacial blues to rusty reds caused by sediment. These colors tell stories about the glacier\u2019s origin and condition. Monochrome risks flattening those details.\u201d<\/p>\n

His commitment to color also serves to distinguish his work from traditional landscape photography and places it more squarely in the realm of constructed visual storytelling.<\/p>\n

Professional Category Winners from the 2025 reFocus Awards <\/p>\n

In addition to Man\u2019s winning photograph, the reFocus Awards 2025 honored top submissions across over twenty genres in color photography. This year\u2019s first-place winners showcase an impressive range of styles, cultures, and subject matter from around the globe. Together, these images form a compelling snapshot of contemporary photography\u2019s ability to document, imagine, and provoke through color.<\/p>\n

\"SwirlsAbstract Category Winner: \u201cLiquid Soul n\u00b07712 Extinctions\u201d by Ga\u00ebtan Changeur \"AerialAerial Category Winner: \u201cWhere Water Once Was\u201d by Octavio Campos Salles \"AnArchitecture Category Winner: \u201cTempelhof\u201d by Jonathan Ducrest \"AConceptual Category Winner: \u201cIranian girl\u201d by Kristina Makeeva \"AFashion & Beauty Category Winner: \u201cLuceatanima\u201d by Daniil Slomakin \"AFilm\/Analog Category Winner: \u201cBlue Swallow\u201d by William Mark Sommer
\n \"AFine Art Category Winner: \u201cThe Lake\u201d by Masoud Mirzaei \"TwoLandscapes Category Winner: \u201cA quiet moment\u201d by Manuela Palmberger \"AMinimalism Category Winner: \u201cNowhere\u201d by Alessandro Tagliapietra \"ANature Category Winner: \u201cEarth\u2019s Galaxy\u201d by Navaneeth Unnikrishnan \"AerialPeople Category Winner: \u201cChile pepper workers\u201d by Serkan Dogus \"APhotojournalism Category Winner: \u201cNOWHERE IS SAFE FOR THEM\u201d by Veronique De Viguerie \"APortrait Category Winners: \u201cCrestline Queen\u201d by Elijah Barnes
\n \"FourPortrait Category Winners: \u201cPink Niqab, 2020 De Tweede Sekse\u201d by Jaimy Gail \"AStill Life Category Winner: \u201cRose Couture\u201d by Patti Gary \"AStreet Category Winner: \u201cTwo time\u201d by Nikolay Schegolev \"ATravel Category Winner: \u201cThis Icecap is to Go\u201d by Jacquie Matechuk \"AUnderwater Category Winner: \u201cUnderneath the surface\u201d by Kirvan Baldassari \"AWildlife Category Winner: \u201cIncoming\u201d by Maddison Woollard \"ADomestic Animals Category Winner: \u201cIn the Light\u201d by Daniela Schnabel-Sahm<\/p>\n

To view the full gallery of winning and shortlisted works, visit the official Refocus Awards website.<\/a><\/p>\n

Image credits: reFocus Awards, Liam Man, Individual winners as credited<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The reFocus Awards announced the beautiful winners of its annual Color Photography Contest. A remarkable image of daredevil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,1128,229,88,45517,45518,45519,45520,34600],"class_list":["post-61036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-contest","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-glacier","tag-glacierleones","tag-liamman","tag-refocusawards","tag-solareclipse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}